Grace Notes

When Did Everybody Else Get So Old? Indignities, Compromises, and the Unexpected Grace of Midlife Jennifer Grant Herald Press, 2017                  In her book When Did Everybody Else Get So Old Jennifer Grant writes of life in her 40s, so-called midlife.   She attempts to discover what midlife really is, or even if there is such a thing as midlife.   And if it does exist, exactly when does it occur?   What does this time of life really mean?   She uses her own life to try to expand these ideas.                  Based on the title of the book, I expected it to be full of humor, causing many belly laughs.   Ms. Grant did not deliver on the laughs.   Instead, I was often left confused, trying to follow her train of thought from one idea to the next, and then back again.                    Needless to say, I was disappointed in the book.   Ms. Grant’s style of writing is not one that allowed me to logically follow her ideas.   There were also many, many quotations su

In the Middle of the Mess Strength for this Beautiful, Broken Life by Sheila Walsh Nelson Books, an Imprint of Thomas Nelson Publishing Date:  November 2017 In her new book, In the Middle of the Mess , popular author and Bible teacher Sheila Walsh reveals her life-long deep shame over her battles with depression and suicidal thoughts, and how learning to bring the mess to God and to confess to Christian sisters helped her deal with her depression.  She does not teach how to overcome the depression, but how to live with it through God's grace.   Sheila teaches that every Christian has things they hide.  Things we don't want brought out of the dark.  Things we deny we deal with, much less want to acknowledge them before God, let alone our Christian sisters.  However, she explains that the Bible over and over again teaches that we are to help each other bear our burdens.  And how else can that be accomplished than by revealing our burdens to someone else, so they can

The Awakening of HK Derryberry: My Unlikely Friendship with the Boy Who Remembers Everything By Jim Bradford with Andy Hardin Published in 2016 by W Publishing Group, An Imprint of Thomas Nelson In his book The Awakening of HK Derryberry, Jim Bradford tells the true story of a boy who met a man, forming a strong, unexpected bond of friendship. The story begins with a thirst for coffee after an intense Saturday morning tennis match. Instead of going to his usual Starbucks for coffee, Jim Bradford ended up at Mrs. Winner’s Chicken and Biscuits, where he learned he qualified for the senior citizen’s discount! On preparing to leave, Mr. Bradford took a closer look at the young boy he had seen sitting in a booth, leaning forward and listening to his patched up radio. On questioning the young woman behind the counter, Mr. Bradford found out the young boy was blind and had cerebral palsy, and that he came to the restaurant every weekend and stayed during his grandmother, Pearl’s, n

You Carried Me – A Daughter’s Memoir Melissa Ohden January 2017 Plough Publishing House Can you imagine finding out that you were aborted?   What kind of feelings would that create in you?   What about your self-worth?   You might feel you weren’t wanted even before you were born, even before anyone knew you… Abortion is a hot topic, and has been for many years. You are for abortion or against abortion. You might be against abortion but feel it is okay under certain conditions.   You might be for abortion because you feel it is a woman’s right to choose. You may feel that the fetus is not a human life, just a blob of tissue, and that life begins once birth has occurred. Whatever the case may be, most people don’t think about abortion from the child’s standpoint.   That aborted child never had a say on whether or not it would choose life.   It would never grow up to have children of its own.   So not only is that life lost, but the lives of future generations. You Carrie