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This is my favorite Patricia St John book BY FAR! Wow. ❄️🐈🏔️🛷 kids keep saying “Mom are you CRYING!?!?” 🤣 but 😭

“…But letting Jesus in is like opening the shutters” (174).

“But he only smiled down at her, and she went away knowing quite well that the old man loved her just as much as he did before” (177).

Didnt think I was gonna like this at first. Felt a bit too sappy as characters were developing. HOWEVER—really enjoying the moral dilemmas in this book—a woman wants to be a mom SO desperately that she’s willing to compromise morals? Lots to think on, hard emotions to juggle in the midst of desperation, grief, anger, and loss. lots of 🚩🚩🚩here

Tears. The gospel is such good news. Patricia St. John just makes the gospel tangible and understandable for the cold, crusty hearts and the young, malleable ones, too.

The only thing I mediate on more than the New Earth & the adventures I’ll get into there is planning the ones Here—& yet still find ways to be blown away in this book.

Every moment from this life will make sense, every holy pursuit will have been worth it, every suffering will have clear meaning, every brokenness will be forever fixed, every pain removed when we see Jesus face to face. This, our hope.

SO glad this book was gifted. I’d highly rec this to anyone else who’s lost a child. I really appreciated the ch about forgiving harsh & crass medical staff. I have repeatedly appreciated this book uncovering sore spots in my heart & not letting me use my pain as a weapon against others. Has a really solid foundation on God’s good, ordaining hand, the power of sin, and the reality of suffering.

“Children and Nature are very close together, and often Nature’s silence can do more to heal angry, unhappy children than any human words can” (41).

“…Your skill can never buy you love. It may, when you admiration and envy, but never love. If that was what you were after, you have wasted your time” (120).

Hard heart, rage, envy, revenge; spiritual dark vs light—elementary & clear gospel application

I see you all reading The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion but no one reviews them, shares quotes, nor writes why we should read them…so, convince me I should read them other than for the fact they are trending my feed. Why? What about them compels you to read and why should I put them on my TBR?

I really love the emphasis of humility and repentance in this book through the tangled web of actions produced from grief.

“Maybe it’s time to press Stop and focus on the One who understands your suffering and can free you from your guilt. Did you know that no suffering can touch you without having first received the permission of God?” (74)

Day 13 devotion🔥 Foundational truths on God’s good character.

“If we believe that our circumstance is something Satan slipped by God when He wasn’t looking, we will plummet to the depths and drown in despair. But if we view the God of the Bible as sovereign, supreme, & the One who calms the waters, we will be buoyed with hope.We will see purpose even though we may not know now what the purpose is…” (62).

Look beyond the //why// and look to the //Who//

I just don’t want this book to end 😢🖤🎨👨🏻‍🎨🖼️

Van Gogh’s chapter left an impression (ba dum cha 🥁) on me! 😜Art jokes!

He “didn’t see the world as a collection of plain, unaffected objects.He saw the unfolding drama of the human story, which to him was a heartbreaking tale”(131).

“His life, his words, & his work show a complicated man who struggled…but also recognized beauty, wonder, & worth in people in ways few others ever world” (144).

“Every one of us faces limitations of many kinds… every one of us must make certain choices in life that take other options off the table… here is where community is so vitally important. Without it, we might be tempted to believe that the limitations and hardships we experience are unique to us, and are therefore hours alone to navigate” (123).

Love that this book follows a timeline, too. Brilliant book!

a sweet gift from a friend and pastor’s wife; this is a comforting read highlighting no specific way to grieve and encourages you to do so on your own time.
it’s hard to pin-point her voice in this devotional; I think the best way so far is to say it’s gentle, patient, understanding, and gives permission for healing where you didn’t even know you needed it (perhaps it’s completely unrelated to miscarriage)

This is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read. 🖼️ Ramsey particularly chooses artists and a specific work that highlights a biblical truth with immediate application and exhortation. I just keep saying “THIS IS BRILLIANT” as I read.

If your a Christian and see the world in metaphor, through nature, and enjoy history with silver linings to poor circumstances—this book, is your golden ticket

What a BRILLIANT book, esp if you love history, science, art, nature, Jesus.

Ramsey reminds that suffering isn’t glamorous in itself, but much beauty comes from it when we’re willing to see w the eyes of the Artist.

“Our wounds are not beautiful in themselves; the story behind their healing is. But how can we tell the story of our healing if we hide the wounds that need it?” (2)

Goodness + Truth + Beauty

“…and by faith we asked Jesus to look after Dani. Every day in prayer we have asked God to hold him safe in His arms, and even when Dani fell, God did not let go of him. His arms were underneath him all the time. Even if he had been killed he would have been carried straight home to heaven. So let us dry our tears and go on trusting Hod to hold on to Dani and do the very best for him” (70).

A blessed truth.

Honestly this book could be (and really should be) an all-day one-sitting read. My goodness. So good. This is our next Finer Things Club read—so trying to savor it. But wow. Just so applicable for today.

shouldn’t have told the kids what page number I ended on 🫠


also—this book 🔥 incredible

so many quotes. so relavant. so applicable. dystopian, but obviously prophetic. a mirror of our society on a thought level

This book is different than I expected, but still so good, especially at this time of year. There has been more about the 50-60 years after Plymouth was established than I anticipated. However, a very balanced and honest-voiced book showing the horrors of war, the depravity of all men (English or Native alike), the beauties of loving your neighbor, and the damning path that unchecked fear inevitably leads you down.

a great addition to morning quiet time

This book is so much more helpful, comprehensive, and eye-opening than any story that any one side presents: whether it’s the cute little Thanksgiving w a linen-clothed table or the blood-thirsty English that cooly murder all the Native Americans.
No, the story of the Pilgrims and Indians is far more complex, far more honoring, far more exciting, and far more understandable from both sides than what we hear.

“Christ is not simply preparing a place for us; he is preparing us for that place” (224).

“While we face our daily challenges, the knowledge that a New Earth is coming should reassure us & give us perspective. It means there’s not only hope but purpose in our suffering…[it] reminds us that the events of human history aren’t meaningless…they are heading toward the fulfillment of a divine plan” (212).

Read aloud with the children: our last Patricia St. John book of the year. Already can see how beautifully she will weave the gospel into this story—as she has in her others.

Understanding history makes everything else so much richer; for the Christian, it makes spiritual metaphors & walk wChrist even deeper—who knew that boats are equipped to sit like ducks in raging seas?!? so many implications for life and suffering here. “knew tranquility in great gales” (32).

Always important to distinguish Puritan from Pilgrim—Philbrick does a great job here.

The expressions from Frankenstein’s creature are my absolute favorite. You see the nature of man, his fears and failures, his prejudices and passions; you see the darkness of sin and the length one will go to for justice, absolution, and acceptance.

This book is better appreciated now at 35 than it was first at 18.

Fox is a master at weaving hard truth and tough love alongside biblical hope and the character of Christ. What I appreciate is Christina’s faithfulness to scripture and inclusion of God’s words over her own. No fluffy feels—down to the nitty gritty good stuff.

Def going on my list for top 5 motherhood books!

Second installment of Finer Things Club tonight—a great book to discuss during spooky season.