It’s time to share my favorite reads from the past year!
This year and last year, I committed to read books that I already had on my shelves and to keep purchasing new books to a minimum. I found myself eyeing new books and realized that I already have so many that I’ve never read or that I haven’t read in a long time, so I’ve been working my way through many of them for the past two years.
Here are my favorite books I read in 2021:
Earlier this year a good friend of mine asked if I had any recommendations for books on prayer. I thought and thought, and while I’ve read books on prayer before, none of them were books I felt I could recommend as being helpful.
I was both surprised and saddened that I didn’t have any favorite books on prayer, so for the last several months, I’ve been reading books on prayer and finally have some that I can recommend, as well as a few that have become my own personal favorites.
I hope this list is helpful! I tried to include books for everyone, no matter where you’re at in your journey, as well as books that cover different aspects of prayer.
Each of us faces hard seasons when our faith is being strengthened like never before, and while the Bible should be our primary source of comfort and encouragement, reading books that nourish our faith and understanding of difficult seasons is also helpful.
Here are some books that have encouraged my faith during some challenging seasons in my life.
In many ways, it was a real challenge for me to narrow down a list of book recommendations for new believers, but I tried to choose the areas I thought a new believer would benefit from studying, and from there, I chose some books to cover each topic: spiritual growth, identity in Christ, the Bible, prayer, and spiritual disciplines. I included a few other books on topics such as the Holy Spirit, understanding grace, etc. at the end of this article that would also be great for new believers.
Devotionals can be a powerful tool to go along with our daily Bible reading. The problem is many devotionals, especially those targeted at women, are fluffy and shallow. That’s why some Christians won’t read them and insist on a Bible-only approach to quiet times. That’s also why some Christians go from devotional to devotional to devotional because so many devotionals don’t offer any lasting support beyond the initial reading (if at all).
