Books That Have Greatly Influenced Me

My husband and I have read and continue to read books about what it means to live as a Christian in the 21st century. We find it very helpful to learn from others how they view and live out this way of life. It is good to have a broad perspective and not be stuck in any one way. The books that have had the greatest impact on me personally are these. If you are looking for a fresh perspective on what it means to be a Christian, living life to the full, discovering and using your God given talents, feeling at peace and not being satisfied with the "status-quo", then give these books a read.


Rob Bell
Velvet Elvis
Sex God
Love Wins

John Eldredge
Epic
Journey to Desire
Waking the Dead
Captivating

Barbara Brown Taylor
An Altar in the World

Randy Harris
God Talk
Soul Talk

Shane Claiborne
Irresistible Revolution

Gary Thomas
Sacred Pathways

Mark Scandrette
Soul Graffiti

Books on Art and Faith:

The Artist's Rule - Christine Valters Paintner
The Creative Call - Janice Elsheimer

Julia Cameron
The Artist's Way
Walking in This World
Finding Water

If you have read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you thought of them.

An Attitude of Gratitude Journal - Books, Education and Things I've Learned

Continuing along with the month long Attitude of Gratitude Journal challenge, here are Days 11, 14 and 19:
 

As I read each day's prompts, I make notes of what comes to mind, then work them out in the journal. Working on a few pages a week, I have the advantage of seeing what themes and technique challenges are coming up. I have noticed that my thoughts for one day can also be applied to another day in a few instances. Because of this, I have decided to combine some days. Here are Days 11, 14 and 19 - Things I've Learned, Education and Books.

The technique challenges for each day are: use the Vaseline resist method; use the liquid pearls technique; and use a book page. I do not currently have Vaseline in the house, so was not able to try this technique. I did watch the video and it looks really cool. I will try it on a future page.

For the page on the left, I added book pages from a tree identification key guide, wrote the scripture and journaled my answers to the questions. I noticed that the blank areas formed triangles. I thought that the black & white checkered tissue paper I have would look good there. I looked for it but could only find a piece that has a thin coat of gesso applied to it. This wasn't bold enough so I drew in the triangles and checker squares and colored them.

On the right I added another book page, from an old Peterson Guide to Birds book I bought at a library book sale. I added the piece of checkered tissue paper to tie it in with the other page. I don't own Liquid Pearls but I do have pearlescent paints, so used this instead. I scraped it over a stencil as demonstrated in the video. I chose to add texture by blotting the paint while wet with a sheet of paper. On this page I wrote about my favorite books and made a list of places where I have taken classes.

I love books and I love learning! Thank you Lord for these treasures.