Book Review: Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by Mark Vroegop

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BOOK review
Started on: 21 April 2019
Finished on: 25 April 2019

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by Mark Vroegop

Title: Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament

Author: Mark Vroegop
Publisher: Crossway Books

Pages: 224 pages / 226 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2019
Price: Rp 235,822 (https://www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5
*This e-book was received as a review copy from Crossway
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"When the circumstances of life create dark clouds, I hope you'll come to embrace lament as a divinely given liturgy leading you to mercy. This historic song gives you permission to vocalize your pain as it moves you toward God-centered worship and trust. Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting in God's sovereignty."

In this book, Mark Vroegop introduced us to a deeper understanding about lament. It presents biblical guidelines for bringing honest complaint and bold petition before God and for choosing to steadfastly trust in the One whose mercies never end. But so many Christians these days neglect the importance of lament. We need to recover the practice of honest spiritual struggle that gives us permission to vocalize our pain and wrestle with our sorrow. Lament avoids trite answers and quick solutions, progressively moving us toward deeper worship and trust. Through the psalms of lament and the book of Lamentations, Mark Vroegop invites us to learn how to grieve, struggle, and experience the grace and mercy God offers in the darkest moments of our lives.

Book Review: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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BOOK review
Started on: 26 April 2019
Finished on: 4 May 2019

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Title: Spinning Silver

Author: Naomi Novik
Publisher: Macmillan

Pages: 466 pages / 480 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2018
Price: Rp 266,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 3/5
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"But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing."

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's too kind-hearted to collect his debts. Until one day, unable to stand poverty and her ill mother, Miryem decided to take up his work in their village collecting unpaid debts. Soon, the news of her success spreads and it creates rumors that she can turn silver into gold—which then piqued the interest of the Staryk King, the fairy king of winter, himself. Her fate will then intertwine with Irina, whose father will do anything so that she can wed the tsar. However, no one knows that the tsar is not what he seems. Both Miryem and Irina are torn between deathly choices. But they strive to save themselves and the people they love.

Book Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

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BOOK review
Started on: 11 April 2019
Finished on: 20 April 2019

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Title: Vicious

Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Titan Books Ltd

Pages: 393 pages / 366 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2013
Price: Rp 180,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 5/5
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"ExtraOrdinary. The word that started—ruined, changed—everything."

Victor Vale and Eli Cardale are college roommates. During their senior year, they both share an interest in researching a supernatural event that reveal a possibility of someone developing extraordinary abilities after they survived a near death experience. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. And years later, Victor is determined to catch up to his friend-turned enemy, and set a course for revenge.

Book Review: Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado

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BOOK review
Started on: 7 April 2019
Finished on: 10 April 2019

Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado

Title: Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

Author: Max Lucado
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 240 pages / 240 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2017
Price: Rp 180,816 (https://www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5
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"Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs... Anxiety is trepidation.

It's a suspicion, an apprehension. Life in a minor key with major concerns. Perpetually on the pirate ship's plank."

Max Lucado is a best-selling Christian author and a writer and also a preacher. This time around, he tackles the topic of anxiety, which is at an all time high due to the chaotic world that we are currently living in. He invites readers to study the passage in Phillipians 4 where the Apostle Paul admonishes the followers of Christ to not be anxious about anything. According to one research program, anxiety-related issues are the number one mental health problem among women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men. And this book will helps us to know better what anxiety truly is and how to overcome it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

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It's been so long since I last did one of these posts; the last Top Ten Tuesday that I wrote on this blog was in October 2018. Since the beginning of 2019, I don't really have much spare time because I went out a lot. So keeping up with my book reviews was the only thing that I focused on for this blog 😅. In this post, I'm going to discuss Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book, which is a topic for April 2nd, but I still want to do it anyway. I think I might have done a similar post in the past, but let's consider this an updated version of that. So here's the list in no particular order! ✨

Book Review: Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

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BOOK review
Started on: 31 March 2019
Finished on: 6 April 2019

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

Title: Opposite of Always

Author: Justin A. Reynolds
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 447 pages / 464 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2019
Price: Rp 181,211 (https://www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 4.5/5
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"Because big lesson number one is this: all the time travel in the world can't save the people you love."

Jack King is the king of almost, but it all changed when he met Kate at a party—where they suddenly connected and spent hours talking over their mutual love of cereal and their favorite movies. Jack instantly knew that he's falling for Kate. But their love story turns out to be more complicated than he initially thought, because Kate dies. Her death suddenly sends Jack back to the beginning, when he first met Kate at the party, and she's alive again. Not knowing what exactly happened, Jack thought he was given a second chance at life to save Kate and prevent her death. However, Jack will learn the hard way that his actions are not without consequences. And he has to figure out what he's willing to do to save the people he loves.