What I Read & Watched This Past Week

Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I’ve been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year.

What I Read Last Week

I finished two books this past week — one that I am positive is going to make my Top 10 list for 2018! Which one is that? It’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

My friend, Melissa, gave me this book and said it had really impacted her life. I hadn’t heard of it before and wasn’t sure what I was going to think of it.

Then I started reading… and within a few chapters, I knew it was going to be one of those really life-changing books. I slowly savored a chapter or two per day and was really sad when it was over with. I’ve already told Melissa that we are going to go through it as a book study once we finish going through Mom Set Free because I’m ready to read it all over again! 🙂

The book is all about how our emotional and spiritual health are so tied together and how we often overlook this. The author talks about how often we seem to think that our past and our baggage and all the things we try to pretend don’t exist or stuff down or not deal with won’t affect us in the long run… but it will!

There are so many things I gleaned from this book and so many sections that challenged me in deep ways. I feel like I will be processing its message for a long time to come.

One of the areas in the book that really encouraged me was to recognize how much the changes I’ve made in the last two years to slow down and savor life more. I realize how these changes have truly allowed me to become so much healthier as a person — physically, mentally, and spiritually.

There were numerous quotes that I loved from the book, but one that I shared on Instagram was this:

“True freedom comes when we no longer need to be somebody special in other people’s eyes because we know we are lovable and good enough.”

In Christ, we are enough. We are loved. We are redeemed. We are forgiven.

When we live in light of this truth, we can walk in amazing freedom and confidence — and we can love other people so much more deeply and authentically.

I also finished reading The Story of the World: Volume 1 aloud. I started this with Kaitlynn as part of her homeschooling last semester and then, when we enrolled her in a local private school for this semester, I wanted to go ahead and finish it. So I decided to make it a book we read aloud at dinner.

While the writing could have been tighter, we really enjoyed reading it — especially since the kids have studied so much of this in school the past two years and they all wanted to pipe in with their thoughts and opinions on different stories!

What I Watched Last Week

Jesse and I went to see The 15:17 to Paris. I didn’t know much about this movie before we saw it. Jesse had read about it and thought it seemed interesting — especially since it was based upon real-life events. (I found out that it appears to be very closely in line with the actual story.)

It’s the story of three ordinary young men who overpowered a gunman on board a train bound for Paris. The actual young men play themselves in the movie — even though they have no previous acting experience.

The story is slow to build and the acting isn’t great… it kind of feels like you are watching someone’s YouTube video of their life, only the videography is way better than it usually would be if it were a YouTube video.

It felt very slow and untraditional in the way that it progressed, but all throughout, there is this underlying story of overcoming the odds and persistence in spite of failure. When the movie was over with, I felt inspired and challenged… and I found myself mostly liking the movie even though it had lackluster acting and slow development.

Note: There is quite a bit of language in the movie, there is a club scene, and there is definitely some blood and intense scenes. I had to close my eyes during the part where they are helping the man who is injured and bleeding. I just can’t do that much blood. (Read the full review of the negative and positive elements of the movie here.)

(By the way, we got MoviePasses for Christmas and we have fallen in love with them. You just can’t beat $10 per month to be able to see one movie of your choice every single day. Read my in-depth review of MoviePass here.)

We also loved watching the next two episodes of This is Us — I can’t stop talking about what an amazing show that is!

Time to Read

People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it’s because I love to read, because I’ve chosen to prioritize it, because I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can’t not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it’s in the little nooks and crannies of life.

I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.

What did you read and watch this past week? Any books or movies you really think I need to read or watch?