Michèle Phoenix’s ‘Of Stillness and Storm’ Giveaway

Of stillness and storm—a Book Review

By Michele Phoenix

My eyes are blurry and I’m very emotional after spending the day reading Of Stillness and Storm from cover to cover.  I love to read but I don’t usually read a 320 page Christian novel in one sitting.  Once it touched a nerve in my missionary heart, in my own life and ministry I couldn’t put it down.  Parenting on a foreign field as missionaries has more challenges than most people know.  Before I knew anything about the author, personally, I was impressed that she intimately understood the challenges of the missionary call and parenting.

For a while I couldn’t understand the darkness I felt through most of the story.  Most missionary stories tell all the glory that folks back home expect to hear. This fiction was so real to me, I felt so much disappointment and even anger--I wasn’t happy with the missionary husband’s attitude from the very beginning in his approach to his calling and consideration for his family.  The choices of both missionary husband and wife profoundly affected and overshadowed the good.  Ultimately, the missionary child suffered.     

Even though this book is fiction, it can be an eye-opener! I will recommend it to pre-field missionaries as they evaluate their call, to missionaries on the field as they balance ministry and parenting and to those who love and hold missionaries accountable on the field.

A Spectacle of Glory, a Book Review

A Spectacle of Glory

God’s Light Shining through Me Every Day

By Joni Eareckson Tada 

with Larry Libby

I don’t expect a “devotional” to be a bible study, but I do expect to get at least one piece of encouragement or challenge for my day.  I keep A Spectacle of Glory on my desk.  It’s a small, beautiful book so it doesn’t get in my way, but reminds me just to take a minute to read some practical, encouraging words.  They are words that always point to the Savior and an evaluation of my relationship to Him. 

 

I was impacted by Joni Eareckson Tada’s testimony many years ago when her life changed in a diving accident.  She doesn’t ever disappoint me; on the contrary I am so challenged by her walk with the Lord that I also want that closer relationship with Him.  This devotional, authored by someone who has walked the walk a long time would be a great gift for a new believer as well as one who has been walking with the Lord a long time!