Lately I’ve been making more of an effort to stay away from Pinterest and non-productive internet searching. You know, like learning all about how to make and use fleece bedding for guinea pig cages when we don’t even have a guinea pig nor will we be getting one in the near future. What can I say? I love to learn, and it was fascinating. I’ve been cutting back on my Facebook and Instagram stalking scrolling and I’ve removed a huge chunk of blogs from my feed reader.

So, that leaves me with a lot more free time.

I’m using lots of it to play with my girls and be fully present with them, but let’s be honest, I still need some me time during the day. Or at night. Or on the weekends. And I find that reading is so much better for my soul than comparing my life to those in my internet feeds. I’m naturally drawn to non-fiction, and I’m filling my mind with so many good little nuggets of truth and wisdom.

Every time I finish a book I tell Nick he needs to read it. Problem is he really doesn’t like to read. Well, books that is. He reads more than I do in a day, it’s just all on the internet – news, phone blogs, tech news and who knows what else…the man is a fountain of knowledge.

Anyway, I tell him he needs to read my books because I want to talk about them. I want to discuss what I learned. I need to bounce off my ideas and get his perspective and think it through more. I want to apply some of the things to my life and I want him to hold me accountable. Basically I want the two of us to have little book club meetings. A real book club that actually talks about the book. So…maybe more like a book study? A class? I really am a nerd teacher.

All that to say I want to write on here about the books I’ve been reading and share a bit of the insight I’ve gained from them.  I’m just not sure where to start.  I need a little more time to process and let it all simmer a bit first

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Until then, here’s what I’ve been reading. Maybe if you read these too, we can start a little book club together. (I’m only half kidding)

Most recently I finished Love Does by Bob Goff.  I’d been hearing about the book from quite a few bloggers and I finally decided to download it and see what all the fuss was about. Such a fun read. Bob’s stories are funny and inspiring. His adventurous spirit is contagious. The book makes me want to live without fear and dream big dreams.

I have only a few pages left in Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I bought the book in 2011 before I left my full time job.  I started reading it once before, but my heart wasn’t in the right place and it just made me feel guilty for not loving God enough. I wanted to have a love for the Lord, but I couldn’t figure out how. This time around, now that my heart has changed, it was incredibly encouraging.  Again, it made me what to live without fear and dream big dreams.

Both books remind us we don’t need more things or more money to make us happy. We just need to love God and love others in order to have true joy. Simple, yet so profound.

They’ve both challenged me in many ways. Ways I hope I can put into words and share here soon.

Until then I’m praying  for big dreams and a heart that loves unconditionally.

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