The Red Balloon

Last week I felt like setting aside the book I was reading to switch to something more relevant to the current COVID-19 crisis.

Scanning my bookshelves I found several possibilities; then my eyes settled on:

                                                  Study Book

Because I purchase books ahead when I find something I might enjoy, I often find I already have what I'm looking later on. Fight Back With Joy and it accompanied study book is about the author's physical, emotional and spiritual battle with breast cancer.

True joy is not dependent on being happy or feeling good. It is like a rainbow with multiple hues and layers. 

Fight Back With Joy is her journey of discovery "using joy to fight back fear, regret, and pain while learning a new way of living - a life radiant with joy." Her humorous writing style makes you want to join her when she gets into her jammies, laughing and being silly. By the way, the workbook is as good as the book. I did not purchase the DVD, but I'm sure it's an added bonus.                                                                                           

As I was reading the book, which is touching my heart, and doing the pages in the workbook, I had a AHAH moment.

I am going to "fly" a red 🎈 balloon in my front window until this COVID-19 is tamed... to symbolize my fight back with joy. 

I highly recommend all my readers to read this uplifting battle plan! And maybe fly a red balloon? 🎈

Recommendation/Book Review:

Thin Places, a memoir by Mary E. DeMuth is being released today by Zondervan Publishing. I had the privilege of reading an advance copy.
It isn't a book for everyone. But if you've had a life of heartaches, Mary's search through her past may take you to the “thin places” also.
She removes the multi-layered masks of her life so you, the reader, can see how her heartaches of abuse, abandonment, addiction and more are in the on-going process of God's healing love. She calls the “thin places” those “snatches of holy ground, tucked into the corner of our world, where we might just catch a glimpse of eternity. They are aha moments, the beautiful realizations.”
It is not a happy-ever-after book in the sense of being sugar-coated with total, instant healing. It is a long, winding road of hope, as she puts it: (of) my titantic struggle with God's love for me...He loves me, this I know. And yet I struggle. Because I don't measure up. My mind says yes, but my heart says,”He will love me ONLY IF I...”
Sound familiar? It did to me.
Mary's deep love of God flows throughout her unforgettable story. It may be just what you need to give you hope... to bring you closer to the Lover of your Soul.