A common theme of bed rest is having time.  Amidst visiting with friends and family who come over, I have tried to keep myself busy, knowing that a lot of bed rest can feel like a mental battle.  Here’s a list of what I’ve read or done and what I recommend you check out (in no particular order):

Christian Books

• What Women Fear: Walking in Faith That Transforms by Angie Smith Angie Smith is the wife of lead singer Todd Smith of Selah, one of my favorite Christian music groups. But I became familiar with Angie through her first book, I Will Carry You, about her journey of being pregnant with her 4th child knowing that she wouldn’t survive. What Women Fear explores the doubts and fears that haunt us every day, conflicting with our faith and trust in God. Angie walks through stories of others who have simultaneously loved God and struggled with fear and helps us discover how to let Jesus redeem this struggle as only He can, and transform our lives.
• Erasing Hell: What God said About Eternity and What We Made Up by Francis Chan How could a loving God send people to hell? With a humble respect for God’s Word, Francis Chan addresses the deepest questions you have about eternal destiny. Like you, sometimes he just don’t want to believe in hell. But writes, “We cannot afford to be wrong on this issue.” This is not a book about who is saying what. It’s a book about what God says. Erasing Hell will immerse you in the truth of Scripture to find not only the truth but the courage to live it out.
• Life Interrupted: Navigating the Unexpected by Priscilla Shirer I asked for this book for Christmas but didn’t know at the time how applicable to my life it would be.  In the Bible, God interrupts Jonah and sends him on a direction that Jonah wasn’t expecting.  As Jonah runs from God’s call and interruptions in his life, he learns that it’s better to embrace God’s plans, even the interruptions – a lesson that helps us. I wrote about this book in Interruptions.
• One In A Million: Journey to Your Promised Land by Priscilla Shirer Of the original two million Israelites who received God’s invitation to enter the Promised Land, only two actually entered it (Caleb and Joshua)! Similarly, modern day Christians often hear and understand the promises of God each Sunday morning at church but then rarely choose to experience them in everyday life. This book invites us to change that pattern for good, living beyond our circumstances and expecting to see God move in miraculous ways day after day. I wrote about this book in Three Days in the Wilderness and Anticipation.
• Scouting the Divine: My Search for God in Wine, Wool, and Wild Honey by Margaret Feinberg The Bible is full of comparisons which were easily understood in biblical times, but which aren’t as easily understood by us.  At least not those of us who are shepherds or farmers.  Margaret Feinberg spends time with a shepherd, farmer, vintner, and beekeeper to better understand their jobs and therefore how we can better understand promises and analogies in the Bible.
• The Book of Revelation Made Easy by Kenneth L Gentry Jr. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, is often easily glossed over because it can be difficult to understand. This book discusses the imagery in Revelation and helps put the pieces together to understand this prophetic writing.
• Stronger: Trading Brokenness for Unbreakable Strength by Jim Daly. President of Focus on the Family, Jim Daly intertwines true stories with Biblical wisdom to show how God can use struggles to strengthen the faith of his followers. I wrote about this book in The Snowball of Suffering.

Audio & Video Sermons and Bible Studies

• Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman by Beth Moore
• Flourish: Having The Abundant Life Jesus Promised by Tim Sisk at Faith Fellowship Church
• Revelation The Apocalypse by Dale Hummel at The Compass Church
• Romans a Bible study by Karen Wright at Women of Hope at The Chapel Hinsdale

Baby Things

• Baby Bargains A great resource for buying or registering for all things baby-related
• Three Baby Name Books One was very opinionated as it shared “first impressions” of people with each name, but also provided a lot of laughs.  As of now, our baby’s name is still undecided and won’t be released to the public until he is born.
• What To Expect When You’re Expecting The ultimate guide for all pregnant women, learning each phase of pregnancy and how the baby is growing.

Other

• View Points by Steve Shadrach about how to successfully raise financial support for ministries
• Young Life fundraising materials
• Messages From The Unknown by Kim Putbrese. Kim is a friend of mine who wrote this e-book. Although it’s geared towards a teen audience, I enjoyed the high school drama and couldn’t wait to find out how it would all work out.
• Mary Jean Amending by Lisa Doyle. Lisa is a friend of mine who wrote this book as part of NaNoWriMo, a month dedicated to writing a book.  Our book club read Lisa’s book and enjoyed the suspense and stories of Mary Jean’s life and the chance she had at do-overs.  I’ll let you know when she releases it to the public!
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Recommended by my friend in the Marines, I read the first and last chapters of this book, which mainly discuss how the same methods employed to help train soldiers to fire their weapons in war are the same methods the media uses to entertain children. A great read for teachers and parents to help you think twice before letting your children and teens watch violent movies and play violent video games.