Quotes to Live By

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
(John Quincy Adams)

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. (Aristotle)

Every artist was first an amateur. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. (Thomas Jefferson)

It takes ten years to build up a reputation, but only five minutes to ruin one. (Anonymous)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Trusting God with the Bigger Things

A moving story of hope, faith, persistence and the power of dreams.
A piano prodigy, a nineteen-year-old college grad, a Marshall scholar, and an American Idol finalist. This guy had it made. He could sing.
He could ski blind. What couldn’t he do?
Even if you saw him in concert, you might not believe that Scott MacIntyre is blind, and you’d never guess that at nineteen, he faced a diagnosis that rocked his family and nearly took his life.
So how did he do it? How did he overcome the odds?
This is Scott’s story, but he’d be the first to tell you that it’s not really about him. This is the story of how God used a dedicated family, a selfless acquaintance, hardship, and a host of characters to give him life, faith, determination, and experiences most can only imagine.

As I read this book, I was encouraged. I know that my life is 100 times better than his, in that I can see with my my eyes, but I admire his faith in God. For a few days now, I've been in a stressful situation that like Scott, the situation was beyond my control. I was not given a choice, but I felt as though I've been thrown into a pit and there is no way out. Then a devotion that I subscribed to had a lesson about peace and how even amidst chaos, God still wanted me to have peace in my heart and trust in Him to work things out.

So even though in my mind and heart, I am worried about the situation, I told Him that I will trust and follow His guidance in this situation, just like Scott trusted God with his every step.

I got this book from: www.booksneeze.com

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Faith is Bigger than Fame

It was the subject of headlines around the world:  Three Mexican fishermen in a small open boat without any supplies, drifting for more than nine months and 5,500 miles across the Pacific Ocean. Through blistering sun and threatening storms, they battle starvation, dehydration, hopelessness, and death. Their lifelines? An unwavering faith and a tattered Bible.

Thousands of miles away, Joe Kissack, a successful Hollywood executive, personified the American dream. He enjoyed the trappings of the good life: a mini mansion, sports cars, and more. He had it made. Yet the intense pressure of his driven and high-powered career sends him into a downward spiral, driving him deep into suicidal depression, insidious addictions, and alienation from his family. His lifelines? A friend and a Bible on the table between them. 



Thoughtfully told with candor and humor, Kissack weaves together the incredible true voyage of fishermen adrift in the sea and his own life’s journey as a man lost in the world. It is a story that will buoy your spirit and renew your hope and faith.

As I was reading this book, I discovered through Joe that fame, popularity and wealth is not the answer to success in this world. Only with the relationship of Christ through Jesus can sustain you through a well-lived life. As a student, I have thought that "if only" I had enough money, or "if only" I had enough friends, then...
But as I learned through reading this book, wealth and fame is nothing if God is not with you. Life would have no purpose and no meaning.

I got this book from: blogging for books

Friday, August 10, 2012

Never Forgotten

The Captive Trail is second in a six-book series about four generations of the Morgan family living, fighting, and thriving amidst a turbulent Texas history spanning from 1845 to 1896. Although a series, each book can be read singularly.

Taabe Waipu has run away from her Comanche village and is fleeing south in Texas on a horse she stole from a dowry left outside her family's teepee. The horse has an accident and she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses.

On one of the first runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across a woman who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration and take her to the mission.With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu is Billie Morgan. He plans to unite her with her family, but the Comanche have other ideas, and the two end up defending the mission station.


This riveting story was the best at capturing the reader's interest with the right amount of history and fiction. When I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down. I read it in a day and a half. Ned's love brought tears to my eyes because he loved even though he knew of Billie's past and Billie's family never forgot her, even though she was taken captive by indians. They knew she was alive somewhere and I was just reminded of God's presence in our life. Since He made us, He also knows our past and even though we ourselves might want to forget our past, God will always take us in, whether or not, our past is darker than a train's tunnel.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Love Overcomes All

After solving the Mayor’s murder and exposing corruption among the top brass in Las Playas, Carly Edwards is happy to be back on patrol with her partner Joe, putting bad guys behind bars. For once everything in life seems to be going just right.
But then everything starts going wrong. Slow to recover from an injury, her ex-husband Nick, begins pulling away just as they were starting to get close again. Meanwhile when Joe’s wife lands in the hospital with a mysterious illness, their baby is kidnapped. As Carly chases down every lead in a desperate search to find the baby, her newfound faith is pushed to its limits.

This book is a thriller that can't be put down, when started. I finished this book in two days straight. I stayed up late every day and woke up as soon as I could to finish the book and get to the end. Even though there was an adventure on every page, there was still a freshness in Christianity in it. The author doesn't just preach God's word, but uses the characters by applying the Word of God into the book.

In this book, there was a message that spoke loud and clear to me. Love overcomes all. There was a time in my life that I admit, I was overcome with bitterness. I couldn't see past the hurt that many people over the years piled on me. But when I chose to forgive those people, peace and love started flowing into me. Of course it wasn't instant forgiveness, but my heart felt lighter than it has ever before.

I got this free book from: Tyndale House Publishers.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Unconditional Love

Lizzie Engel is used to running away. At eighteen, she left her Mennonite hometown, Kingdom, Kansas, with plans never to return. But five years later, the new life she built is falling apart. Lizzie knows she’s being followed, and she’s certain the same mysterious stranger is behind the threatening letters she’s received.
Realizing she’ll have to run again, the only escape Lizzie can manage is a return to the last place she wants to go. Once she arrives in Kingdom, Lizzie is confident she’ll be safe until she comes up with a new plan. In reacquainting herself with the town and its people—especially her old friend, Noah Housler— she wonders if she judged her hometown and her Mennonite faith too harshly. However, just as she begins to come to terms with her roots, Lizzie is horrified to discover the danger she ran from is closer than ever. No longer sure who to trust and fearful for her life and the lives of those around her, Lizzie finds she has only one place left to run—to the Father whose love is inescapable.

Just like Lizzie's father ruled over her, causing her to mistrust and judge others around her, we should also be careful not to let one person's emotions get in our way. I have learned recently that if one or more people hurt me, God will be there to help us get through it and He will protect us from much hurt. But He will not shield us from the situation because we need to learn to be humble lambs, but at the same time, clever as a snake.

I got this book from: Bethany House Review.

Here is a trailer to the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq7-xzUPkpI&feature=youtube_gdata_player