Here are my top 5 books from the year. Some old and some new. Comment below what were some of your favorite reads from this year. I would love to know.
It is a book that I will return to in the future. My pen went dry underlining quote after quote on the excellency of Christ and who He is, who we are, and what we are called to because of that. Also, I made the horrible mistake of reading someone’s copy of this book so note to self, get your own copy.
“We may give wickedness smooth names, but we cannot alter its nature and character in the sight of God.”
Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation
This was a fun read. I was not an avid Tim Keller before this nor would I say I am now. However, it was exciting to hear about all the people who shaped his life and influenced his spiritual formation. Throughout the pages, I ran into familiar names and then met some new people along the way. Throughout you saw how God weaved his way into every aspect of His life and getting to go on this journey was well worth it.
Age of Opportunity by Paul Tripp
I am neither a parent nor will I be one anytime soon, but I encounter teenagers often. Also, this book is a must if you are mentoring or involved in junior high/ high school ministry. It is Gospel-centered, convicting to my sins, and helped me understand how much I need to be praying for parents, as well as provided insights on how to bring the Gospel into every situation a teenager might face. This book has a high view of God and His power and love towards helping out parents. Also, even if you do not have children, it is never too early to start thinking about how you would want to raise your children in a God-honoring and Gospel-centered way.
“We must pastor the hearts of our children…by asking heart-disclosing questions, such as. What were you thinking and feeling? Why was it so important to you? What were you seeking to accomplish when you did that? What was the most important thing to you at that moment? What was it that you were afraid of in that situation? What was it you were trying to get? Why did you become so angry? If you could go back and do something differently, what would you change?” (Paul Tripp, pg.100-101).
“We should not see ourselves as pictures on which our children are to gaze but rather as windows through which our children can see the glory of Christ. We powerfully point to Christ when we humbly admit to our teenagers that we were and are people in need of the Lord’s help” (Paul Tripp, pg. 168).
Loneliness: Don’t Hate It or Waste It by Steve DeWitt
Finding a book that empathizes with the current situation that you are going through and directs your heart and affections to the Lord is nothing less than a blessing. So it was with this book. It is Gospel saturated on every single page and provides a theology of loneliness as well as God’s sovereignty and heart to use all of our situations for our good and His glory. I will be going through this book again as well as handing it out to anyone who struggles with loneliness.
“When we are lonely, we naturally ask, who can fill this void I feel? I need somebody to meet my needs!… Overcoming loneliness has little to do with gaining someone. We must lose someone. Who? Me. How? By giving myself to meet the relational and spiritual needs of others… When we invert our natural desire to be loved and choose to love and serve others, the love of God through us mitigates the loneliness in us.” (Steve DeWitt, pg. 55-56)
The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
Short little chapters that pierce you with amazement as well as crack open your heart with new wonders about God. Small, but dense. Loaded with pages that grow your understanding of who God is and who we are because of that. Each chapter goes over an attribute of God that you could chew and meditate on for a whole week.
“It is as if God were saying, ‘What I am is all that need matter to you, for there lie your hope and your peace. I will do what I will do, and it will all come to light at last, but how I do it is My secret. Trust me, and be not afraid.’ With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the most favored of all creatures” (A.W. Tozer, pg.64).
"When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas,
also the books,
and above all the parchments."
2 Timothy 4:13
Rachel Whisman 
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