Beauty and Books

I got a special delivery in the mail yesterday. My December BirchBox arrived! I had forgotten about it, so it was a surprise when Gracie brought it to my office yesterday. So let's see what all I got this month.

I got some face primer to minimize pores, a sample of Harvey Prince perfume, Jouer lip gloss, some L'Oreal Mythic Oil treatment for your hair, some fashion tape, and an energy booster drink packet.

So, that's December's goody box.

Moving on. I just started reading John Piper's God is the Gospel. I haven't finished it yet, but so far what I've read is great.

This book was given to me as a gift for us to study in January for Bible study and I can't wait to discuss it. I didn't realize that this was the same author that wrote probably my favorite book on marriage. This Momentary Marriage was also written by John Piper.

I have read lots of books on marriage, especially in the early stages of our divorce. Some are good, some are not so good, some give good advice, hope, encouragement, etc. but this book was just awesome. I will have to talk about this book more in depth one day. It really is a book everyone should read. Married or single. Until I can get the time to blog about this book and do it justice, go check it out here. You can also download the PDF version from this website. It's not really about how to "fix" your marriage or anything like that. It breaks down what marriage really is- in God's eyes, since He is the one who created it. Not what man has made marriage out to be. That its not so much about "being in love" but about keeping covenant and displaying Christ to the world through your marriage. So please check it out. I think it would be an awesome wedding gift (or preferably engagement gift before someone actually gets married).

Back to the other book. Here is what John Piper's website has to say about the book :

"Gospel" means good news—but what makes the good news good? What is the goal of the gospel, without which it is no longer good? It is that Christ’s death brings sinners to God! Were it to bring us anywhere else we would be left hopeless. But the gospel is that God gives us himself—Christ died to give us Christ—, and this self-giving is his highest mercy to us and the best news for us! The most profound, most exceedingly gracious, final and decisive good of the good news is Christ himself as the glorious image of God revealed for our endless satisfaction.

You can also download the PDF version of this book here. What I've read of this book so far has really spoken to me. God IS the Gospel. God IS the ultimate gift of the Gospel. Not heaven and getting to be at peace and be happy. But spending eternity praising and worshipping our Creator. I guess I should have saved writing this book until I actually finished reading it, so I could talk about it a little better. But I wanted to go ahead and share it because in the few chapters that I have read, it has really made me stop and think about things.

That's what I'm reading these days. I haven't really read that much in the past few months, which is odd for me. I'm always reading something. Guess I will have to step up my game. And speaking of books, if your local Goodwill has a bookstore, go check it out. They just opened another Goodwill bookstore here in Tallahassee right up the road from me. So I am pumped that I don't have to drive downtown anymore to go. They have lots of books, super cheap. The one here in Tallahassee usually has fairly new titles/best sellers so it is a great way to save a few bucks, if you like to read as much as I do. (well, I guess there still is the library...) One day I may get into the whole Kindle/eBook thing, but for now I'm a purist. I like actual physical books. But never say never, right?