Okay so I finally took some time to finish the book I had mentioned
here.
Bittersweet
by: Shauna Niequist
This book was amazing! It spoke a lot about God, which at first I wasn't sure about, but by the end of the booked I just wanted more! The book spoke to me on soo many different levels! I went through and highlighted the lines soo important to me and almost every page has yellow on it!
This book was a nice easy read, as it is her telling her story, the way it was, how it made her feel and how she handled it. It was encouraging, it was real and it was downright honest. It was relatable and just what I needed! It challanged me to change the way I look at something now!
I can remember reading this book in Jamaica poolside with tears pouring out of my eyes! Thank goodness for big sunglasses! And just as I finished the book I was crying again! It just stirred up soo many emotions that I guess I have been putting to the side!
If you are struggling with anything in your life, this book will speak to you, no matter what the struggle.
As far as my faith goes, I can be honest enough to say that I am struggling, but this book gave me a new look at things. It brought faith back into my life even though I wasn't willing to consider it at this time.
It put soo many things into perception for me! It put so many of my thoughts into reality for me!
I am now going to share some of the lines that meant the most to me:
"I know what it's like to long for a new year, I know what it is like to feel like everything's on hold and you don't recognize your own life even though it's right in front of you."
"The middle is the fog, the exhaustion, the loneliness, the daily battle against despair and the nagging fear that tomorrow will be just like today, only you'll be wearier and less able to defend yourself against it. The middle is the lonely place, when you can't find the words to say how empty you feel, when you try to connect but you feel like a thick glass is seperating you from the rest of the world, isolating and deadening everything."
"What kept me stuck, when I was stuck, were my own demands and expectations, my own collection of fear and anxiety."
"I stop dreaming sometimes, because I am afraid of what it would take to change my life. I stop dreaming because I'm afraid of the chaos that a dream might bring, afraid of what a new dream will require of me. I practice being fine, and I tell myself that things are alright, just as they are."
"It's human to struggle. It's human to nurse a broken heart, to wonder if the pain will ever let up, to howl through your tears every once in a while."
"I don't have any idea why some bodies are strong and able and others seem to fail at every turn."
"I thought that what we really wanted are easy lives, and if we can't have those, then we can at least become deep, grounded people who grow through heartbreak."
"We become less fearful, more able, more comfortable with the idea of life as a beautiful mess."
This is a must read as far as I am concerned, even if you are not religious. You won't regret it! To be honest I would read it all over again just to get the messages that lie within it!
