When Life's Not Working

The other night I started reading, "When Life's Not Working" by my pastor, Bob Merritt. I cannot put the book down, it's right on! Bob has a gift of being able to make all messages at church real and relevant and his book is just the same. I've been taking notes as I read and here's a few things I have written down:

- "If life's not working as you had hoped, take charge of your life, get on a different path, and watch how God puts the pieces back together." I love this quote, exactly what happened to me about 7 months ago.

- "Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems. Without discipline we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can only solve some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems."

- (Discipline) "It's having a goal, rolling up your sleeves, and doing what's necessary to achieve it, believing that all the handwork and sacrifice upfront will pay off somewhere down the road."

- "You want to measure how much you love God, look at how much you love, care about, and are considerate of others. If you couldn't care less about others- if you're not considerate and generous toward others- that's a sign that God's love has not fully penetrated your heart."

- "When we are disobedient, it's usually God's protective presence that we forfeit, and that makes us vulnerable to attacks, loss, and failure.

- "Setbacks and deficits are opportunities to display God's power and to build our faith."

- "God is wiser, more powerful, and more willing than any therapist, book, saying, or person, and he will do for you what you cannot do by yourself, if you'll just go to him and ask."

- "God waits for and responds to his children who come to him in prayer. It's not automatic. God's timing isn't always our timing."

- "Sometimes all you can do is get through one more day, then another, and another after that, believing that God is teaching you, strengthening you, and doing something in you that will make you more complete. It might take you 8 weeks or 8 years. But often the only difference between those who succeed and those who don't is flat out perseverance and giving it just one more day."

After wandering the bookstore at church I came up with a list of other books I'd like to read:

- Boundaries in Dating, Dr. Henry Cloud. Bob is always referring to Henry Cloud so I am interested in reading many of his books.

- Prayer Coach by James I. Nicodem

- Redefining My Life (Apparently didn't write down the author)

- To Save a Life by Britts

- They Like Jesus, but not the Church by Dan Kimball

- Letter's of a Skeptic by Dr. Gregory A. Boyd

Back in September I bought, Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. I haven't finished this book yet, but what I've read it great! It's about a 4 year old boy- Colton who told his parents he left his body during the emergency appendectomy- and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital while he was in surgery. He talks about visiting heaven and sharing events that happened before he was born.