Month: April 2017

Friday Favorites: April 2017

Posted on by Lex De Weese in Friday Favorites, Lex's World

I’m excited to be bringing back Friday Favorites! I’m excited to share some sites, products, and worthwhile diversions I think you’ll enjoy.

Something to try: The Skimm

With everything happening in the news in the past year, I found myself getting sucked in and more of my time getting sucked up. And it was soul-sucking.

I needed to set a boundary, but I still wanted to be informed.

Enter The Skimm.

The Skimm is an email that arrives in my inbox every weekday morning. It’s basically SparkNotes for the news. I get all the highlights with links for further reading. I’m able to keep up with the major events in the world, but I don’t have to let it eat up my day.

My favorite Skimm is Friday because they include some great book recommendations.

Subscribe and try it for yourself here!

Something to follow: Grit and Virtue

A friend showed me a killer Instagram account a couple months ago and I have come to love not just Grit and Virtue’s Instagram, but all of their content!

Written to empower young professional women, I have resonated with so much of their articles. If you want a great preview, I recommend you read this or this.

Something to read: Grace is Greater

On my 30-before-30 list, I wrote that I wanted to have a deeper understanding of grace. God’s funny because the next book to cross my desk was Kyle Idleman’s latest, Grace is Greater.

As a follow up to his book Not A Fan, Idleman wanted a chance to explore grace is a way he didn’t get to in the first book. He pulls no punches and his words bring God’s grace into vivid realization.

I found the book to be deeply encouraging and the freedom I found in thinking on it’s themes was so needed.

Pick up your copy here.

Something to watch: Jane the Virgin

While we were both going through Gilmore Girls withdrawl, a coworker recommended Jane the Virgin as a new drug of choice.

The show is a satirical telenovela featuring Jane, a devout catholic young woman who’s grandmother guilted her into maintaining her virginity until marriage. Due to a doctor’s mishap during what was supposed to be a pap smear, Jane finds herself artificially inseminated with her bosses baby…and it only gets crazier from there.

The writing is witty, the acting is spectacular, and the clothes are really fun. Jane the Virgin has become a wonderful guilty pleasure and is the perfect show to start if you’ve found yourself in a rut. The first two seasons are on Netflix!

Something to listen to: Georgica Pond

I had the pleasure of getting to see Johnnyswim live last month. It was a great show and, yes, they are that beautiful in person.

Their sophomore album Georgica Pond released last year. The songs are simultaneously rough and smooth in it’s blend of R&B and Americana. Listening to it this winter has been a burst of summer. If you’re looking for something fresh for your playlist, Georgica Pond is the way to go.

Book Review: Think Again

Posted on by Lex De Weese in Book Review, Reading

I am not great at many things. I am okay at many things, good at even fewer, but “great” can only be reserved for a very limited number of abilities on my resume.

Over-thinking may be the only thing in that category.

Yes, I can use overthinking to my advantage. It can help in being prepared, trying to see situations from every vantage point, building fictional worlds in my writing.

Mostly it’s just a hindrance.

My neuroses lead to massive amounts of over-thinking, which I try to overcome through introspection and the cycle continues until I have thoroughly beaten myself up and have begun to loose touch with reality.

So when I read the description for Jared Mellinger‘s debut book Think Again, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

“I’ve written to help those who know the burden of introspection, and who find themselves worn out from looking in.”

Think Again was a gentle wake-up call to the subtle self-focused, self-diminishing thought patterns that have been sucking me dry for years. When I have noticed a sin-pattern in my life, I have often thought that if I observed and thought on my behavior long enough, I could change it.

But this is not how God works! Sanctification does not happen through my own power or introspection. It happens through time with the Lord, looking at Christ as my mirror.

“We know ourselves by gazing away from ourselves.”

Think Again was short, easy-to-grasp, and powerful. I recommend it for introverted over thinkers as well as those close to introverted over thinkers. Mellinger’s humor, reliability, and direct writing style are such an encouragement in a topic that could be condemning. The book comes in at around 167 pages, so this would be a great book to take to the beach this summer, or commit to read with a friend and discuss over coffee.

I greatly enjoyed the book and hope to see more from this author in the future.

Book Review and GIVEAWAY: A Trail of Crumbs

Posted on by Lex De Weese in Book Review, Reading

After a not-so-long wait that couldn’t end soon enough, the sequel to A Cup of Dust is out and ready for readers! (Please note that I did not review Cup as it released during the hiatus…) A Trail of Crumbs lives up to every ounce of anticipation.

Susie Finkbeiner’s historical fiction series centers on Pearl Spence, a young girl growing up in the dust bowl during the great depression.

A Trail of Crumbs picks up exactly where Cup left off—Palm Sunday—known in the dust bowl as Black Sunday.

I won’t give anything away, but tragedy strikes the Spence family,  sending them reeling both emotionally and across the country. We watch Pearl grow up as the Spences settle into a new community in Bliss, Michigan. (Go MI!)

The story is told in first person from Pearl’s perspective. The author uses Pearl’s child thoughts to build suspense and speak honestly in the ways an adult narrator could not. Her literary sensitivity is demonstrated not only in the point-of-view, but also in her subtle use of symbolism and sensitivity to the emotional pitch of a scene.

There where so many times when reading when I could’t guess where the author was headed, but I was thrilled to be along for the ride. Bliss felt so real and the characters reminded me of people I know. It was a pleasure to read.

Finkbeiner’s fourth novel leans into territory that Christian fiction rarely does and I am so grateful for it! Her honest story is relatable and real—something so many readers are craving.

Her storytelling risks are something I want to see more of in an industry that has been so scared to make any big moves. Readers aren’t looking for pretty people’s pretty stories to be wrapped up with a nice Jesus bow in the end. Instead, we are looking for mess, ambivalence, and most importantly hope. These are what our lives are made of. These are what make fictional stories interesting and true. Finkbeiner provides all three in spades—especially hope.

Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of A Trail of Crumbs! There are multiple ways to enter both by plugging into both Susie’s and my social media pages. Only those within the US are eligible (Sorry, Canada!) and only one winner will be chosen. The giveaway runs from today (April 14, 2017) to next Friday (April 21, 2017).
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It should be noted that the publisher gave me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

It should also probably be noted that the author and I spend an inordinate amount of time together being neurotic. Her neuroses results in good novels. Someday hopefully mine will do the same…For now it just lends itself to obsessive Parks & Rec watching…

Find A Place in Your City

Posted on by Lex De Weese in Lex's World

I am a firm believer of the importance of place, be that your place in a season of life or your spiritual journey, but mostly physical place.

Though I am not in a relationship, I would argue that I lead a fairly romantic life and this is why:

I am in love with my city.

Grand Rapids is a beautiful and diverse city that loves the arts, food, and beer—all things I can get behind. I love exploring new corners of it, or trying a different restaurant, or just going someplace that is familiar—that’s home.

I think if you live anywhere, bit it for 90 years or just a month, I think you should fine a place that is your “spot.” Go there often. Observe the people there, watch how the light plays with the scenery. Bring a journal and your bible, let that place become your sanctuary. Read there, let your favorite characters enjoy your spot as well.

Find your favorite place in your favorite city and claim it as your own.

Originally from grkids.com

My favorite place is the Pantlind lobby of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. It’s decorations remind me of something out of Gatsby. There is a Starbucks around the corner. The armchairs are welcoming and the lighting is warm. It’s absolutely perfect.

I will go there to journal and figure out life. I will share it with close friends like it’s a special secret. I will just take a break from the hectic pace of life and just enjoy.

I think if we are rooted in a place, we need to embrace that place. This might mean finding a physical spot to pass special moments in. This might mean investing in a local church. It might mean making a friend in a city that is still unfamiliar to you.

Be rooted where you are. Fall in love with the city your are planted in. Enjoy the life before you.

Not Enough

Posted on by Lex De Weese in Lex's World

I know you feel it too—that aching sense that you don’t have what it takes, will never have what it takes, and don’t even have a clue what it takes. And that’s just in trying to do your make up in the morning.

I am not enough.

I’m terrible at doing my own hair, I don’t look great in peplum, karaoke is not my jam, and I can’t flip an omelette.

I also am a selfish person, I am only a “good friend” when I want to be, I get easily irritated by things not going my way, and I often speed.

I am not enough. I will never be enough.

But here’s the thing we forget: We were never supposed to be enough.

In Eden, God provided for all of Adam and Eve’s needs. They dwelt in their dependence and relationship with the father. Things went south when they decided God wasn’t enough and they wanted to be.

In Jeremiah 2:13, the prophet writes the two most evil things we have done:

My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We have decided God was not enough and we have decided to look elsewhere to fulfill our out enoughness.

Friend, there is a reason that when you look at your life, you feel an ache that something is missing. There is a reason I look at my work and feel that it is not where it needs to be. Even the things I am good at, I find discouragement  that there is always someone better or more recognized for that thing.

It’s because I am try to drink from a bone dry well that will never satisfy. I will never be satisfied by my own ability or in what other people or things can provide.

Our brokenness, our longing, our not-enough-ness is supposed to be the craving that draws us back to the only one who can satisfy it. Jesus.

For too long, I’ve been depressed by the fact that I will never look right, say the right thing, or be on the right thing. I beat myself up over where I think I should be, or have done. Small things, like forgetting to send an email before the meeting or even spilling tea inside my bag (True story last week) send me into a tailspin when they really shouldn’t get to me.

I say this: Give it a rest. Rest in the fact that your lack has been covered completely by His righteousness. Mistakes, brokenness, hurts—they do not have the final word.  Do not stress about it. Do not let it weigh you down.You are enough only because your God is enough. You will never be enough on your own.

Jesus’ ministry was one of demonstrating his abundance. I cannot wait to get into this further over the next few weeks. For now, know this:

You don’t have to be enough. Jesus is an abundance.