A Life- a Legacy...

Recently, I have begun re-reading one of my favorite books, "A Chance to Die" by Elisabeth Elliot, which is a biography about the life of Amy Carmichael. The writing style is not necessarily my favorite but the amount of information and insight that can be learned about Amy Carmichael is fantastic and engaging. Included in the book are many personal accounts and letters from Amy, helping one to see clearly what she was thinking and contemplating throughout different experiences in her life.
While reading I kept thinking, "What has happened to all the strong women?" Where are the women like our mother's, like our grandmother's, and like our grandmother's mothers? There is a strength that can be seen throughout tragedies and difficult circumstances in Amy's life but I have to wonder- where are women like Amy in my generation? Where are the women who will claim as their motto in every difficult situation that it is a chance to die to myself and a chance to live for Christ? This was Amy's theme and I think in many ways it was also the author, Elisabeth Elliot's theme because she suffered through the loss of her husband but later would find that God is strong enough to finish the plan He had begun. He used the death of her husband to bring many people to the knowledge of our beautiful Savior- Jesus Christ.
There is also a sweet lady in our church here in Costa Rica who told me a story about when she was carrying loads of laundry down to the river to wash with all of her children and while pregnant. When she got to the river she slipped and began to experience incredible pain in her abdomen, she hid herself behind a tree, gave birth to a tiny little baby that would never have a chance to take his first breath, wrapped him in a towel- finished washing the laundry and then would later bury the child with the help of her mother. After hearing such a story- how can one not pause and contemplate what great pain but what great strength?
Over and over I could recount stories from my Mother and from my Grandmother's generation- my Grandmother who had to struggle through the Great Depression and wonder how she and her family would eat with food being so scarce. Where, Where are the strong women of my generation? I'm so happy that facebook didn't exist when I was child or I can only imagine the amount of stories my mother could have posted about me- from splitting my lip open when I was little- and on Mother's Day of all days, to the fighting that would go on between the three of us as children. I have no doubt that my mother was exhausted or that there were days when she probably felt like breaking down but I can't name one- why? because all I knew as a child was that my mom loved me. I knew an incredible amount of security from my mother because I never heard her complain about me. Certainly there were exclamations of - "Danielle, why haven't you washed the dishes yet, like I asked you to do an hour ago?"- but even in that she was teaching me to help and be a servant to my family, to be willing to help others. My mother knew something that many women I think are missing in my generation, she knew an inner strength and peace. In times of doubt there wasn't a website to google or a post to put on facebook to ask hundreds of "friends" for their opinion. The only opinion they had was their own- and maybe a Doctor's advice but mostly they had to trust the inner wisdom that God gave them as mothers.
So where are the strong women of my generation? Women like Mary the mother of Jesus who had to carry an incredible amount of pain throughout her life as many believed she had birthed a child out of wedlock, that she had been unfaithful to her espoused husband, Joseph. You try explaining the miracle of the virgin birth to your friends and then think about how Mary must have felt. Yet, Mary had an inner strength just like great women of the faith before her, such as, Ruth, Esther, Bathsheeba.
So here is my challenge- why not read about these strong women and pray that God will begin to strengthen our generation. Let's not give in so easily to the philosophy of this age- that there are no absolute truths and that every problem we have is because of the environment we lived or were raised in. Certainly, many have experienced difficulties but let's look once again for the strength that can come only from Jesus Christ. He is our ultimate example and it is through him that we must receive this strength and peace.

The Donkey Who Carried a King

Today is a rainy day, the perfect kind of day to drink a delicious cup of coffee and grab a good book to read. Recently, I have begun teaching English classes to some younger students. So with that in mind- I decided to read a children's book. (I think all of us deep down inside still love to read children's book with all the colorful pictures and illustrations.)
The story I chose is called, "The Donkey Who Carried a King" by R.C. Sproul. I was extremely interested to read this book because some of my favorite books contain a theological theme so I was curious as to what a book written for children would look like by the renowned theologian, R.C. Sproul. First- the illustrations for the book were fantastic, from cover to cover it was filled with delightful pictures that would help to keep any child entertained. Second, the content- or story itself was well-written and also enjoyable. I was even surprised by a few twists and turns that the story took so it was far from the usual Bible story for children.
The main character of the story was Reilly, a little boy who was incredibly sad that he was being picked last for every game he wanted to play with his friends. The theme of course is something that many children could relate with so it is easy to follow along. Then Reilly's Grandpa begins to tell him a story about Davey the donkey and the disappoints this little donkey had to endure. Through twists and turns we follow the life of little Davey and learn a great spiritual truth in the process.
The theological content is very good and also written in a simple manner. Also a unique feature of the book is that at the end it contains questions for the parent to ask their child to discuss further the truth of Jesus Christ on a level that a child would be able to understand and to converse about.
I would recommend this book for any parent interested in teaching their child about spiritual truths- not just moral ones that you can find in any children's book. This book helps to point children to the most important book they can ever read- the Bible and the most important person they can ever hope to know- Jesus Christ.


- I will receive a physical copy of the book for writing a blog post.

Everyone's a Theologian- whether you think so or not

Coffee and a book review seem like two things that are made to go together. Recently, I was reading "Everyone's a Theologian" by R.C. Sproul. It was one of those books that you wish you would've had in your library when... I'll let you fill in the blank. My personal experience was one of growing up in church and being surrounded by Christianity- yet, having a hard time accepting it for myself.

The problem was that I had so many questions and no idea where to go to get those questions answered. To ask the question, "Well, how do you know God is actually real?" or "How do you know the Bible is the Word of God?" to a leader at church just didn't seem like a good idea to a teenager. Ultimately, those are just the basic questions because the more you read what is actually in the Bible, you start to come up with more questions. Finally, you start to meet people from every walk of life whether religious or non-religious and you start to wonder- well what really is the difference between Christianity and everything else?

Amidst all those questions- Jesus brought me to himself and humbled the sinner to bring me to himself and to justify what I could not make right with my own strength. Justify or Justified these were the words I used to skip past in Bible reading and not understand the significance of what it was declaring. Then I went to University and took a class called Systematic Theology, there was never a class that changed my life more than this one. It gave me the chance to ask my questions and to find the place I could go for the answers- the Word of God. It even helped me understand multiple reasons why we can have assurance that the Scripture we read and study truly are the Words of God. 

In this book, R.C. Sproul lines out basic Systematic Theology- he does it in a straightforward and simple manner. You might think a work like this would be boring or unnecessary but it may be of vital importance for your life. This is the kind of book that you read and find yourself worshipping Jesus Christ with a renewed spirit and understanding of what He accomplished when He died, was buried, and rose again. I would encourage anyone to read this book, study it, and enjoying a renewed and refreshed view of the mighty power of God.

~For writing a review I will be given a free copy of the book.