TreasuredFormat: Hardcover, 224 pages
Book Summary
Cigar boxes. Refrigerator doors. Scrapbooks and sock drawers and top shelves. These are the places we store our treasures–the keepsakes that tell the story of whom and what we’ve loved, how we’ve lived, and what matters most to us.
God is a collector, too, whose treasures are tucked securely into the pages of his book: a golden bell here, an olive leaf there, a scarlet thread, a blood-stained cloth, a few grains of barley. Each of these saved artifacts reveals a facet of his heart and tells the story of a Father whose most precious possession is…us.
In Treasured, Leigh McLeroy considers tangible reminders of God’s active presence and guides us in discovering evidence in our own lives of his attentive love.
“The idea for the book came from a cigar box filled with odds and ends of my grandfather’s life that arrived a few months after his death. Sifting through the objects in the box, I experienced him in a fresh new way. This made me wonder what treasures might be tucked away in Scripture that could frame God for me in an equally intimate, tangible way. This process also helped me uncover my own “treasures” of my walk with the Lord: objects that remind me of my history with him and his faithfulness to me,” says McLeroy.
Drawn from the pages of Scripture, the author considers twelve such treasures and personalizes their meaning for readers, such as a green olive branch that offers proof of God’s “new every morning” mercy and a scarlet cord that demonstrates his willingness to adopt “strays” of every sort.
My Review
Leigh McLeroy shares personal stories that I think each of us ladies can relate to, at least on some level. I'm a leader of our local Moms In Touch ministry. To me, each chapter reminded me of how we start our Monday MIT meeting by discussing the character of God. One of the characters I'm very familiar with is as a provider.
Another reminder of God's work in our lives is that He is The God Who Defeats Death. She discusses the VA Tech killings and that one hits close to home for our family. My brother graduated from there and actually attended the classes in one of the buildings students died in.
Leigh reminds us in "A Head of Barley" that we can count on sorrow in our lives. We're not immune because we're Christians. She shares, "...trials are tests of our faith and opportunities for strenthening it."
Throughout Treasured, Leigh shares about situations in our lives today while bringing to life and using as examples people from the Bible. There are not better comparisons that the lives God found important enough to share in the Word.
I have to admit that as I read through the book, I mostly stuck with stories about the author. I found myself skimming the Bible stories, since I understood how they related to what topic the author was covering.
This was an easy read. Treasured would make a nice gift for any occasion, especially if you know someone who deals with issues of self-worth, which I prefer to consider God-worth. When we look at our self-worth, we look with our own eyes. When we consider ourselves through the eyes of God, I call it "God-worth". It would also be great for someone who is somewhat new to their relationship with the Lord.
Author Bio
Leigh McLeroy is the author of The Beautiful Ache and The Sacred Ordinary. An avid collector and recorder of everyday moments, words, and wonders, Leigh’s keen eye for God’s presence in ordinary life infuses her writing and living with a deep, insistent joy. A frequent conference and event speaker, the author makes her home in Houston, Texas, and posts often on http://www.leighmcleroy.com/ and http://www.wednesdaywords.com/.
Weaving these treasures together with scenes from her personal history, Leigh McLeroy invites readers to discover God’s heart for them and embrace their unique role in his redemptive story. Treasured offers readers a guided experience of God’s love and character and invites them to consider their own treasures that point to their part in God’s ongoing story.
*I'd like to thank Ashley at Multnomah Books, a division of Random House for my copy of Treasured. To learn more about this and other Random House books visit http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400074815
1 comments:
This sounds like a lovely book, thanks for the review. :)
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