The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Timothy Keller

This is a different spin on the gospel. It is a little bit different than what I've heard lately, but still more like what God is showing me recently than anything before three years ago....... I guess you could call it "reformed," but by that I mean only that the emphasis is on what GOD does rather than on what we can do. And it proposes that we need the gospel every day... Timothy Keller says, "The Gospel is the A-Z of the Christian life, not just the A,B,Cs." These are things I have been learning, from Alan Kraft's book and all of CCCG, and from my time at SGC, and even from reading Mere Christianity. But it bears repeating... over and over:)

The Path of Loneliness by Elisabeth Elliot

Let's just be real; it has been a lonely time for me. But I benefit from reading Elisabeth Elliot's sobering and re-orienting words any time. This particular book seems to focus more on issues related to loneliness. I like her idea of offering loneliness to God.

"It is a very different line than I offer [than joining a health club, etc], more practical, more "useful" in the long run than any diversion, one that has been for me not only eminently workable wherever I was, whatever the cause, but fundamentally transforming. It is not a trick or a program or a method of getting rid of loneliness altogether. I do not believe there is such a thing. It does not cost money, require skill, or depend upon the cooperation of others. It is this simple matter of seeing loneliness as a gift-- to be received, and then to be offered back to God for His use. We might say it is a coin, exchangeable for something of everlasting value.

"When a coin is spent it's gone. I have often found that loneliness given to God disappears. I cannot find it anywhere. My heart is light. My work is a joy. I am healed. and all unbeknownst to me, there has been, in addition to my own healing, an exchange I did not dream of: Someone else's load has been lightened.

"But then it comes again, in a different way, perhaps, but loneliness all the same-- the reminder that I was made for god, my heart will never rest anywhere else, and nothing the world can offer will satisfy.

"Can I promise that your loneliness will disappear at once? No. It does not always happen so. I cannot offer a want which when waved in the proper way will make your troubles vanish. I cannot say, "This is what you can do about it," but I can say, "This is what you can do with it-- right now." Receive it willingly from God. Offer it thankfully back to God.

"You will still be alone, but you will not be lonely. You will find solace in solitude, and your oblation brings you one step nearer to spiritual maturity." (147-148)