In the meantime

Six years ago, we stood before our family and friends and pledged our love to each other. We became Mr and Mrs Isaac Stanley and had that first awkward kiss before a watching audience. It has been 2,190 days since I became  Mrs Stanley,  and I'm still not used to that name.   Wedding Day - June 2013 That sunny June day, almost four years after we first met, we thought we knew each other. But oh, how little we really knew! I mean, I knew he loved to read, but just how much, I really had no clue!   We thought we loved each other, but that love had been untested, untried. Sure, we had to work through some things before we were married, but that day when we pledged our love to each other, our love was really only in its infant stages. It was definitely still in the fuzzy-feeling stage. It was still in that stage where our hearts would beat faster at hearing each other's voice on the other end of the phone or while reading a love note that had been sent ...

In case you haven't figured it out already from all the book reviews I been posting lately, I've been doing a bit of reading these days! This year, I decided to do Tim Challies' 2019 Reading Challenge. I originally set out to read a total of twenty-six books this year. However, I think I am on track to actually complete the first three levels of reading--Light, Avid, and Committed (a total of fifty-two books.) So for something fun and different, here's a list of the first twenty books I've read this year, as well a brief statement about it and a 1-5 star rating  to help you know which ones are actually worth reading! (And yes, I had to add a "5+ Star" rating...just because!) Rating 5+ Stars - Incredibly encouraging & edifying; absolutely loved it! 5 Stars - Fantastic and edifying read! 4 Stars - A great read!  3 Stars - An okay book overall. 2 Stars - Left much to be desired.  1 Stars - Don't waste your time reading it.  The ...

God's Glory Alone: The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life , by David Vandrunen (Zondervan, 2015).  Published around the 500-year anniversary mark of Martin Luther's famous nailing of his 95 Theses , this book is a part of "The 5 Solas Series" that covers the five solas of the Reformation: God's Word Alone, Christ Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, and God's Glory Alone. I cannot begin to express what a blessing it was to read God's Glory Alone . I really did not know what to anticipate from this book, except that it would probably be a bit more theologically in-depth than many of the books I tend to read. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, while it was indeed a theologically-rich book, it was also easily understandable for me, a lay-person, if I simply took the time to read it slowly and carefully.  Soli Deo gloria is a familiar phrase to many of us; we are also familiar with what is often called "the doxologica...