One of our goals at Lifeway is to design trustworthy resources that help you grow in your walk with Christ, no matter what you do, where you’re from, or what stage of life you’re in. We thought it would be fun—and would help build our to-be-read piles!—if we asked some of our teammates what resources (outside the Bible) contributed most significantly in their walks with Christ.
When I was 15 years old and a young believer, my brother came home from Bible college with a book he had read for a class and excitedly told me I had to read it. The book was Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. I spent the next few weeks diving into this text, covering the pages in neon orange highlighter and notes in the margin. For the first time, I understood the way in which God being triune impacts everything—the creation of this world, my faith, and my daily actions. Although Reeves deals with this weighty theology intently, he writes of the beauty of the Trinity in a poetic and witty way, and as I read, I was truly brought to a place of delighting in who God is. Years later, I continue to recognize this book as the agent by which a rooted affection for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit was cultivated in my life.
– Ravin McKelvy, marketing writer, Lifeway Kids
Reading the Scriptures is my anchor, but in 2018, I found myself in a season of spiritual dryness. My parents died 40 days apart, and I was emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. And to complicate matters, the Scriptures weren’t speaking to me like they had in the past. I’d open the Bible in search of comfort, and even though I knew those promises are true—at that moment they seemed to be for somebody else. A friend had gifted me with the Legacy of Faith series published by B&H. I started to read, and the words of Charles Spurgeon and Andrew Murray were balm to my weary soul. Of course, no book can take the place of Scripture, but when the Bible seemed silent, those books pointed me back to the only One who could heal my broken heart. Eventually, that season of suffering came to a close. Looking back, I realized those authors were the traveling companions I needed to help me get to the other side of grief.
– Susan Hill, editor