THIS post contained many favorites from this year, but I have a few more I wanted to share.

The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus by Rich Villodas

“Deeply formed mission is first about who we are becoming before what we are doing. Our most effective strategy in reaching a world for Christ is grounded in the kind of people we are being formed into. The quality of our presence is our mission.”

Boundaries for Your Soul: How to Turn Your Overwhelming Thoughts and Feelings into Your Greatest Allies by Alison Cook

“Burdens of shame do not define you. Whereas these lies say you are unimportant, God says you are decidedly well-known and deeply loved. And you can be real because you are his. You are the light of the world—and shame has no place in the light.”

Wild in the Hollow by Amber Haines

“I asked myself, do I want my kingdom here in the big, loud, visible now, or do I want the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the small, the kingdom for the broken, the kingdom of the invisible? Only one is satisfactory. Only one King can tie the church back together. Only one is the healer of my mind, my body, and my soul.”

Bruchko by Bruce Olson

“There was so much to do… so many things that Christ had called me to do. It would take more pain, more loneliness. Maybe death. Why was it so hard? Why? Then I saw Jesus. He was struggling up a hill with a great burden. His face was lined with grief, His back bent.”

Mother to Son by Jasmine Holmes

“The answer to favoritism between light and dark skin isn’t to stick our heads in the sand and claim we don’t see color, because that is to ignore the beauty that the Lord poured into our skin.”

Motherhood Without All The Rules by Maggie Combs

“The prize isn’t Christian children. The prize isn’t perfect motherhood. The prize is a deeper relationship with God on earth, until one day we experience the glory of perfect fellowship with Him in heaven.”

Suffering is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot

“If your faith rests in your idea of how God is supposed to answer your prayers, your idea of heaven here on earth or pie in the sky or whatever, then that kind of faith is very shaky and is bound to be demolished when the storms of life hit it. But if your faith rests on the character of Him who is the eternal I AM, then that kind of faith is rugged and will endure.”

Broken Bread: How to Stop Using Food and Fear to Fill Spiritual Hunger by Tilly Dillehay

“You are responsible for what you know, but you can’t know everything. In general, our tendency today is to take too much responsibility for things that are outside our control (i.e., the precise sourcing of every product that enters our homes), and too little responsibility for things that we’re very much responsible for (i.e., our hearts, our tongues, etc.). So, if you release some of that low-grade guilt you might carry over all the stuff you should be doing that you can’t do, the stuff you should be reading about that you can’t read about, it may free you up to take responsibility for what you know (i.e., your duty to love and serve your neighbor and do it joyfully).”