Love that Lasts by Gary & Betsy Ricucci

The Allure of Hope by Jan Myers

Heaven by Randy Alcorn

I shall rise from the dead... I shall see the Son of God, the Sun of Glory, and shine myself as that sun shines. I shall be united to the Ancient of Days, to God Himself, who had no morning, never began... No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God, and when I have seen him, I shall never die.

- John Donne

"Nothing is more misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. C.S. Lewis said, 'The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God.'

"In his discussion of Christian orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton wrote, 'The modern philosopher had told me again and again that I was in the right place, and I had still felt depressed even in acquiescence... When I heard that I was in the wrong place... my soul sang for joy, like a bird in spring. I knew now... why I could feel homesick at home.'

"I like Chesterton's picture of feeling homesick at home. We can say, 'Heaven will be our eternal home,' or 'Earth will be our eternal home,' but we shouldn't say, 'Heaven, not Earth, will be our eternal home,' because the Heaven in which we'll live will be centered on the New Earth.

"A Christian I met in passing once told me it troubled him that he really didn't long for Heaven. Instead, he yearned for an Earth that was like God meant it to be. He didn't desire a Heaven out there somewhere, but an Earth under his feet, where God was glorified. He felt guilty and unspiritual for this desire. At the time, my eyes hadn't been opened to Scripture's promise of the New Earth. If I could talk with that man again (I hope he reads this book), I'd tell him what I should have told him the first time-- that his longing was biblical and right. In fact, the very place he's always longed for, an Earth where God was glorified, is the place where he will live forever."

For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn

Stop Dating the Church by Joshua Harris

Every Woman's Battle by Shannon Ethridge

Every Woman's Battle: Discovering God's plan for sexual and emotional fulfillment. Growing up in the church, I think I already realized that women's temptations are more emotional that physical, but that we are called to holiness in everything and are called to be wholly for our husbands, mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I think my favorite chapter was the one about retreating with God. It gave creative ideas on how to do this, and stated why it is important. And it's probably more applicable to me now as a single woman.

The Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer

My favorite part of this was that Tozer pointed out that we can only know God because God has made himself known to us. And how AMAZING is that?!

We can also only know God by the Holy Spirit. It is then that knowledge about God becomes knowing God, which is what we need.

These facts, as many of those in this book, are things that I *know* but benefit greatly from meditating upon and applying to my life. I also really liked Tozer's take on the whole "God's sovereignty vs. man's free will" endless argument. He says:

God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, “What doest thou?” Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so."