BOOK REVIEW: Freefall to Fly

Freefall to Fly:  A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning
by:  Rebekah Lyons
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Copyright 2013

Freefall to Fly is a raw, emotional, honest look at what happens when you let go and let God take control.  How do you find the meaning and purpose in your life, or is life wrapped up in your family and day to day responsibilities? 

 

Over the course of two years Rebekah Lyons dealt with panic attacks and had to face the reasons of why she was having them.  For a season they stopped, and then they returned.  What was the cause?  She had a fear of mental illness, because her father was debilitated and in assisted living because of all the drugs he had been prescribed over the years to deal with his own mental illness.  Rebekah discovered that her panic attacks stemmed from the fear of letting go.  Not willing and not knowing how to turn complete control of her life over to God.

 

Rebekah tells how the short online documentary Boatlift: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience narrated by Tom Hanks made an impact on her life. 

Perhaps this is how God thinks of rescue.  When our panic sets in and we usher up prayers, desperate enough to jump off the seawall to swim for our lives, He rushes in with an overwhelming response.  If only we would make that final call.  It's the one action no one can do for us.

 

When we let go and ask God to take control, we are free to fly.

 

At times I cried with her, at times I laughed.  I have experienced a lot of the same emotions she went through.  I believe if you have the chance to read this book, you will gain a new insight into living the life God called you to.

 

In order to comply with new Federal Trade Commission regulations, please note that this book was provided compliments of  Handlebar's book review program.

BOOK REVIEW: Dandelions on the Wind

Dandelions on the Wind

By:  Mona Hodgson

WaterBrook Press

Maren came to America from Denmark as a mail order bride, right at the beginning of the American Civil War.  Her intended was a friend of her family, and she felt safe in knowing she would be cared for and would have the opportunity to bring her remaining family to America once she was married.  However, no one counted on the fact that Maren is going blind.  A wife who has difficulties seeing is not what her groom had intended, so he escapes to the war. 

Maren takes various jobs, but eventually settles in with a grandmother raising her four year old granddaughter, Gabi, alone.  The girl's mother had died during childbirth, and the death of his beloved wife was more than Rutherford, otherwise known as "Woolly", could take.  So like Maren's intended, he joined the war and has not seen his daughter or his mother-in-law since the day of Gabi's birth.

The war is now over and soldiers are coming home, Woolly among them.  He is met with coldness from his mother-in-law upon his return, but great joy by his daughter, who has been praying to meet her PaPa.  How will Woolly's return affect Maren?  Will she have to leave the family now?  Will this give her the opportunity to take a job in town in order to save money for her return to Denmark? 

This book was too short!!  It came to such an abrupt end, although a good one, and left me wanting more.  So of course I had to order the next book in the series! 

 

In order to comply with new Federal Trade Commission regulations, please note that this book was provided compliments of  WaterBrook Multnomah's book review program.

 

 

 

 

Adapting to the Environment

Tuesday morning I listened to a great story on Troy Public Radio entitled "He Helped Discover Evolution, and Then Became Extinct", a story about Alfred Russell Wallace.  I have an insatiable curiosity and love hearing about nature and new things, so I listened with interest, although caution.

One comment in particular caught my attention: 

By 1855, Wallace had come to the conclusion that living things evolve. But he didn't figure out how until one night three years later. He was on the island of Halmahera, ill with a fever, when it came to him: Animals evolve by adapting to their environment.

While I believe that plants and animals can adapt to their environments, I firmly believe this is limited to the characteristics God has given to the plant or animal.  As a Christian I wanted to yell out, questioning them as to why God couldn't have just made these creatures this way, specifically for this area of the world.

It's good to get the opinions and beliefs of others, but we must always remember that the Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth, and everything that is in them.  He created them by their own kind, and each, from plants to animals and everything in between, reproduces after it's own kind (from the first few chapters of Genesis).  In other words, a dog and a cat can't create a new type of creature, etc., but two different cats could create a new breed of cats -- staying in one's own kind or family. Neither did man come from a long line of sub-human creatures to eventually become what we are today (the Bible clearly states that God made man and woman in His own image, male and female).

In summary, God is the Creator of all, and nothing happens that is outside of His design.  Including adaptation to one's environment.


Linc to Troy Public Radio's story:
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/177781424/he-helped-discover-evolution-and-then-became-extinct