Books That Have Been Helpful

One of the things I want to do on this blog is include resources that have helped me.  Whether it's a comforting song, a quote, scriptures (especially scriptures), or a book...if it's helped and blessed me, I want to share it with you.

I've found a number of books that have been helpful to me over the years on my journey from fear toward faith.  I'll be writing a post about each one as time goes on.  For now, here's a little bit about them with links so you can take a look at them for yourself.  Maybe they'll be a blessing to you, too.



IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON WATER YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT
by John Ortberg

This book surprised me in that I didn't realize when I picked it up that it would be addressing the issue of fear as much it did.  With a title like that, I should have known, but somehow I didn't see it coming in the way God used it in my life.  One of the biggest things I took away from this book is a single illustration of a little girl standing on the edge of a pool being asked to jump into her daddy's arms in the water.






RUTHLESS TRUST
by Brennan Manning

I loved this book.  Brennan Manning, a humble and admitted "ragamuffin" who himself has dealt with fear issues, challenges us toward a "stubborn trust," an "obstinate trust" and even a "ruthless trust" in God.  He uses many more adjectives to describe the kind of trust I think we all, inside, actually long to place fully in God. There were so many awesome things in this book I filled the inside cover with notes and quotes.








TRUE FACED
by Thrall, McNicol, and Lynch

This is a book about learning to live in God's grace.  It shows us that walking a path of performance in the hopes of pleasing God only causes us to miss an intimate relationship with Him entirely.  It's about taking off our masks and living real before God and others.  It's about trusting God and others with our real selves.  Awesome stuff.






BO'S CAFE
by Lynch, Thrall, and McNicol

This is a partner book with True Faced above.  It is True Faced with skin on.  Bo's Cafe is an easy-read novel that puts you right in the middle of the True Faced truths being lived out.  It shows us what such a life of grace and trust looks like.  Very encouraging.







HINDS' FEET ON HIGH PLACES
by Hannah Hurnard

Simply a MUST READ for all who battle with fear.  This little analogy has been a classic for decades.  I have read it at least three times and I am always blessed, challenged, and given courage and hope through it.  In fact, I recently bought a new edition that includes devotional entries written by another author.  I look forward to reading it again soon and using the devotional entries along side.  (If you'd rather have the devotional edition, it can also be found with a little extra searching from the link at left.)




A SHEPHERD LOOKS AT PSALM 23
by Phillip Keller

I had heard a number of sermons in my life that offered a few insights into the relationship between sheep and shepherd.  These details and tidbits of information really blessed and expanded my understanding of Psalm 23.  But...to have an entire book filled with such details written by a real sheep rancher!  Well, there was so much more in there that encouraged me to trust our tender, care giving God.






LIVE A PRAYING LIFE
by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

This is a Bible study workbook that doesn't necessarily deal with fear but at the time I went through it, it so blessed me and helped me to trust God that I just had to include it.  I had been struggling terribly with trusting God.  His very sovereignty scared me to pieces.  My prayer life was stifled because I didn't know how to pray to a sovereign God who I thought was just going to do what He wanted anyway.  That is still a mystery but this study was a huge blessing in my journey.