Sisterchicks Go Brit! is the seventh in the Sisterchicks series by Robin Jones Gunn. A “sisterchick” is defined as “A friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat.”

This series is a lot of fun and very easy to get into, yet it is hard to call it a “light” read because of the lessons, spiritual and otherwise, that the friends learn. Each book has a different pair of friends in different stages of life going off on an adventure, deepening their friendship, learning about themselves, each other, another country, and their relationship with the Lord.

The friends/sisterchicks in this book are mid-life moms Liz and Kellie who end up in England, where Liz has been wanting to visit since she was a teen-ager. In one sense the landmarks and customs were a little more familiar to me: I have never been in England, but of course I have heard and read more about it than other countries.

In a sense this book didn’t seem quite as “fun” to me as compared to the others, but it has been a long time since I read the last one, so I am not sure whether my memory is faulty. But perhaps it is just that I struggle with some of the same things Liz does and would have had a much harder time when things didn’t go according to plan or when glitches came up than she did. I “know” on one level that God is in control and in charge of all such things, but when I seek Him in the planning stages I tend to think that everything will go according to plan…and, of course, it doesn’t, then I get tense and nervous. I appreciated the reminder and the example to learn to just entrust the Lord with the schedule and the events and everything that happens in connection with them, knowing that He is in control and can handle everything that comes up — and that He might have an interesting detour I never would have thought of.

I appreciated the emphasis, too, that “midlife” doesn’t mean your dreams and your work are ready for the shelf, but it can be a time of exploring and expanding on them.

I do recommend the Sisterchicks series. Let me know if you have read this one or any of them and what you think.

How To Say No To a Stubborn Habit (subtitled Even When You Feel Like Saying Yes) by Erwin Lutzer has been republished under the title Winning the Inner War: How To Say No to a Stubborn Habit. My copy was published in 1994: I don’t know if anything has changed other than the name.

It could just as easily be titled How To Overcome Sin and Resist Temptation, because that is basically what it is about. One of the most compelling chapters is the first one: “Why So Much Temptation?” Lutzer discusses that troubling question reasonably and plausibly. Other chapters include “The Freedom of Living at the Cross,” “The Power of the Holy Spirit,” “The Renewing of Your Mind,” “Living With Your Feelings,” “The Taming Your Will.”

I have read this book through at least once before: I think I probably have more than that. I have been making a few notes from it for myself at my other blog, I Corinthians 10:31, which was originally started to chronicle my weight loss (I wanted that separate from this one because I had seen other bloggers’ blogs start talking about dieting and weight loss and having that end up the only thing they blogged about. I don’t kniw, maybe you need to be that obsessive to be successful. But I just wanted to keep that journey separate from this blog, though I do mention it from time to time). After the first seven pounds, though, I got off track and never got back on. That is one reason I wanted to go through this book again.

One of my biggest problems is dealing with feelings. Though I know we live by faith, not by feelings, a part of me still felt that, when I prayed for grace in dealing with this or any other “besetting sin,” a part of the answer would come by way of changing my feelings and desires. But often we must obey in spite of our feelings, and they will catch up later.

I enjoy Lutzer’s style. He is very reasonable, logical, and readable, with very clear and compelling illustrations. For instance, in illustrating the concept of reckoning ourselves “dead to sin” (confusing because we don’t feel very dead to it), he likens it to living in an apartment under new management. The old landlord may come around and demand payment, but we don’t owe him anything any more. Or, in illustrating how, when we decide we are going to get rid of a bad habit or resist a certain temptation and then can’t think about anything else, he writes to try not to think about the number 8. All of a sudden that’s all you can think about! But if you think of the number 1,000, divide it by 5, multiply it by 10, etc., then your mind is off of 8. So also it is not enough for  us just to try to remove this one habit or sin in our lives: we have to replace it, preferably with Scripture, prayer, praise, singing a hymn, etc.

And though Lutzer is very firm in instructing about what must be done, he doesn’t rant and rave and wag a finger in your face. He gives simple and clear (though not easy) instructions based on God’s Word and derives hope from the same Source.

Erwin Lutzer is the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago and has a radio program called Running to Win. I hear part of his program if I have the radio on after I drop my youngest off at school, and this is the only book of his I have ever read, so I don’t know if I might have any disagreements with his stand on anything, but I agree with everything in this particular book. It is quite edifying and I would recommend it highly.

The Listener is an older book by Terri Blackstock, and I had picked it up somewhere along the way, but somehow hadn’t read it yet. Terri is one of my favorite authors, and I have read almost everything she’s written, so I was glad to add this one to the collection.

The premise is that a somewhat indifferent Christian man named Sam, who is more interested in getting out of church early to get to a restaurant, suddenly is gifted with the ability to hear the needs of souls around him. At first it is maddening and disturbing. He goes to his pastor, who at first thinks he needs to see a counselor, until Sam remarks on what the pastor’s heart cry is. His pastor tells him he needs to use this gift to point people to the Lord, but Sam is filled with fear and has all the standard excuses most of us do: I can just be a witness for the Lord by my life; I don’t know how to bring it up; what if someone asks me a question I can’t answer? Sam’s reaction and development of his gift and the reactions of those he talks with as well as his family and friends comprise most of the rest of the book.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot — it is a very short book, so if I disclose much more I’ll be giving the story away. But I will say I much appreciated the conclusion that we don’t need such a gift, nice as it would be, because we already know what people most need, and we have the Word of God and guidance of the Holy Spirit. But through the use of this gift as a plot device, Terri does an expert job at bringing out the problems and joys of our need to share our faith.

By the way, Semicolon hosts a weekly review of books on Saturdays: bloggers can link to book reviews on their site and/or read book reviews from others.

The Forbidden by Beverly Lewis is the second book in “The Courtship of Nellie Fisher” series. The local Amish church has split between two factions: the Old Order group who wants to keep to the strict rules they have always had and a new group who believe one can know they are saved and that they belong to God. There are some in the new group who are primarily interested in being able to use more modern conveniences like tractors and cars, but the core group began by reading the Bible on their own (something frowned on in the old order) and finding truths that they were never taught. They have found joy and peace in trusting Christ, but the old order folks believe it is prideful to feel sure of salvation.

Nellie is caught in the middle. Many in her family have become believers, and she can’t deny the changes in them. But her beau, Caleb, is very much Old Order and his father one of its strictest and most stubborn members. Caleb’s father has forbidden him to see Nellie, but they still manage to find ways to be together while hoping Nellie’s continuing to go to the Old Order church will convince Caleb’s father of her stand.

In one of the subplots, Nellie’s friend Rosanna, who has not been able to have children, has been given the gift of twins by another cousin, Kate, who already has several children. Yet it is obvious that Kate is having trouble letting go, and on top of that, the two women find themselves on opposite sides of the growing rift in the church.

In another subplot, Nellie’s sister Rhoda’s life shows that though every outward vestige of “the world” is removed from the life, worldliness is a matter of the heart.

I always enjoy Beverly Lewis. Her Amish grandmother’s influence and much research make these stories real, and it is easy to love these gentle, hardworking people and to long for their eyes to be opened to the truth of the gospel. Lewis also weaves many truths of life, character, Christianity, and family within her stories.