The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot is currently my self encouragement reading. Actually, I purchased this book many years ago. I hung onto it, hoping one day it would "click." Well, it has clicked! I think I am finally through being spoon fed good books. Hooray! It's embarrassing to say that I put this book down more than once and for more than a few years because it just did not make sense to me. However, now I am finally mature enough. I am certainly older! And my family is beyond the baby stage, when I first tried to make sense of this awesome book. Unfortunately, it would have been of great benefit to my family if I had persevered way back then! *sigh*
The Shaping of a Christian Family is actually a sort of autobiography for Elisabeth Elliot's family. It is filed with remembrances from her mother and her father's journal entries sprinkled with Elisabeth's godly wisdom about raising a Christian family.
The book begins with the history of Elisabeth's maternal grandparents and her parents. Her maternal grandparents were Christians, but certainly not on fire for the Lord. They lived a comfortable life with servants and big houses, lake houses too. It was not until later that the family became devoted to Jesus.
Elisabeth's father came from a more modest family that was living for the Lord. Her father decided to be a missionary in his late teens, about the same time Elisabeth's mother came to the same independent conclusion.
I highly recommend this book. It is filled with godly advice, quotes from Scripture, and good old fashioned remembrances of time gone by. This remarkable family serves as an example to the rest of us striving to bring up godly children. It's just so encouraging to my heart!
"The ordering of a peaceful home is not possible without the application of eternal principles. It is, after all, mostly little, common things that make up our lives. This is the raw material for the spiritual life. If we despise small things, regard normal household duties as burdens, routines as boring, rules too confining, we will never learn, nor can we teach our children, to live a life of holy harmony. This takes faithfulness in the troublesome details first of all, learning to do them well that we may make of them an offering to the Lord, for it is His work, after all, given to us. It is our daily bread for which we should learn to be thankful. Such faithfulness is the ground-work for all God may ever ask us to do."
p. 129-130
Sounds like a good book. Glad you are enjoying your time of reading it. :)
ReplyDeleteJoAnn
Thank you for sharing this book! I really want to get it and I have put it on my wish book list. [o=
ReplyDeleteBlessings and ((HUGS))
-Mary
Wow, this does sound like a great book. I have always wanted to read and Elisabeth Elliot book and this might just be my first. Thank you for posting about this book.
ReplyDeleteHope you are having a great week, I have been too busy for cbox this week.
Jenn,
ReplyDeleteElisabeth Elliot is a wonderful author. I've read a book she wrote entitled, "Let Me Be a Woman," and I thought it was quite excellent.
This book you mentioned sounds like a good one as well. I'll keep it in mind for the future, for my book wish list is currently TOO LONG! :) Ha!
Blessings,
-L. Rose
Oh, yes, please post about the E. Elliot website. I will need reminders!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
I read it years ago, and must have loaned it to someone for I have no idea where it is.
ReplyDeleteI recall thinking that Mrs Elliot was a bit opinionated; there are other ways to have a Christian family, and I know quite a few successful Christian families.
These are just my memories of at least 15 years ago...and then I was certainly a different person than I am now....
I'm going to try to get my copy back and reread it, because you certainly enjoyed it. It must be better than I remembered! :)
Annie Kate
Hi Jenn,
ReplyDeleteHere's my response to the comment you left on my blog. I decided to post it here as well so you wouldn't miss it.
"I know what you mean about dismissing certain authors. I can chuckle at some of Vanderkam’s statements…which, however, were true for me when I was expecting baby number 2 and finishing my PhD. I can so easily identify with her…but I must confess that I’m not sad to have moved on in my thoughts.
On the other hand, we older women can learn a lot from the enthusiasm of a younger woman. Vanderkam also uses little-known data and proposes some unique concepts. This book is definitely worth reading…although you’ll need to glean as you go."
Annie Kate