Favorite Books from 2023

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At the beginning of 2023, I thought I had the year relatively mapped out. I planned on a simple, uneventful twelve months with plenty of reading. I was aiming to read 60 books last year. I would spend plenty time walking in the woods and blog and go out to dinner with my family and friends. Easy and predictable was the plan. But God led me in another direction and while my completed book list was minimal, the path to adventure and growth seems to be ever expanding. I am so grateful that my year did not go as planned. It was a year of pouring out into others. And I needed it. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. I am more at peace and aware that God is good. Plus the point of reading isn't just to get through as many books as you can, it's the reveling and reflecting and enjoying the story and the perspectives themselves. While most of what I read was non-fiction, the books were thoroughly entertaining mainly because my reading evoked a reminder of the true story that I am living in. I don't have to fear what the next chapter entails because I know the author. 
Here's my short list of favorites: 



Don't be like me and never pick up an NT Wright book because you are intimidated. This is excellent and timely. Well timeless, I should say. It dispels a lot of misunderstandings on the afterlife. I can be brave because God is making everything new. 



Hilarious, brilliant and poignant. Pastor John Mark Comer's book equips Christians to spot the lies that are inhibiting us from a life of freedom and peace.  A mind that holds the truth is free to enjoy life. 



Future blog post looming on this topic! I grew up in an egalitarian church(woman can be pastors) so it's all I've known and it always made sense to me. Plus, I love to teach the Bible. But I kept hearing from respectable, brilliant Christians that no in fact woman can not bear the (God-given) title. Since this topic was increasingly pertinent in my life, it was imperative that I land in a confident place of Scriptural understanding. Carolyn Custis James ' book left me feeling feisty for shepherding people to the Truth. Women,  I beg you to do hard work in understanding God's heart for you. This book was life-changing for me. Take note though- it was difficult to read as it goes into some detail into the horrors that women around the world have endured.



Speaking of women teaching the Word of God...Phylicia Masonheimer just may be my author of choice if I had to read only one author for the rest of my life. Her writing is beautiful, her love for the Lord is evident and she spells out the character of God so clearly. We are all theologians. What is more important to attempt to understand as best we can:  Who is God? I will tell you too - I hold a pretty different theology than I did just three years ago.  Don't skip the pneumatology(study of the Holy Spirit) part like I did for most of my life. Thinking rightly about God will impact your relationships, your confidence your everything for the better.


To read with teens or movie buffs. Christian apologist Dr. Frank Turek wrote this with his son. Hollywood Heroes is fascinating, especially the chapter on Harry Potter. 
It blows my mind how secular movies can point to the true hero of the world: Jesus of Nazareth. 



I am so thankful I have daughters! Now that they are 10 & 8 I can read a whole bunch of good mid-grade novels. For them you know, not for my sake. :) Wonderland is sweet and fun and sad.
C.S. Lewis had it right when he said:  'No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.








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