Chosen

One of the things that I have always struggled with is my self-esteem. As a child I was usually the last one chosen for teams at school. In junior high, I was the one who sat over at a desk alone when everyone else was sitting in groups. In high school, I was the loner who sat alone at lunch and was everybody’s friend yet nobody’s friend. I was the one everyone considered sweet and helpful, but not the one who was invited to parties or who my peers wanted to hang out with on the weekends. As an adult, I am still pretty much a loner.

A bit shy and awkward around others I have trouble knowing what to say when I am talking to people so I usually end up talking about myself…which isn’t a good way to build friendships.

I have never felt like I was part of the group or like I fit in anywhere…even at church.

I have never felt like I was special or like I was chosen…but the good news is that those thoughts and feelings were lies and…

I AM CHOSEN!

I am chosen by the One who sees beyond my awkwardness.

I am chosen by the One who died for my sins.

I am chosen by the King of kings.

I am chosen to be His child.

I am chosen to do His works.

I am chosen to do good things.

I may never be chosen by other people, but I was chosen by God.

And you are too! You are chosen by God to be His child and to do His works. You are chosen to do good things. You are His, and He CHOSE you.

Isn’t it great to know that even when we don’t feel loved and chosen by others that we are loved and chosen by Christ?

But you are a chosen woman, a royal priestess, a holy daughter, God’s own special possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

--1 Peter 2:9 (paraphrased)

“All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.

In many-colored robes she is led to the king…”

--Psalms 45:13-14a

Review: Trouble in Store by Carol Cox

Melanie Ross is alone in the world and working as a governess for a wealthy family in Ohio. When she loses her job as a governess, she is at a loss of what to do until she remembers a letter from her deceased cousin’s business partner informing her that she was her cousin’s heir and that she was welcome to come anytime she could to work with him. What she didn’t count on was him dying before she got there.

Enter: Caleb Nelson and his son. When his uncle Alvin invited him to Arizona to help him run his store, the last thing Caleb was expecting was to be saddled with a partner. When Melanie arrives in Arizona claiming half of the store, Caleb is at a loss. He was already having trouble with someone threatening him. Now he had Melanie to worry about too.

I thought that this book was well written and a good book. The story got off to a slow start though and was predictable. The first half of the book seemed to mainly be build up and fill in to the actual story line. But about half way through the book it picked up the pace and turned into an enjoyable story that was funny and adventurous. While it is not a book that I would rush out to purchase, it is a good book for a lazy afternoon read.

Fighting with the Lord

Photo courtesy of  HeartLight

Have you ever had one of those “God moments” where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are called by the Lord to do something? Did you obey that calling or did you fight with the Lord?

I realized recently that for the past 1 ½ years I have been fighting with the Lord about my calling in life. I had one of those “God moments” and knew what I should do, but as time went by I started letting doubt and fear creep in and I started fighting what I was called to do.

Every time I heard God’s voice in this matter, I would say, “But…

·         I’m not qualified.

·         I don’t want to go back to school.

·         I’m tired of this.

·         How can I help others when I can’t even help myself?

·         The list of excuses could go on and on.

Or I would say…

·         Lord, I would much rather do _____.

·         Hey, Lord, wouldn’t this be a much better option for me?

·         Oh! I think it would so much more exciting to _______.

And the truth of the matter is

1.     I am not qualified, but He is.

·         “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” –John 15:4-5

·         “For with God nothing will be impossible.” –Luke 1:37

·         “I can of myself do nothing,”—John 5:30a

2.    If I love Him, I have to be obedient to the calling that He has placed on my life.

·         “If you love Me, keep my commandmants.” –John 14:15

·         “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”—John 15:10

3.    Even when I am tired, weak and worn, He will give me the strength to keep on moving forward.

·         “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”—Philippians 4:13

·         “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles; They shall run and not be weary; They shall walk and not faint.”—Isaiah 40:28-31

4.   I’m not supposed to help myself…My healing comes from Him. There is nothing I can do to make it better.

·         “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted…”—Isaiah 61:1a

5.    Yes, there might be things that look better on paper…but NOTHING is better for my life than the plans that He has for me.

·         “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you.”—John 15:16

·         “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”—Jeremiah 29:11

·         “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”—Ephesians 2:10

So do I keep fighting or do I surrender to the call that He has placed on my life?

25 Christian Pick Up Lines to Make You Smile

I have found these pick up lines around the web, on Pinterest.com, on Tumblr.com, and on a couple of blogs like www.kevinhalloran.com. I hope that you get at least a smile out of them.

Worry: The Thief of Trust

About a year and a half ago, I was having a lot of health issues. I wasn’t sleeping at night. I wasn’t eating. I lost about 20 lbs in 6 weeks. I was working 50+ hours a week at my place of employment. I was working an additional 30+ hours a week at home to finish what I couldn’t get done at work. When I was at work I was busy from the moment that I walked in the door until the moment I left. The only down time I had was when I was driving to and from work. I was stressed out and worried.

I was worried about my job, and I was worried about my health. I was so stressed out and worried that I went to the doctor afraid that I had something horrible and was dying. All of the tests came back clear.

About 6 months later, I started taking a series of training workshops on working with children who have been traumatized.  In the first session, they described the symptoms of compassion fatigue (also called secondary post traumatic stress disorder). I had every single one of the symptoms that they listed. 

The reason why I have compassion fatigue?

I was so busy trying to control everything that I wasn’t trusting anybody, and most importantly I wasn’t trusting God.

Worry and stress comes when we try to control everything and trying to do everything for ourselves.

So how do you stop worrying? How do you learn to trust?

1)     Pray: Ask the Lord to help you relax and let go. Ask Him to teach you to trust. Next time something happens that you can’t control pray. Give to Him right then. Don’t hang on to it.

2)   Opposite action: I learned about this in the workshops. In opposite action, you do the opposite of what your initial reaction is. For example, if you are like me and you are a people pleaser, when someone asks you to do something you usually say yes even if you don’t have time or don’t want to do it. Well, next time, say “no”.

3)   Let go. I know that it is easier said than done, but you are not God. You can’t control everybody and everything.

4)   Take time for you.  Spend time each day doing something you love. Exercise, Eat right. Read a book. Take care of YOU because if you don’t you won’t be able to take care of others.

5)   Turn your focus to Christ. This last one is probably the most important. If you are focused on Christ, then you know that He can handle it and that He will give you what you need.

“Therefore I tell you, don not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on, is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

~Matthew 6:25

God Bless You

Misty

How to Have an Abundant Life

I have always thought that the way to have an abundant life was to live the American dream…

To get married, have a couple of children, a good career, and a nice house…

But lately I have decided that I was wrong.

I have been thinking, “What if having an abundant life isn’t about having more but about giving more?”

This morning I was reading Ann Voskamp’s blog (http://www.aholyexperience.com) that thought came back to me this morning…especially when I read:

“Be concerned for the poor.”

And…

“We’re all hungry for uncomfortable because we are hungry for God—and He is outside our comfort zone.”

What if having an abundant life isn’t about having more but about giving more?

What if having an abundant life isn’t about having more for ourselves but about helping others to have more?

What if having an abundant life is about being so grateful for what we have that we long to give it away to others?

What if having an abundant life is about being hungry for God?

What if having an abundant life is about getting out of comfort zones and serving others?

To truly have an abundant life we have to give more, love more, and serve more.

Greed, The Thief of Generosity

Last year I was dating someone, and one day when we were at my house he said something about disliking the clutter in my living room.

The funny thing to me was when he talked about clutter he wasn’t talking about the pile of papers sitting on my desk, he was talking about my collection of horse figurines and the pictures on my walls.

But he really got my attention when he told me that he thought I was too attached to my decorative things and that he didn’t think that I wouldn’t be able to sell them.

What he said has really stayed with me. God has been using it powerfully in my life. It has made me start noticing things about myself that I didn’t really like. I started noticing that I have can be materialistic and greedy, that there are times in my life when I think I need more…more yarn, more books, more clothes, more shoes, more bags…more, more, more.

As this year has passed, God has been opening my eyes to other things such as when I want more I give less. The more I have, the more I think I have to have, the less I give to others.

I have started looking around now, and I have begun to notice those who have less than I do. As I notice them, I start looking for what I can do to help them. What can I give up?

In the past year, I have sold a lot of my things…I’m not perfect. I still have a ways to go on cleaning out and paring down to the necessities, but I am getting better.  I also still have moments where I think I need something that I really don’t, but I am learning to ask myself why I want something. I am also learning to look at my things with new eyes…

I have asking myself how I would feel if lost everything…

or if a friend saw something and really liked it would I be able to offer it to them.

Having more is necessarily wrong, but as Christians, we are sojourners. This world is not our home, and when our attachment to things becomes greater than our attachment to God or to others, we need to check ourselves. That is what the past year has taught me.

Fear: The Thief of Faith

I wanted to do it. I wanted to go out on the dance floor and dance with my friends. I was asked by several men to dance, but something was holding me back. I just stood back in the corner and was dancing by myself while my friend and her date were out on the dance floor. I just couldn’t do it. Every time I was asked to dance I froze. I got so scared and all the “what ifs” flooded my mind…You know…

“What if he is a serial killer?”

“What if he is a rapist?”

Or heaven forbid…”What if he asks for my phone number?” ;-)

Now I know that this seems ridiculous. I wasn’t by myself. I had a friend with me, and I knew that the likelihood of those first two “what ifs” was slim.  But I just couldn’t relax enough to go join my friends.

I let fear steal my faith…the faith that God would take care of me and protect me.

Fear does that…fear steals your faith.

Oh, it can be a small thing such as dancing with a stranger, or it can be a big thing like taking that leap and starting your own business.

It doesn’t matter the size of the fear. It takes away your faith.

I recently told someone that I think my besetting sin is fear…and he looked at me funny. I don’t know if he was shocked that I admitted it or shocked that I called fear a sin. But it is.

God tells us 365 times in the Bible to not be afraid.  That is one reminder for every day of the year.

If it is something that He has asked you do then He is going to provide a way for it to happen and He is going to protect you too.

We are blessed though. We have a God who loves us and provides for us. He forgives us. All we have to do is ask. 

Don’t live your life in fear. Have faith. Trust God and live boldly for Him.

Replacing Thoughts of Comparison

There was a time a few years ago when I was teaching infants that I was struggling and I was comparing myself with the other teacher in the classroom. In order to replace the negative thoughts that I was having…

“I can’t do this.”

“I told my boss I wasn’t cut for teaching infants full time.”

…I started saying things (out loud) like “I’m just as good as so-and-so” or “I’m better at this than…” Well, my conversations with myself  were overheard by one of my co-workers and these comments were relayed back to my other co-workers. Even though my comments were positive about me I was still comparing myself to others…only I was trying to convince myself that I was just as good if not better than they were.

I learned the lesson the hard way that there are right and wrong ways to replace thoughts of negativity and comparison. I came across to my co-workers as arrogant and superior when the truth was that I was feeling inferior.

At one time or another most of us (if not all of us) struggle with negative thinking and comparing ourselves to other people,  and in my last blog, I shared with you what can be done to change the tendency to be negative and compare ourselves to others. (The 4 R’s: Recognize, Repent, Replace, & Repair) The one of these steps that I find the hardest is replacing the thoughts of comparison.

How do you take the thoughts that seem to just randomly pop into your head and block them or stop them altogether?  Well, here is what I have been doing when I need to replace negative thoughts.

1)   Pray

Our first line of defense against negative thinking should always be prayer. Ask the Lord to remove these thoughts and pray out loud. The Lord will remove these thoughts when asked. I was sitting at home one evening, and I felt like I was under attack. I had negative thoughts about myself just flooding my mind and I was struggling to find any reason to move forward. I had opened my Bible and was trying to read, but nothing was getting through the thoughts. I started praying out loud, pleading with God to take away these thoughts, when I just felt flooded with His peace and I suddenly couldn’t remember what I was thinking about, at least not the exact thoughts that were attacking me. I recommend praying out loud because Satan and his minions do not read thoughts.

2)   Read Scripture

Spending time everyday reading the Bible is important, but when you feel down on yourself or are comparing yourself to others you need to saturate yourself in the Word. Look up verses that remind you that how much God loves you. One of my favorite books in the Bible to read is the Song of Solomon. (Yes, I know how racy it is.) To me, it is a reminder of how passionately we are loved by God. Some of my other favorite places to read when I find myself comparing to others are Psalms 139; Proverbs 31; Psalm 103; and Matthew 5:13-16. d by God. Some of my other favorite places to read when I find myself com

3)   Memorize Scripture

What if you are out shopping or at work and you don’t have your Bible with you? (Which if you are like me, isn’t very likely because I have a copy on my phone.) Then start quoting Scripture out loud or in your head. Memorization is one way that you can make sure that you always have your Bible with you. Here are some great articles I have found on Scripture memorization:

http://blog.lifeway.com/womenallaccess/2013/04/02/6-ways-to-memorize-scripture/#.UZ0JbbXU-3E

http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/revive-our-hearts/how-busy-people-can-memorize-scripture-1/

https://www.reviveourhearts.com/articles/scripture-memorization-help-to-get-you/

https://www.reviveourhearts.com/articles/scripture-memory-queen-of-bad-no-more/

4)   My Love Letters from Jesus Journal

As I have shared in a previous blog, I keep a journal where I write down “Love Letters” from Jesus. They are usually Bible verses that I paraphrase and make them personal. For more information on how to make one of your own, click here. 

A Heart of Hospitality

Hospitality is a topic that it is hard for me to write about. I am an introvert, and because of it I would rather spend much of my time by myself. But after this past week and reading Willing to Walk on Water by Caroline Barnett, I am beginning to realize that I need to look for more ways to serve others.

Of course, at the same time, I am struggling with the fact that I already feel like my life revolves around serving others. In other words, my heart is not where it needs to be when it comes to hospitality.

I am learning that hospitality isn’t just about entertaining others with dinner parties and barbecues. The Lord is working on my heart to show me that true hospitality is about opening my heart and my life as well as my home to other people and finding ways to serve others.

As I am learning more and more about modeling my life after Christ’s life, then I also have to look to Him in the area of hospitality and Christ was the ultimate host. Time after time in the Gospels we see Christ opening His heart and His life to other people. Even though He didn’t have a home of His own, we see Him inviting people to visit Him where He was staying. He fed thousands of people multiple times.  He offered healing where needed and took time to talk with people. He met the needs of the people.

As Christians we are called to receive others as we are received by Christ.

We are called to have a heart of hospitality.

Some Scriptures on hospitality:

“Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister to, and to give his life for many.”--Matthew 20:28

“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please ourselves. Let everyone of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.”--Romans 15:1-3

 “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save.”--Luke 19:10

“The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall also be watered.”--Proverbs 11:25

“A new commandment that I give you:  that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.”--John 13:34 & 35

“Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” --1 Peter 4:9 (This is the verse that really convicts me because many times I serve others, but I do it with the wrong attitude and so I 

do it grudgingly.)

Dear Abba,

I have failed you in the area of hospitality in my life. I struggle with opening my heart and my life to others. I fear being rejected and have many other fears in this area, but I know that You have called me to have a heart of hospitality. I ask that You show me how I serve others and how to open my heart and my life to them.

Amen

Starting Over (Again and Again and Again)

It looks like I’m starting over all over again.

In the past few years it seems like my life has been a series of missteps and start overs, and once again I’m starting over.

But as I think about starting over this time, instead of being overcome with fear (which is my norm), I feel overcome by the possibilities.

The difference?

This time I’m relying on the Lord.

I have believed in Christ most of my life, but I haven’t always relied on Him the way that I should. Like everybody else, I fall down in most areas of my life only to have to turn around and pick myself back up again.

I finally figured out that that  is what I am doing wrong. I am picking myself back up again when I don’t have to.

I just have to look up. God is stretching out His hand and wants me to take hold and allow Him to pick me up.

I don’t have to be perfect. Honestly, I’m a perfect mess.

But Christ doesn’t say, “Come to me when you are perfect.”

Christ says, “Come to me as you are and I will make you perfect. You will become the perfect YOU!”

He has a plan for me. He has a plan for you. All we have to do is look up and embrace Him.

As we keep our focus on Him, He will make a way.

Book of the Week: The Widow of Saunders Creek

Book of the Week: Widow of Saunders Creek 

Six months after her husband dies in a bombing in Iraq, Corrie Saunders moves to her late husband’s family farm in the Missouri Ozarks. Some of his family resent her presence, but her late husband’s cousin Eli Saunders welcomes Corrie and helps her to restore the old farmhouse that she inherited when her husband died. After Corrie moves into the old farmhouse, strange things begin to happen. Is her husband Jarrod’s spirit come back to comfort her or is there something more sinister at work in her house?

Eli Saunders loves Saunders Creek, and he loves the old family farmhouse where he spent a lot of his childhood. Helping Corrie to restore the farmhouse brings healing toward the rivalry and bitterness he felt toward his cousin Jarrod, but something in the house seems to want to harm him. Eli knows that the house is haunted by a demon, but can he convince Corrie? Or will she cling to the spirit in her house because she wants it to be Jarrod?

I found this book to be intriguing. This book is not your typical Christian romance, and I couldn’t put it down. It addresses an issue not often thought of or talked about in the church. Is there such a thing as ghosts? Or is what we put down to ghosts really demons in disguise? Tracey Bateman has a way of using fiction to bring out issues that we typically ignore and her journey into paranormal literature from a Biblical perspective is unique and fresh without being preachy. 

Snow Days!

The snow is beautiful to look at and play in, but trying to drive around in it can get you stuck as I found out this morning.

The roads have been cleared, but this morning as I turned into the driveway at my sister's house my car got stuck in the snow and it took four people to get it out.

Sin is kind of like the beautiful snow. It looks good and seems harmless, but when you get it you get stuck. And like getting stuck in the snow when you get stuck in sin you can't get out of it on your own. You need someone to help you and that is why Jesus came. He came so that we might be saved from our sins. All we have to do is reach out and ask Him for the help.

The Challenges of Life

The past few years have been full of challenges for me. Job losses, the loss of family members and friends, the end of relationships, and the end of some dreams have all happened, but at the same time, I have given birth to new dreams and I have resurrected who I am in Christ.

For years, I pushed Christ away because I didn’t feel like I could trust myself and I didn’t feel like I could trust anyone else even Christ.

I was saved when I was 7 years old at a revival at one of the local churches where I grew up. I don’t remember what the speaker actually spoke about except that he spoke about hell and said that the only way to avoid going to hell was believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. He scared me. By the end of the sermon, I knew that I didn’t want to go to hell so when the evangelist issued an invitation to pray with him to anyone who wanted Jesus Christ to save them I prayed with him.

Now at 7 years old, I didn’t completely understand what it was that I was committing to. I didn’t understand that the road would be rocky and that there would be times when I wondered, times when I doubted, and times when I just didn’t think I could go on. At 7 years old, I was scared. I was scared of dying because I had been told by a couple of other children that they were going to kill me. I was scared of dying, and I didn’t want to go to hell.

Throughout my school years and through high school, I lived in fear and I attempted to make myself as invisible as possible. I was bullied and mentally and emotionally abused by my peers and by the time I reached high school, the bullying turned into sexual harassment. I was scared of everything. I had no self-esteem and I was full of anger and bitterness. To be completely honest, I was a prime candidate to do something drastic such as taking my own life, doing drugs, or something worse.

That is where the power of Christ came into my life. I can honestly say that He protected me from those things because while they were available the opportunity never came for me to do anything so drastic.

On the other hand, I wasn’t perfect. I withdrew from everyone. I have an eating disorder, and I couldn’t talk to anyone without being sarcastic. I am also addicted to romance novels.

 But I loved being at church. I loved worshipping and learning about Jesus

And through Christ the anger and bitterness changed. It disappeared and turned into a desire to help other people, to protect children and teach them to be kind to one another.

 One day at a wedding that my church was doing for some friends, one of the groomsmen came up to me and asked me if I would do him a favor. I hesitated. I stopped and stammered out an answer. After he left, my mom walked up to me and said, “Misty, we are in church. He is not going to ask you anything bad.” At that moment, I realized what I was turning into and I cried out to the Lord that I wanted to change.

After that day,  my mother and I had many talks, and I turned to the Bible to discover what it said about who I was and how precious I was.

I started blossoming. I went back to college and started working on my degree. I started dating. Eventually I moved away from home. I started my own business. I met someone and fell in love. My relationship with Christ was strong.

Then my life fell apart. My business was struggling financially and I made the decision to close it. I moved to Springfield to be closer to the man I was in love with. I had been in Springfield two weeks when he asked me if I wanted to marry him. Then a week after that he told me that he didn’t think we were supposed to marry, and a week after that he became engaged to someone else.

I took it badly. I took it very badly.

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Well, they are right. Looking back I can see that I should have walked away and let it go, but I just kept telling myself that I needed to make sure he was happy, that it was what he really wanted.  I kept denying that I was angry.  I kept denying that he was even going to marry this other woman.

But the worst part was what I let the break-up do to my relationship with Christ. I was so sure that he was the one for me, that my relationship with him was God’s will for my life, that when we broke up I began to doubt whether I could ever really truly discern what God’s will for my life was.  I began to pull away from God. I never stopped believing that Jesus died for me or He wasn’t real, but I stopped believing that He had a plan for me and my life. I stopped believing that I was worth it. I became bitter and angry again, and for years I allowed myself to stay that way.

But you see, God loves me and He didn’t allow me to stray out of His reach. When the time was right, he sent another man into my life. Only this man didn’t believe in Christ. This man challenged everything I believed and the blessing of this turned out to be that I turned back to Christ and I found that I had never strayed that far because all I had to do was turn around and He was there, waiting with open arms.

He has renewed my spirit. He is creating a clean heart within me. And He wants to do the same in you. Will you let him? If He can take this angry and bitter soul with all my imperfections and love me, He can do the same for you. Let Him love you. Let Him cleanse you. All you have to do is believe and repent.

If you want to experience the transformation that He can do simply pray with me:

Dear Jesus,

Even though I am not worthy of your love, you love me. I am a sinner and unclean, but you love anyway. You love me enough that you gave your life for me. ME! I don’t want to be this way anymore. Transform me, Lord. Take my life and make of it what you will. Create a clean heart within me. Renew my spirit that I may walk with you always.  Change me so that I become more like you. Give me the strength to walk in your will.

Amen

If you prayed with me, will you let me know? I want to walk with you in fellowship and love in Christ.

God bless you,

Misty, the BarnPrincess

P.S. Due to the weather, I may not be able to post for a couple of days. I am currently a caregiver for my grandmother and I have no Internet access at her house. We are expecting a big snow storm later today so I am unsure when I will be able to access the Internet again. this week.

A Reading List for Young Christian Singles

Reading List for Young Singles

As anybody who visits my blog knows, I love to read. I have written several reviews and a couple of book lists. This book list is special. This book list is a list of books that I have read throughout my 20’s and early 30’s that I recommend for young Christian single women to read.

Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall & Debbie Jones

I have been through this book several times. It helps you to focus on your relationship with Christ and growing to be the person that God has for you to be.
 Single and Content by Dana Anders, Nathan Clement, Chris Conti, and Lana Trent

This book is a compilation of stories from singles across America. They share what they enjoy about being single and why.

When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy

This book is basically an autobiography about Eric and Leslie Ludy, how God worked in their lives to prepare them for each other and to bring them together.

  Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy

This is a book about what it means to be set apart for God and authentic feminity.

When Dreams Come True by Eric and Leslie Ludy

This book is basically a continuation of Eric and Leslie’s love story.

  Marriable by Hayley and Michael DiMarco

Are you marriable? This book helps you answer the question are you really ready for marriage or not.

  Dateable by Justin Lookadoo and Hayley DiMarco

Like Marriable, this book helps you answer the question are you ready to date.

 Sexy Girls: How Hot is Too Hot by Hayley DiMarco

Sexy Girls takes a look at modesty and fashion and what kind of picture we want to present.

 Technical Virgin: How Far is Too Far  by Hayley DiMarco

Technical Virgin helps you to answer the question “how far is too far?”

 Mean Girls  by Hayley DiMarco

Mean Girls takes a look at how we treat other women and how we allow ourselves to be treated.

 What to Do Until Love Finds You by Michelle McKinney Hammond

In this book, Michele McKinney Hammond helps you focus on your relationship with God while waiting for Mr. Right.

  Sassy, Single and Satisfied by Michelle McKinney Hammond

This book is about being satisfied where you are.

 Get a Love Life by Michelle McKinney Hammond

Get a Love Life helps you focus on your relationship with God as a single woman.

  Romantic Love by Dr. James Dobson

Dr. Dobson takes a look at romance and love. He defines what love should look like and how to balance our head and our heart.

What I love about these books is that unlike most books for singles these books don’t concentrate only on dating or courtship. These books talk about becoming the best YOU that you can be so that when God brings that special someone into your life you are ready. They are books that help prepare you for a life with someone else or a life on your own.