Book Review. Newport Ladies Book Club: Paige

I've just finished reading the third book of the Newport Ladies Book Club: Paige.

This one was my favorite so far! I love it when an book is emotionally spot on. I didn't know how I'd feel in the situation until I read my own feelings on the page. That happened again and again in this book! Not the perfect, storybook ending, nothing trite or cliche; just real life situations and a strong woman who struggles through and is better because of it. Pick this one up, you won't be sorry!

Have Joy

It's so interesting when God is trying to teach me something, it starts popping up everywhere. The newest? A deeper understanding of God's desire for us to have joy, not just in the eternities, but in the here and now.

The current frustration--the proverbial spilled milk of the moment--is real. You know what I mean, the torn grocery bag whose contents scatter over the garage floor, the child who is being obstinate, the friend, neighbor, family member, co-worker who has misjudged (or is simply hard to be around), the finances that are strained, the hole in the stocking, etc.; those things are a constant in this life. However as I choose to focus on the spilled milk, obsess over the unfairness, get angry at the unkind person, etc., I pull blinders down over my eyes to beauty and strangle my ability to see or feel or savor or be grateful for what God is giving me right now.

2 Ne 2: 25 ^aAdam ^bfell that men might be; and men ^care, that they might have ^djoy.

I LOVE that verse. God's plan for us is to find joy. How beautiful is that?

Choosing to look at the downside is working at cross purposes with God--never a winning prospect--and, I think, a direct refusal of God's gifts. Hmmm. Gonna have to think some more about that one.