Why Read?

Wow, if Stacy didn't give you enough reasons yesterday to start reading, here is one more!

I heard a speaker say once that the reason he read books was that it gave him HOPE. I didn't really understand the full depth of that until I took a serious look at what I was reading.

That has been a guideline for me as I choose books. Do they give me HOPE? Or are they just taking up my time?

Fiction books can give me hope as long as they have a storyline that is uplifting. Books that are based on values that I am trying to follow. I am reading one this summer that is thought-provoking yet hopeful. Glittering Images, by Susan Howatch is about a young clergyman who puts forth a wonderful image in his ministry, but is haunted by who he really is. I am not finished with it yet, but so far, it is a book that bring me hope as I wrestle with the main character and his quest for authenticity.

Biographies are wonderful books that can implant hope to the reader. But not all biographies do that! I have begun reading biographies only to stop reading them as they offer no hope. They are just talking about a person's life with no direction or hope woven within the lines. It was all about the person, but little more.

Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place and Elizabeth Elliot's Through Gates of Splendor are two exceptional picks for summer reading.

the organic God by Margaret Feinberg is just plain HOPEFUL!

Become a woman of HOPE by reading books that build that HOPE within you.