If you are a reader of my personal blog, Only By Grace, then you know that I have been on a personal journey to finding myself since 2010. These past few years, I have really been trying to hone in on particular aspects of myself and see who I am from a different perspective. It's hard to see things when you are on the inside looking out but that's where God comes in. Who else knows you better than the One that created you?
I know I am not alone in my journey to finding who I was created to be, and after reading Hello My Name Is by Matthew West I feel even more motivated to stay the course.
If you are into Christian music, you know the title is named after one of Matthew West's songs of the same name. Every time I pick up this book I start singing the chorus. I love this song!
Matthew West is an amazing storyteller. When you listen (or sing along) to any of his songs, you can tell that he has a way with words. We all have many names, and Mr. West reminds us that no matter your name is God's got a name that covers all the names you have. He reminds us that no matter what, God is in control and there is power in His name. This thought alone should give us all comfort. God's got this.
Woven throughout the book is wonderful stories; a few of them even made me laugh out loud. The stories pull you in and then Mr. West hits you with a truth that really takes that story home. It is not about WHO you are but WHOSE you are!
Chapter 7 was especially touching for me. I've been a "people-pleaser" my entire life which is why I am on this journey to finding who I am. When you are a people pleaser, you put who you are aside and do/say things just to please other people. All these years I've been wearing a false name tag and I didn't even realize it! Now I am putting on MY name tag because I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and it's about time!
This book is a quick read but one that packs a punch. I think everyone should read this book but especially anyone who is new to their faith. It's important to have a firm foundation and the way Mr. West writes it makes deep truths easy to understand.
I feel more strengthened in my faith and in who I am after reading this book and I think you will be too.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
It's been awhile since I have read a book that has left me with tears streaming down my face, my stomach in knots, and my mind unable to wrap itself around what I've just read. There is no way this could've really happened, right? These were human beings! Women just trying to help out their families and their country in times of war and uncertainty and what did they get in return? Death. Sickness. Ailments so unimaginable that you think as you're reading the symptoms that you're actually reading a horror novel from Steven King instead of a true story. This is real. It really happened, in our country, and it happened to the Radium Girls.
During World War I, many women across the United States were called to work various jobs to aid in the war effort. One of the most coveted jobs of the time was dial painters. Women pained clock faces with a new and amazing substance called radium. These women were paid top dollar compared to other working women during that time so this job was highly coveted.
Radium at the time was all the rage with numerous health claims, including being a cure for cancer! Companies were putting it in everything from medicine to cosmetics and everything in between. It was a wonder substance that could do anything! It could cure your sickness and make you shine!
Radium has a luminescent quality which was perfect for watches being used during the war because the soldiers would be able to see the time at night which was invaluable at the time.
To put the paint onto the dials of the clocks, the girls used a technique called lip pointing. They would put the paint brushes in their mouths and twirl it with their tongue to create a fine point. Then they would dip it in the radium paint and paint the dials.
Over and over, sometimes hundreds of times a day, day by day these girls were ingesting more and more radium. Not to mention the fine powder that covered the girls and the entire factory that gave off this eerie, luminescent glow. The girls lived in a radium world that stayed with them even after they left work. They would paint themselves with the radium and walk around town almost ghost-like. It was fun and many were envied by their friends.
The girls were told that there were such minute traces of radium in the paint that it was harmless, so the girls worked away, day after day, blissfully unaware of what they were actually doing. They were ingesting and inhaling poison, little by little, and before long a few of the women started getting sick. That's when the fun stopped and the nightmare began.
Kate Moore is the director of These Shining Lives which depicts the lives of the women in the radium dial factories. Kate is actually from the United Kingdom, but after hearing the stories of the radium girls, she decided to write a story that was different than any other that has been written about the radium dial workers. She wanted to give these victims a voice. One that they did not have during their brief lives. And she did.
As you read about each of the girls, and what was going on in their lives, you start to think of them as sisters. When you read about the girls getting sick and the unimaginable things that happened to their bodies and you read about the doctor's being baffled at what's happening to them you cringe. You know what's wrong with them, and you want to shout it out through the pages yet you can't.
Your anger flares as you read about the radium dial companies and their denial about radium being the reason for these girls getting sick. These girls are dying and they don't care! They knew it was harmful and yet they continued their practices anyway for profit, putting the mighty dollar ahead of a person's life. Sickening.
The one girl that I identified most with was Catherine Donahue. Her and her husband had only been married for a few years, just like me and my husband. They had two children, just like me, and Catherine fought for justice for the "ghost girls" to the end. I hope that if I were ever in that situation I would do the same.
As I read the depiction of her taking her last breaths, tears were streaming down my face. My heart ached for this woman that lived so long ago. Having fought so hard, then to die like this. I think she really hoped she would overcome this poisoning but in the end the radium won, and she left this world literally screaming. Tears spring to my eyes even writing this now. It's unfathomable. No one should ever have to go through such torture. Now Catherine no longer is in pain and the fight that she started has had a major impact on our world today, including the creation of the EPA.
"The radium girls," the governor of Illinois announced, "deserve the utmost respect and admiration...because they battled a dishonest company, an indifferent industry, dismissive courts and the medical community in the face of certain death. I hereby proclaim September 2, 2011, as Radium Girls Day in Illinois, in recognition of the tremendous perseverance, dedication, and sense of justice the radium girls exhibited in their fight."
To this day, the EPA continues to clean the sites of where the radium dial factories both in New York and Illinois once stood. The radium still lingers just like the memories of these women.
I have never felt so connected to a true life story like I did with the Radium Girls. This story could've happened to any of us. It hit so close to home. I HIGHLY recommend this book! It's a hard story to hear but one we should all listen to.
If you would like to see the play in which this book was based off of check out These Shining Lives on YouTube.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows one thing about me: I don't cook. I remember my mom making me help her in the kitchen when I was growing up and it was pure torture. As I've grown up, and now have a family of my own, I do try to cook as much as I can stand but it's still a daily struggle.
I'm sure you're asking yourself, "OK, if you hate to cook so much then why are you reviewing a cook book?" Well, I'm glad you asked!
When it all comes down to it, I truly believe that the reason I "hate" cooking is because I've never been properly trained. That's where The Haven's Kitchen Cooking School by Alison Cayne comes in.
Each of the nine chapters centers on a key cooking lesson and takes you step by step through a cooking process that leaves you with no questions about that particular lesson. You learn everything from making one of the most "intimidating egg dishes" the Cheese Souffle to how to make A Bowl of White Rice. There is even a party about how to read a recipe and how to stay clean and organized while you cook.
For those, like me, who have always been fascinated with chef's and their knife skills The Haven's Kitchen Cooking School shows you the different types of cuts and how to hold and use a chef's knife! Amazing!!
Some of the lessons in the book are very basic, almost childlike, but I find that refreshing. I could see me and my ten-year-old diving in together to learn the basics of the culinary arts. The pictures are eye-catching and the entire book is very well laid out. I'm sad to say that as I write this review I have yet to try a recipe (though I have already started practicing the knife skills - I just had to!) but it's very high on my to do list.
I highly recommend this book for anyone, including the cooking haters like myself. For the first time in my life I'm actually excited about cooking!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Growing up, I had always heard the phrase, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid," but I had no idea where the phrase came from. As many idioms, I never thought too much about where it originated until a few months ago when I stumbled upon a documentary about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. I now knew where this particular idiom originated and now hearing it made me sick to my stomach.
On November 18, 1978 the largest mass murder-suicide in American history occurred and "resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until September 11, 2011" according to Wikipedia. 918 Americans lost their lives that day and all because of one man, Jim Jones.
Since this horrific incident occurred there have been numerous books, newspaper articles, documentaries, websites, and interviews discussing the Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, and what happened in Jonestown and at first glance I assumed The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn was going to be another book to add to the collection.
It has been 40 years since the Peoples Temple and Jonestown existed and Jeff Guinn really did his homework. This book is incredibly well researched and leaves no questions about Jim Jones as a person, how the Peoples Temple came to be, and their gruesome demise.
At times, this book was extremely hard to read. There are several situations in regards to Jim Jones sexual conquests which left me sickened and the obscenities from numerous quotes of people interviewed were hard to read as well. The author is an incredible writer and paints the picture so vividly that I caught myself several times audibly voicing my disgust at certain parts.
I was instantly fascinated by this story and absorbed this book in a matter of days. The entire time I was reading I continued to wonder how so many people could be duped into believing this man. My heart went out to all those people that were there to genuinely help make this world a better place. They fought for civil rights and equality and many followers believed they were doing God's work.
Sadly, many never realized the truth about their ministry and their leader. What Jim Jones showed to his people was not the same man behind closed doors. Jim Jones went from preaching about God to preaching about socialism, politics, and cursing God instead of praising him. He eventually claimed that he was god with god-like powers which were in reality nothing more than smoke and mirrors but people bought into his tricks.
I do believe there were things that the Peoples Temple did that did help out their community and the fight for civil rights but the downward spiral of Jim Jones and what happened in Jonestown overshadows any good.
Jeff Guinn does an amazing job of pulling you into the story. The many quotes from eye-witnesses puts you there in the group which is both fascinating and disturbing. This story is definitely not for the squeamish. From the punishments of several members who were not obedient to Jim Jones or Temple rules that were unsettling to the fact that those members stayed and continued to worship him and followed him to their deaths is unfathomable. To read about the children screaming and crying as they're administered the cyanide, the people foaming at the mouth and no longer able to talk, and the people that fought back and did not want to die brought tears to my eyes. I cannot even begin to imagine the anguish they went through during their last moments on earth.
If you've ever wanted to know the whole story behind Jim Jones and Jonestown this is hands down the book to read. "Why did this have to happen?" is the question that continues to run through my mind after reading this horribly sad story. The fact is, it didn't have to happen. Jim Jones had several things that happened that continued to put pressure on him and People Temple. These occurrences in Jim's drug-hazed and increasingly paranoid mind made him feel like he had no choice and his followers clearly had no choice. If he was going down everyone was going down with him. And sadly they did.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Sometimes a girl needs a sweet little love story that has no major drama but a little mystery. An Uncommon Protector by Shelley Shepard Gray is that sweet little love story.
It has been a few years since the Civil War has ended and Laurel Tracey finds herself running her families ranch in Sweetwater, Texas on her own. She is dealing with the loss of both her father and her brother, who died in battle, and squatters, who have started to take over part of her 200-acre property.
Thomas Baker is a former solder who has had a run of bad luck since the war and finds himself in Sweetwater's prison with no hope for the future. Both Thomas and Laurel feel like their situations are hopeless until their paths cross and hope springs anew. Laurel spends her entire savings to free Thomas and hire him for one year to help out at her ranch. His main focus is to get rid of the squatters but they soon both realize that theirs is more than an employer/employee relationship.
An Uncommon Protector is a clean romance with a bit of mystery and drama. The pace of the entire story is a little slow for my taste but I fell in love with both Thomas and Laurel and wanted to see how their story played out. The story also being set just outside of Fort Worth, Texas (which is the area where I am from) also made the story a little sweeter for me.
All in all, I say it's a pretty good book. If you're looking for something that is not too fast paced and has a clean story line with a little romance mixed in then An Uncommon Protector would be a good choice.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
One thing I have battled my entire life is fear. Fear is the reason why I have panic attacks and I'm sure fear has a lot to do with my bouts with depression as well. Let's face it, we live in a tough, cruel world. So many things happen that cannot be easily explained and even though I am a Christian I sometimes wonder where God is in all of this. We as humans are constantly haunted by some form of fear. Fear of the unknown, the fear of 'how,' or fear of the future of our country. So much fear.
I have never been able to imagine a life truly without fear but after reading Nothing to Fear by Barry C. Black I am now on the road to living a fear-free life. How is that possible? Faith.
Barry C. Black is the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate which is what really grabbed my attention and motivated me to read this book. Talk about someone being on the front lines! My curiosity did not disappoint as this is a wonderful and well-written book. Mr. Black has a very down-to-earth writing style and after you read each chapter you have a vision of what you need to do to take that next step to live without fear.
The book is broken down into seven parts which coincide with seven principles that Jesus gave His disciples before sending them into the world to spread the Gospel.
Prepare to be sent
Do a reality check
Thrive in a predatory world
Be as wise as a serpent
Be as innocent as a dove
Concentrate on the task
Persevere through rejection
Within each chapter, there are "Fearless Principles" that dig deeper into the chapter's main theme and each chapter ends with a "Purposeful Prayer" which are simple yet very powerful. This book is not full of one man's opinions of how to live a life without fear but consistently points you back to the Bible and back to the Lord to back up his point.
There is so much encouragement and practical application within these pages! I am so thankful that I was able to read it and will continue to have in my arsenal when fear starts to creep up in my life.
"Remember, 'it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13 ESV).' He keeps us fearlessly thriving in a threatening world."
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
