Recommended Reading

Romans 8:28 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

I just finished reading All Things for Good by Thomas Watson.  It is a wonderful book that I heartily recommend.  It is the kind of book that you can pick up and read a paragraph or two and it will challenge your thoughts and your actions for the next week.  It is also the kind of book that once you start reading it you become more thoroughly convinced of the Father's love for you in all things.  It is packed with scripture references that make the author's thesis so clear and convicting.

Recently while talking with another adoptive mom I was asked what books I had read on adoption and attachment.  We both rehearsed our list of recommended and required reading that our agencies had given us.  What really stood out to me was that none of the popular books on adoption, attachment, or trauma were sufficient to deal with what had gone on in our home.  They offered answers from modern psychology, touted current research, and identified best practices for therapeutic parenting, but none of them ever addressed our home in all it's facets or the deeper issues of the sinfulness of all the hearts involved.  None really gave lasting, eternal hope for  my heart. None except the Bible.

Thomas Watson's All Things for Good is not an adoption book.  It is not a psychology book.  It is not even a modern or popular book - but it is directed at the heart and some of the deepest things we struggle with in parenting kids from hard places.  How can all things work for good - even abuse, neglect, and abandonment? Written in the 1600's, the book has been updated with today's English, but the richness and intensity of the author's original language remains, giving the book substance that is worth grabbing onto. If you are weathering life's storms or wondering how to graciously accept wonderful gifts you don't deserve, this is a great read!