Afraid of the Light - Clinical psychologist Camille Brooks isn’t put off by the lifestyle of her hoarder clients and the distress of their families. She lost her mother to the crippling anxiety disorder--so she’ll go a long way to help others avoid the same pain. Despite Camille’s expertise, her growing audience for her Let In the Light podcast, and the recognition she’s gaining for her creative coaching methods, she’s not prepared for the pushback. A client who looks uncannily like her mom catches her off guard and raises long-dormant issues. And the revelation that Camille has her own hoarding problem sends her spinning. With the help of a cadre of unexpected friends, an enigma of a man who refuses to be discouraged, and the God who created and loves her, can she face her fears, pull back the curtains, and let the light into her own life?
The People Pleaser’s Guide to Loving Others Without Losing Yourself - We all want other people to like us and think well of us. But when we depend on the praise, admiration, or appreciation of others for our sense of self-worth, we become trapped in an exhausting and debilitating cycle of people pleasing relationships where we always give and rarely receive. Thankfully, the solution to the people pleaser’s “problem” isn’t to fundamentally change who you are--it’s to fundamentally change where you find your worth In this freeing book, Dr. Mike Bechtle shows you how to stop letting your fears of rejection, criticism, invisibility, or inadequacy drive your actions and start rebuilding your sense of self--worth from the inside out. When you do, you’ll discover that what you once thought of as a struggle is one of your greatest strengths.
The Way it Should Be - After years of estrangement, the lives of Zara Mahoney and her twin sister Eve, are suddenly intertwined again. When Eve’s troubled lifestyle causes the state to contact Zara about taking custody of Eve’s two children, Zara feels wholly unprepared. Besides never knowing she was an aunt, her new house, new husband, and plans for the future were meant to give her a fresh start. Meanwhile, Eve may have a real chance at a new beginning with the help of Tiff Bradley, who, after facing a heartbreaking tragedy in her own family, is dedicated to helping women everyone else has given up on. Over the course of the summer, all three women’s hearts and lives hang in the balance as Eve desperately works toward a new life. Can they redefine their expectations of how life should be to find the hope they--and those they love--so desperately need?
One of the songs that can be played here on Hope Radio is, Fear is a Liar by Zach Williams. The first and second verses of this thought provoking song gives examples of what the devil may tell you on a daily basis. But then the chorus upbeats and reassures the listener that Fear isn’t telling the truth. When your Fear causes you to think that you’re weak or stupid, remember that God is Love and that is so much stronger than the power of Fear. Unfortunately, for the people and characters in this weeks’ books, the devil takes the role of Fear in many different forms. In Afraid of the Light every single one of Camille’s clients suffer from the hoarder’s fear of letting things go. The first client we are introduced to even admits to having four or five storage units. To the hoarders, and eventually Camille, keeping all these things will somehow keep this fear of getting rid of all these things at bay. The People Pleaser’s Guide comes with a more relatable fear on my part. That is the fear of disappointing others. For most of my life I have let myself listen to the devil whenever he is behind his alias, Fear. Always believing that I am ugly or a screwup never has helped me in the slightest. So when I find Fear dictating my life I pray to God for comfort and I remember the end of the chorus from the song, “Cast your fear in the fire, cause Fear is a liar. ”When I found myself searching for a possible fear that was present in The Way it Should be, it made me sad as I found two or three. Reading through half of the book, I found that Eve held most of those fears. She was scared of her abusive boyfriend, but she was also afraid of disappointing him. Afraid of losing her kids to the state, while struggling to stop using heroin. Out of all the main characters in this book, Fear seems to lie to Eve most of all. Which is pretty ironic, because the devil lied to Eve first in the garden. That is exactly where and when he gained the alias, Fear. Don’t forget what Jesus did for us the day he stepped on Fear’s head and died for every single one of us. Stop by the Cross Reference Library and check out these three fearsome stories.