From the Library of...

One of the things that I truly love doing is reading. I love it. Love the cover, love the contents, love the pictures, Love everything. Love it! (In honor of the Oscars this evening, I am channelling a movie. Bueller? Bueller? Who wants points, people?) To me, there is nothing much like getting lost in a good book. Hot tea in one of my favorite cups, flannel pants, fuzzy socks, view of the outside.... (sigh)... happiness on the horizon. My discipline goes out the window when I am reading. I lose sleep. I almost miss appointments. I choose not to clean my house. It is almost a bad habit. Is that possible? From time to time on the blog, I want to share about books that have really spoken to me or say something that I think some of you would really like.

I have not quite finished this book yet, but I will be finishing it this evening. It is a great book by Elyse Fitzpatrick called Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone. (P&R Publishing, (c) 2001) Even if the last chapter is completely out of character for this author and is totally off the mark (and I can't imagine that it would be anything less than stellar as the rest has been), I would still recommend it because the first 11 chapters are well worth reading. I first heard of this book at a "Reviving Your Heart" conference with Nancy Leigh DeMoss in Memphis last year. She highly recommended this book for all women no matter what stage in life you are at: college, career, single, married, with kids, without kids. The book is written...

"for those of you who desire to live a godly life and yet find yourself in a recurrently disappointing struggle against habitual sin. This book is written for you who find yourself constantly tripping over the same bad habit, the same embarrassing weakness and the same sinful slavery that you hoped to be free of years ago. In this book you'll learn that idolatry lies at the heart of ever besetting sin that we struggle with." (p.15)

Are you a people pleaser? Do you struggle with your thought life and the war that Satan has waged on your mind for months or even years? Do you desire holiness? That sounds like an easy one BUT... do you desire holiness more than you desire comfort, approval, friends, a spouse or children, a better job or living with your own "small sins" that are "no big deal"? You, my friend, could be struggling with idolatry. After reading this book, I had no other choice but to face the fact that I was struggling mightily with idolatry in my own life. I am going to be honest, that was an eye-opener for me. I know in my life, like you do in your life, what my personal areas of weakness are. I did not count idolatry as one of them. This book is very insightful and if you will allow it, very revealing about where we honestly stand before a holy and righteous God. It is appropriate for individual study as well as small group Bible study as it has study questions at the end of each chapter and plenty of notes to promote additional study if one so chose to do so.

I want to list the chapters of this great read to give you a taste of what could be to come for your own personal library.

Introduction: Observing the World's gods
1. Rachel's gods and You
2. Undivided Adoration
3. Of First Importance
4. The Heart Changer
5. Better Than Life
6. Knowing Your Heart
7. Thinking About Your God
8. Longing for God
9. Willing to Obey
10. Resisting Your Idols
11. Crushing Your False gods
12. Delighting in God

See, doesn't that sound like good stuff? Not sold yet? Let me give just a little excerpt of wisdom in this book. (It's hard to choose what passage to put in here because I have so much of the book underlined or highlighted!)

"Man looks to idols to calm his fears and produce desired benefits - to bring him happiness. To identify your idols, begin to look at the thoughts and imaginations that bring you happiness...

Instead of fashioning idols out of wood and stone, we fashion them in our imagination - worshipping that which we believe will bring us happiness. We don't carve a good spouse out of a piece of pine, but we worship the thought of the joy that one would bring us. We don't chisel out a facsimile of the successful man or woman, but we believe that's where our joy can be found. We believe that our happiness is bound up in having our expectation fulfilled. These beliefs function as gods just as surely as if we had carved them from wood or overlaid them with silver." (p. 114, 116)

I am excited about getting her other books because this one was so good. Heavy on truth and not stuffed with fluff. Thank you, Elyse, for being so forthright and honest about an area that had gone unnoticed by me but not unnoticed by the Lord. It is in these books of reflection and revelation that it becomes clear that although the truth can be hard to hear, my life and my walk are better for it. May the Lord receive all the glory due Him through your impact on your readers.