,It has been a while since I have posted anything. Student life can be busy. Now that I have obtained my university degree and I moved back in with my parents, I decided to write again. In the past 6 months I did quite some traveling. I had the opportunity to go to Mauritius with my uncle and cousins. My dad took me to Morocco. I got to visit long-lost friends and family in the States, and I had the privilege to attend the graduation of one of my best long-distance friends in Italy. I spent Christmas with my Romanian family and New Year's Eve with brothers and sisters in Christ whose heart go out to the same poor children in Romania. As the new year is unfolding, I am about to head out again, this time to Scotland for a three-month internship. Now that I am not a student anymore, I have also used the free time to read more. Since I am a slow reader, I did not finish many books during my university career. It is so important to read, because it is a way of self-educating yourself after having obtained a degree. At least if you choose the right books. I would like to recommend some of the books I read since I finished school. 1. Uncle Tom's cabin 1& 2 A wonderful 19th-century fiction that talks about slavery in the US. The author Harriet Beecher Stowe sheds light on the horrid idea of viewing a human race in terms of property. Besides Stowe's abolitionist activism, she is also a devout christian; this is expressed in the main character of the story. Uncle Tom is a Afro-American and is the slave of several owners throughout the book. His hope in God is a wonderful example to christian readers and showed me that our hope in Christ reminds us of our eternity with Him no matter what our circumstances are on earth. It is also made very clear throughout the story how christian households and owners treat their slaves compared to non-christian household and owners. It is also interesting to see how the author uses different characters to distinguish between religious living that is ignorant of God's truth and compassionate living that is inspired by God's truth. Definitely worth a read! 2. To kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee Another classic by an American author that deals with inequality between black and white in 20th-century Alabama. Although, at that time, slavery had already been abolished, racial segregation was still an issue, mainly in southern states. The story's narrator is six-year-old Scout (eight at the end of the story). Her father agrees to defending Tom Robinson, an Afro-American accused of rape, in court, for which he is despised by many of the town's people. In spite of having to deal with negative comments, Atticus Finch is determined to do everything in his power to ensure a fair trial. In my opinion, this story conveys in part the same ideas as the previous book. For example, the honest and humble people often do not get what they deserve. Instead, the dishonest and proud are the ones that seem to prosper. Given that the narrator is very young and concerned with her own maturation, she probably does not completely understand genuine faith and a mere religious way of living. Nevertheless, the story portrays very well how this girl looks up at her father and values his advice. The following quote is my favourite and expresses how the author shares a same idea with the author of the previous book: "Tom Robinson's case is something that goes to the essence of a man's conscience- Scout, I couldn't go to church and worship God if I didn't try to help that man" (chapter 11). - Atticus Finch I am glad I read it in English because I enjoyed Lee's writing style very much and learned many idioms. 3. Daring to Hope - Katie Davis Majors This book is the sequel of Kisses from Katie and it's a real story. The author, Katie Davis Majors, talks about her life in Uganda where she became a missionary and adopted thirteen girls. She talks about her walk with Christ and how she learned to become fully dependent on God, no matter the circumstances. Both the second and first of her books have impacted me greatly. Especially the first one was key in realising how much the Bible talks about the poor. We are called to help and show mercy to them in one way or another, just as how God sent his son Jesus to save those who are poor in spirit. In 2014, I was reading the first book. Two years later, I went on my first mission trip to Romania, an Eastern European country with a big Roma-minority. Many children from these communities are deprived of education and live in extreme poverty. In October, I read the sequel. Two months later I volunteered for the fifth time and really could relate to Katie's experiences in the second book. It taught me that although we do not always understand why so many children are victims of the evil in this world, we should trust in God's provision, which is peace and comfort in the hardest moments. Through Jesus' coming and death on the cross, God has humbled himself in such a way that there is no limit to God's way of revealing himself. Illiterate people are not unreachable for God. God can speak to people through miracles, dreams and the genuine love of a friend. One quote that has really touched me is the following: “And the more I knew my feebleness, my flaws, and my shortcomings, the more I knew His gentleness toward me, His tender glance, His strong and loving shoulder that was always available to lean on.” 4. God's Smuggler - Brother Andrew This book is another autobiography that tells the story of the founder of Open Doors, an organisation that supports persecuted christians all over the world. He became a missionary to the communist countries behind the Iron Curtain, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary. He felt called to smuggle Bibles and encourage the persecuted christians, given that state churches were slowly but steadily manipulated by the communist regimes in order to replace any form of religion by loyalty to the regime. My previous host mom recommended this book to me and I learned so much about specific prayer and dependency on God. The story also made me realise that we should not lean on our own understanding because God's plans for us goes far beyond our understanding. These are just some of the books I wanted to share with you. Hopefully, I can share some more reviews soon! Happy new year and God bless, Suzanna
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