I read a lot of books every year but honestly, there aren’t many that I remember a lot from and there aren’t many books that I would read twice. HOWEVER, the books I review in this post significantly changed how I look at life and how I do life. 

I would highly recommend them to anyone that wants to improve their life.

Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God by Jamie Winship

I was introduced to Jamie Winship’s work through a friend who found him on Youtube. I devoured his story and his message. His main message is all about finding your identity in Christ and how everything you do in life should be from that identity. 

He talks about the root of all negative emotions is humans thinking ‘I’m going to be powerless and alone.’ He talks through how traumatic situations lead us to believe we will either be powerless or alone. But then his process has you you ask the Lord, “where were you in XYZ situation?” And usually it’s revealed that the Lord was there all along, just not in the way we might have expected. 

The first part of his book is an introduction to how discovering his identity affected his life. The second part is really an exercise of asking the Lord about your own identity. He walks you through the exact questions to ask and how to hear the voice of the Lord. Even if you’re afraid that you can’t hear from God, I think this exercise will be the beginning of learning.

I believe the message he carries is for everyone. Everyone should know their identity and operate from it. Who you are should inform what you’re doing with your life.  

I strongly recommend setting aside a few hours to do this all in one sitting. I fasted, read the book, and answered the questions all in one sitting. It took me 4-5 hours and I heard my identity clearly.

Victorious Emotions: Creating a Framework for a Happier You by Wendy Backlund

“Our belief systems are like the immune systems in our bodies; they will create healthy emotions and a sense of dominion over negative circumstances. The best decision I ever made was to stop focusing on how I felt and begin focusing on what I believed.”

This book came at a time of my year when I was really struggling with loneliness and weariness of a long waiting season. And I honestly had really been believing that things were never going to change, in multiple areas of my life. 

It really revealed to me that I had struggled to process negative emotion. Our brains are literal looping machines. What we repeat in our heads, shapes our outlook, and thus who we become. 

This book came at the end of an 18 month cycle of a lot of negative thoughts. I feel like through this book and a particular interaction with a family member catapulted me out of a really terrible loop. 

Our thought life really rules the rest of our life. If we believe nothing will ever change, we’ll never lose weight, we’ll never get out of a season… those beliefs have power and we are just strengthening a negative loop. 

This is a book I’ll definitely revisit and recommend to anyone who needs to get a grip on what they are believing. If you struggle with any type of consistent negative emotion – this one is for you.

Anonymous: Jesus’ hidden years…and yours by Alicia Britt Chole

“In winter, are the trees bare? Yes. In winter, are the trees barren? No. And so it is with us. Seasonally, we too are stripped of visible fruit. Our giftings are hidden; our abilities are underestimated. When previous successes fade and current efforts falter, we can easily mistake our fruitlessness for failure. But such is the rhythm of spiritual life: new growth, fruitfulness, transition, rest . . . new growth, fruitfulness, transition, rest. Abundance may make us feel more productive, but perhaps emptiness has greater power to strengthen our souls.” 

All of us experience seasons of life where we are hidden, seemingly not producing much, we feel like we’re wandering, waiting for the next thing. This book talks about how most of Jesus’ life was spent hidden (30 years) and what we can draw from his experience and example to get through our hidden years. 

The message of this book really helped me to put my experience of waiting into perspective and how the years of being hidden or waiting are not wasted. 

And like the end of the quote said, “abundance may make us feel more productive, but perhaps emptiness has greater power to strengthen our souls.” 

I really felt that this year. It was a year of quiet progress, of internal strengthening, a year of holding tight to the Lord when things didn’t make sense. Externally I don’t feel like I produced great fruit, but there was a lot of deep change on the inside!