Book Review: I AM - Michelle Cushatt

A 60-day journey to knowing who you are because who He is

As women, we often feel we are not enough and we feel pressure to be more and to do more and we compare ourselves to others.

In this 60-day journey book, Michelle Cushatt tells raw personal stories about her fight with cancer and couples that with rock-solid biblical teaching and radical truths to help rebuild your life.

I AM helps you to:

• End this barrage of negative self-talk with an empowering new narrative
• Stop agonising over past regrets and failures and make peace with God’s sovereign plan for your life.
• I AM reminds us that our value isn’t found in our talents, achievements, relationships or appearance, it is instead found in a God who chose us sent us and promised to be with us – forever. 

Faith and Movies: Musings from 'The Shack'

I recently watched ‘The Shack’ which is the screen adaptation of William Young’s New York Times Bestselling book ‘The Shack’, and tells the story of the Phillips Family but primarily the focus is on the father of the family, Mack whose life is shattered when their youngest child Missy disappears during a camping trip which he is saving Kate and Josh, his other kids during a canoeing accident. The police determine that Missy is the victim of a serial killer. They don’t find a body is but they do find her torn bloodless dress.

The Phillips are a family of faith, but this tragedy derails Mack’s faith and life until the onset of winter when he receives an unstamped, typewritten note in his mailbox. The surrounding snow is devoid of any incriminating tracks. The message is signed "Papa" (which was his wife Nan’s nickname for God) and invites him to meet at the cabin.

Anyway, I do not want to ruin the story for you, as I would recommend you either buying the book and reading it or renting the movie and watching it.

While I was watching I was struck by a lot of things in the movie which I wanted to share – things about God and suffering including other interesting observations:

• When we cry God collects all our tears (Psalm 56 v 8)
• Love always leaves a mark
• We are all in the center of God’s love and purpose
• God is in everything
• Through pain and suffering, God is there
• In our mess, God is there
• In our storms, God is there
• God is doing work in our lives for good
• We are not meant to be on our own
• Prayer is a conversation between friends
• A future without God does not exist
• Religion is way too much work
• God doesn’t want slaves, He wants friends
• God wants us to know what it is like to be truly loved
• We shouldn’t make judgments on what people wear, how they look or what colour they are – God is the only judge
• No one is immune from evil
• There is no such thing as a pain-free life when sin is in the world
• Everything works better when we do it with Jesus
• God can make incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies but that doesn’t mean He orchestrates the tragedies
• When we forgive people we are trusting God to do what is right
• We don’t have to do things on our own, God is with us
• Tears help in our healing process 

Life & Faith: Thank you for Trusting Me

Mother Teresa once said ‘I know God will not give me anything I cannot handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much’

When I was diagnosed with MS in 2014 this phrase was quoted to me and I though huh, glad she was so wrong – but I wasn’t and it took me almost two years to get to terms with my diagnosis and really believe that God was on this journey with me.  I realised that me having MS was hard for me to handle on my own but with God by myside I could handle it and anything else.

Over the past four years I have heard this quote now more than once and have listened to people preaching and read books on this issue and how we should thank God for trusting us with the things He brings into our lives.

Four years ago I could not thank God for my MS but now I can and I do. Why? Well because if it wasn’t for my MS diagnosis I wouldn’t be where I am today:

• I wouldn’t be in a good place with God
• I wouldn’t be in a good place with myself
• I wouldn’t be in a good place with my family and friends and I wouldn’t be thankful for them.

Over the past four years people have been praying for healing for me and although I may not be physically healed, I have been healed spiritually, emotionally and mentally. The important thing to remember with healing that there is more than one way a person can be healed.

And I have been helped in the past four years by people coming alongside me and praying for me as well as being supportive in other ways. Yes some people have walked away from me during the first two very difficult years but those who have stood by me are the ones whom I am very thankful for – they have been vessels of God.

They have helped me become stronger and believe in myself and helping me come close to God and bringing me to the place where I can now say, “God, I don’t wish MS on anyone else and at times I hate the symptoms I live with, well actually maybe all the time, but I thank you for trusting me with this illness and I pray that you will use my MS for your greater glory”

And I am also with Mother Teresa when she said “I wish He didn’t trust me so much” 

Book Review: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

The Uncommon Reader is a refreshing funny novella which is a celebration of the pleasure of reading.

On a walk around the palace, the Queen stumbles on the mobile library which comes once a week for Buckingham Palace employees.  Within the library, she meets Norman, a young man from the palace kitchen and they form a strange friendship where Norman teaches the Queen about the joys of reading the liberating pleasure of the written word.

This new found love of books brings an upset to the Queens aides and the Prime Minister who didn’t understand the power of books and believe that books are stopping the Queen from doing her royal duties.  They feel Norman is a bad influence and orchestrate his removal from the Palace, but the Queen just thinks Norman left her and is upset.  However, a chance encounter brings them together again and the Queen finds out what happened which leads to serious consequences for her aides.

The Uncommon Reader is a great funny and charming book which I do recommend you read. 

Book Review: God in the ICU by Dave Walker

God in the ICU is an inspirational biography of Dave Walker, who not only does his job as a doctor within the Intensive Care Unity, he also prayers for his patients.

In this book, Walker tells his story from how he went from a person who is disillusioned with God after a series of tragedies and living for himself and his work to a person who was on a quest to find a God who did not look on impersonally from a distance, but realised he was intimately involved in our lives.

Walker began praying for his patients and things happened beyond anything he could have imagined, from patients being healed miracously to others who experienced Jesus bringing comfort and peace to others who felt the power of God’s love in the face of tragedy.

God is in the ICU is an excellent story, full of inspiration and a story which is told with transparency, compassion and an honest look as lessons we can learn from His dealings with is. It is a very encouraging book and I recommend you read this.

Book Review: Chase by James Patterson

Chase is a novella in the Detective Michael Bennett series. The story sees Bennett being sent to the scene of an apparent suicide but while investigating Bennett realises things don’t add up and to him, it starts to look like murder.

When the fingerprints turn out to be those of a man who has been dead for a while, it turns into a difficult investigation as Bennett and his fellow Agent Emily Parker find themselves obstructed by bureaucrats.

I love the Michael Bennett series by James Patterson and Chase is a great novella in this series – showing us more of Michael Bennett, his love of his family and his duty to this work. 

Book Review: Little Girl Lost by Brian McGilloway

Set in and around Derry, Northern Ireland Little Girl Lost is a crime novel which tells the story of three lost girls: one who is missing, one who has been found but has no name and the third one is Detective Lucy Black, the main character, who is list in this city in which she is a stranger even though she was born there. Throughout her investigation, Black ends up identifying with both girls.

What becomes apparent in Black's investigation is that the ‘missing girl’ and the ‘lost girl found’ are in some way linked together and it is up to her to find the connection between them.

Little Girl Lost is set in the City of Derry in the winter time. This setting allows for two more themes to be drawn out which are that of the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland both in the past and in the present as well as the issue of borderland as the story crosses into Southern Ireland in the search for answers.

I really loved this book and am really looking forward to reading more about Detective Lucy Black. McGilloway is an author who really knows how to involve the readers into his story.