WEBSITE AND BIBLE JOURNALING ALSO IN SPANISH    
    FREE RESOURCES
Blog

8 Books that Changed My Life

I absolutely LOVE to read, and I have been like this since I was a little girl.  For the past few years I have set a reading challenge through Goodreads.  Goodreads is my favorite place to track books I’ve read and ones that are next on my list to read.  (Find my profile HERE) When I see people post about different books online, I always log into Goodreads and add it to my “to read” list.  This is not a sponsored post at all.  It has just become my favorite place to track my reading.

Much of my time is spent working.  Typically, I work 10-12 hours a day at church and then come home and work 2ish hours on Creative Faith.  Reading is one of my favorite ways to de-stress.  Lately, I have been grabbing a book and spending 5 minutes reading before I fall asleep instead of scrolling on my phone.  It has been one of the greatest changes I have made in my night routine.

The books on this list have been LIFE CHANGING.  They have made me cry and laugh and taught me so much throughout the year.  I have links for you all to get these books.  They are affiliate links with Amazon, which means I make a very tiny commission, but you don’t pay anything more.

I am also doing TWO GIVEAWAYS.  One over on my YouTube channel HERE.  And one on this blog post.  How to enter?  Comment below on this blog post with some of your favorite books that I should read in 2019.  I’ll draw a winner (US/Puerto Rico addresses only) and send you one of the books from my list on February 1, 2019.

My Top 8 Life-Changing Books of 2018:

8. Charla’s Children: Summer 2019 I am taking a group of youth from my church to Foundation for His Ministries, a mission organization in Baja, Mexico.  This book contains the true stories from Charla, the woman who founded the foundation, about how the ministry started including some crazy miracles.  I love reading true stories from missionaries that share only things God could do.

7. The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper: Yes, I totally realize this is a Christmas book.  But, I want to re read this book throughout the year, too.  It has 25 days of devotion content, meant to lead up each day in December.  Wow, though.  Each day was so short and so deep.  John Piper speaks truth over the story of the birth of Jesus – truths that we need to hear all year long.

6. 100 Days to Brave by Annie Downs:  What an awesome devotion book Annie wrote for us.  Super short and accessible devotions for 100 days to encourage us to be brave and courageous.  Since courage was my word for 2018, this book especially spoke to my heart.

5. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala and Dean Merrill:  Another church was getting rid of a ton of books and asked if I wanted to look through them first.  Being the book lover I am, I dug through them and found this book brand new, never opened.  I started reading the powerful and true stories all about prayer and how it impacted a church.  This book also inspired me to start a prayer meeting at my own church.

4. Whispers of Rest by Bonnie Gray:  This is a 40 day devotion book that is all about… you guess it… REST.  Bonnie has really great Scriptures that give us a lot of meat to reflect on.  She also has wonderful activities for us to do that are backed up by science that research shows help us rest.

3. Radical Together by David Platt:  This is part II of David’s book called Radical and wow.  Don’t read this book if you want to stay comfortable, because God is going to CONVICT you.  Platt points out the flaws in the “American dream” church and how we can more radically obey the Lord and what He wants for the church.

2. Fiercehearted by Holley Gerth:  If you get any of the books on this list, grab this one.  Holley has a bunch of little chapters in her book about what it means to have a fierce heart in Jesus.  He life stories connected to God’s Word will make you laugh, cry, and remember all the wonderful things God does for His children.

1. Remember God by Annie Downs:  Obviously I love Annie Downs because she is on this list not once, but twice.  Remember God is a fantastic book all about God’s kindness and what happened when Annie couldn’t see it.  Like Gerth, Downs weaves together stories from her own life with truths from the Bible.

Books to Read FREE Printable

I love tracking books I want to read, and I thought you might all want this book list to print.  I also made a blank version, too that you can fill with the books you want to read this year.  Click the link below to download and print your freebie!

Creative Faith Freebie – Books to Read

What’s on my reading list for 2019?

Books I’ve started and need to finish:

New books I’m excited to start:

Through the years…

I graduated college in 2014 and immediately left for the Dominican Republic where I taught until 2016.  2016 until now I have been working at the church.  It’s been interesting to see how my first year at the two jobs I’ve had my reading dropped, but then I realized the second year how reading helps my spirit and encourages me and my book count increased. 🙂

2014: 10 books read for fun

2015: 5 books read for fun

2016: 21 books read for fun

2017: goal to read 20 books, actually read 9 books for fun

2018: goal to read 12 books, actually read 19!

The GIVEAWAYS

So like I said earlier I am doing TWO GIVEAWAYS.  One over on my YouTube channel (click HERE to watch and learn how to enter).  And one on this blog post!

How to enter?  Comment below some of your favorite books that I should read in 2019.  I’ll draw a winner (US/Puerto Rico addresses only) and send you one of the books from my list on February 1st, 2019.

Back To Top