The Mrs. & the Minister

Monika Korra's Kill the Silence:  A Survivor's Life Reclaimed tells Monika's story, beginning with her life as a college Sophomore in 2009. She was grabbed by three men on her way home from a party and violently raped. Monika resolved, just immediately after being released from the hospital, that she would not be a victim -- instead, Monika is a survivor. Monika had traveled from her home in Norway to Southern Methodist University in Dallas determined to acclimate to life in the States and excited for the opportunity of a fun scholarship to do what she loved. As an athlete and Olympic hopeful, Monika already knew how to train against extreme fatigue soreness and distraction. She was stepping-stones to achieve her goals. Persistence and patience had always been her greatest tools. After the attack, she used the same qualities to regain her self-identity and find a "new normal". Stripped of her sense of security, she slowly rebuilt her life with the help of her

Karen Kingsbury's A Moment of Weakness is the second book in her "Forever Faithful" Series.  Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to review the first book in the series, so I was glad to see the second book.  In A Moment of Weakness , a series of misunderstanding and misfortune has always been a part of the relationship between Jade Connor and Tanner Eastman.  As children, they were inseparable until a scandal tore them apart.  As young adults, they again seek comfort in each other, allowing a love to grow until Tanner's mother spreads lies that again drive them apart, but this time to different parts of the country for more than a decade. Now, however, Jade is fighting for the custody of her child against an unfaithful husband who is using her religious beliefs against her.  She turns to the person who still knows her best -- Tanner -- to help her win the legal battle.  In a series of mistakes and lies, can truth resurface from Jade and Tanner's

Kevin Gerald's new book, Good Things:  Seeing Your Life through the Lens of God's Favor , deals with some important questions:  Does God want to bless you?  Does God want to punish you?  Do you have to earn God's favor?  Is God on your side?  Gerald's goal, of course, is to challenge the way we answer those questions, and to base those responses on a rich Christian faith.  Rather than seeing life as a hurdle, Gerald opens our vision to see the evidence of God's constant presence and extravagant goodness.  God is not only good; God's goodness is expressed in a kindness toward us. So at one level, Good Things is a rich, encouraging spiritual message.  Only when we open our eyes to see where God is already at work in our lives, do we find our lives richly textured with graces that we often fail to appreciate.  At a deeper level, though, Good Things troubles me.  I wonder if it only promotes a spiritually anemic message of "name-it-and-claim-it