Originally published Monday, 21 April 2014.
[please note how hard I am trying to be Priscilla’s friend in this picture.]
A good book should always do one of the three things: make you cry, make you laugh, or make you see the world differently. Anyone who can accomplish more than that at once, even better! So here’s five authors that can do that for you. I would encourage you to grab up these titles for your summer reading list!
Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence by Jenni Catron.
Jenni and I became friends after a quick meetup at the Catalyst conference, but you don’t have to know her personally to benefit from her leadership and heart for ministry. The word that comes to mind to describe Jenni is wise. No matter what arena you are leading in, Jenni’s book is going to help you see things differently and grasp on to your influence with a confident hand.
Broke: What Financial Desperation Revealed about God’s Abundance by Caryn Rivadeneira.
I met Caryn several years ago and I’ve forced her to be my friend ever since. She’s helped me along the writing journey with her practical wisdom and her deep faith–which is why her writing is so good in the first place. Caryn’s written several books but this one is my favorite. It doesn’t matter if your issue of brokenness is financial or otherwise–Caryn shares her own story with vulnerability, honesty, and spiritual insights that will help bring healing to wherever you feel broken. Awesome read.
The Well-Balanced World Changer: A Field Guide for Staying Sane While Doing Good by Sarah Raymond Cunningham.
If you’ve ever set out to change the world and crashed and burned while doing it, Sarah understands, and she’s written you a book to help. This girl is a go-getter of the best kind. She’s found a way to balance a life of opportunities with a life of humility and gentleness with God. This book is sort of a beginner’s guide to an intentional life–helping you find your call while not losing your soul. Bonus: the quotes at the beginning of each short chapter are AWESOME, like this one: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”–Winston Churchill.
God is Able by Priscilla Shirer.
If you don’t know this woman’s name, you should. She is a Bible teacher who preaches love and truth and wisdom with winsome authority (plus she’s funny). Maybe it was the season I was in at the time, but I devoured her latest book. In it, she breaks down Ephesians 3 (yep, that’s what she does in the whole book) and continually brought me back to the question, do I believe God is able. I was challenged to trust God more and this book brought me deeper with Him. This will give you some straight truth in a little book–and if you are looking for a bible study this summer, check out her latest on Gideon!
Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need for Approval by Jennifer Dukes Lee
I got a chance to read any early copy of Love Idol and I can’t wait to go back to it this summer. If you’ve ever felt like something in you is just striving all the time, seeking, craving love and approval that you just can’t seem to find–then you need to read this book. Jennifer is a masterful storyteller and hits on some deep places that so many of us visit in our own hearts. Highly recommend!
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