StaywellMA

The Cure for Being Human reads less like a book written for the public and more like a private journal released into the world. At its core, it documents, the author - Kate Bowler ’s cancer diagnosis, immunotherapies, and confrontation with mortality, alongside a deep internal struggle with faith, meaning, and belief in the face of suffering. The questions raised are old ones, heavy with history: Why does suffering exist? What happens to belief when the body fails and certainty dissolves? Where is the balance between faith and toxic positivity ? Is the bucket list problematic? These are not posed from a place of theological distance, but from inside fear, pain, and uncertainty.  Being sick has a way of narrowing the world. It strips away assumptions of control and reminds us how fragile we are, how little power we actually hold, and how quickly everything familiar can disappear. In that sense, the book is honest. It captures the disorientation that comes when life is interrupted b...

I finished reading the  The Return of the Gods by Jonathan Cahn a while back and I am just now getting around to sharing my thoughts about the book. It definitely left a deep impression on me—one that I believe every Christian would benefit from wrestling with. This is not just a book about history, theology, or culture. It’s a wake-up call. What I appreciated most about the book is how Jonathan Cahn weaves together historical context with present-day realities. He draws powerful connections between the gods worshiped in ancient civilizations and the subtle, modern-day forms they have taken today. These are not always obvious. In fact, many of them masquerade as harmless, progressive, or even virtuous ideas. Yet beneath the surface, the same spiritual forces that led nations astray thousands of years ago are still at work today. Ecclesiastes 1:9 reminds us that “there is nothing new under the sun”, and this book brings that truth into sharp focus. The strategies of the enemy ...

                        Last year, I read Praying for the Impossible by Buddy Harrison , and it deeply reshaped the way I think about prayer—especially when it comes to situations that feel completely beyond human ability to fix. As the title suggests, this book centers on bringing before God the things that are impossible for us to accomplish on our own. The kind of prayers that require nothing less than a miracle.  Not wishful thinking. Not positive vibes. But a confident belief that God is able to do what only He can do. What stood out to me most was the book’s emphasis on h ow we pray. Instead of relying solely on our own words, emotions, or frustrations, the author challenges readers to pray the Word of God —to take Scripture and pray it back to God. This approach shifted my perspective in a powerful way. God’s Word is already His will revealed. It asks the reader to consider the  Bible as a legal document o...

 It's been a while since I stepped foot into a goodwill. Beyond being able to find everyday items for super cheap prices, I love the broader mission of goodwill and all its efforts towards social equity. My goodwill budget is always between $10-$20. Sometimes I will intentionally not bring my wallet and only carry a paper bill to represent my spending cap because it is easy to get carried away while thrifting. My second restriction is, I will only shop or buy items with the sale tag of the day to ensure I get the additional 50% off. This takes a lot of discipline especially when you find something you love but it's not in the sale tag color of the day. You have to let it go and try again next time. So everything in this picture was 50% off the price tags.  1. Linchpin : Are you Indispensable by Seth Godin Seth Godin is an American author who's books turn to focus on entrepreneurship. This book was published in 2010 but am sure it's lessons are still applicable today. I ...

Image from : All Characters wanted I borrowed my copy from my local library as I do with a lot of my books and unfortunately returned it without thinking to take personalized pictures with it. So the image of the book above is from All characters wanted, who also has a book review for it. However, here is a picture of it on my instagram page with another book I am currently reading. I looooooooooooooved the Alice Network. This was a much needed break from my self help and spiritual books. I am a sucker for periodics especially stories that go back and forth between the past and the present. I love how the author inserts different themes about the feminist movement and the restrictions around women in those eras even those who fought for England in the World Wars., And in true James Bond fashion, you cant have a story about spies and not have a love story interwoven into it.  The 2 go together like rice and beans. I would say for me the story built up very slowly.  I...

One of my scriptures for this year has been Genesis 28:20 - 22 20  Then Jacob made a vow,  saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me  on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear   21  so that I return safely  to my father’s household,  then the  Lord [ a ]  will be my God   22  and [ b ]  this stone that I have set up as a pillar  will be God’s house,  and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth. ” I've been on a journey since the beginning of the year.  I have crossed continents and oceans back and forth and even now I  find mys elf in a new city where the journey continues. In a sense, I feel like all my life I've been on a journey.  The difference between now and the past is this;   in the past, I was always looking forward to a destination. Now, I find more pleasure in enjoying the ride, with little thought to  the destination.  My...

It was ok.  Basically he regurgitated a lot of nuance statements found in every self help book in the market. This book reminds me of Jay Shetty, the self proclaimed self-help guru/former monk who is currently making a living by repeating all the wise words he read from all the wisdom based books out there. I understand that there's not a lot of new information out there in terms of this topic. However there is such a thing as giving credit where it's due (citing, referencing, quoting, etc). On the other hand, I don't know. I felt like this was just a man, bringing a diary of his life to the open market, to be bought. So really , these words are his truths. His living testaments. I like it's simplicity. I like that he doesn't try to sell you this spiritual visual or aesthetics of soul searching. And makes you see that the whole process itself is simple but we humans sometimes complicate it by overthinking instead of just surrendering to the process. Brace yourse...

My friend is a fan of Paulo Coelh and has quiet a collection of the authors books. Hence  I've been using this quarantine time to raid his bookshelf . I always held the though that his book, The Alchemist , was over hyped in the media and didn't really live up to my expectations. That disappointment made me reluctant to read another books by Paulo Coelho. However I am here to say I LOVE these 3 books. One of them is actually a companion to The Alchemist and I love it more than the later. 1. The Supreme Gift. This book is entirely about 1 Corinthians 13: Love is kind. As fate will have it, I picked up the book on a day, my love walk was at an all time low. Mind you, I had no idea what the subject matter of the book was. It was nice to be reminded that LOVE IS NOT SELF SEEKING and LOVE KEEPS NO RECORDS OF WRONGS 2.The Warrior of the Light I did not want to PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. I had to exercise restrain and take appropriate breaks from reading to make sure...

I was gifted this book by a good friend who was aware of my interest around generational curses and blood covenants. I have been exploring the concept of how my life could be presently affected (cursed, ) by the iniquities of my ancestors. The author of the book, Robert Henderson, presents some really controversial points. The legal language of the book reminds me so much of the legalistic nature of the old testament. I was honestly exhausted and confused about his theories. Even though he quotes a lot of scriptures, it doesn't seem to be in their right context. I just didn't feel like it was biblically sound. It didn't "sit well" with me. I can't put my hand on exactly what it is that didn't "sit well" with me. This is where I have to put a disclaimer  that this is my personal opinion  and based on my own personal journey with my faith.  I felt like from a faith point of view, he was making things seem more complicated than th...

After 7 years in Boston, this child of the African Sun has still not  acclimatized to the weather.  And quite frankly, I don't want to . I don't like cold weather but I LOVE sleeping in on a nice rainy/snowy day. How do people stay productive in this climate? All I ever want to do is cozy up with some cafe, endless desserts, and some good books to read.  I'm currently reading the genesis - part I ( In a pit with a Lion on a snowy Day ) of a book ( Chase the Lion ) I just finished reading. It fell into my hands as a happy surprise at a holiday party. You may call it a coincidence, I call it a divine manifestation of speaking out my desire to read this book after finishing it's sequel.

    This is such a small but powerful book, you should be able to read it in a day. I love this book because it is a not so gentle reminder to us Christian believers, of all the many dimensions of our faith.     If you call yourself a Christian and you believe in the words of the bible, then you have to believe  EVERYTHING that the bible says about our Authority over this fallen world that we live in.     This book was a recommended read for our team before we headed out to Honduras. I went to Honduras on a mission trip over the summer. I have yet to post about it because every time I try to, words fail me. I am not able to put into words everything that I experienced on that trip.   The believer's authority reminds us that there is a spiritual dimension here on earth. As we walk through the challenges in life and take physical actions against them, let us not forget the power of prayers and our authority ...

I didn't read this book but listened to the free Audio Copy of the book on YouTube. Am not sure if the free audio copy of the book is legal (copyright), but I will link it at the bottom of the blog post for anyone who wants to listen to it before YouTube takes it down.   The irony of me listening to this book in 2019 is that this book was introduced to me in 2011. Instead of reading it, I gave the copy that was given to me to a friend and never got it back. To think that all these years I went without the sound financial advices found in the pages of this book.   I am very certain that, had I read this book back in 2011 instead of now in 2019, I would have began my financial freedom journey as soon as I moved to Boston instead of when I would eventually start it in 2015. I love this book and I highly recommend it to everyone no matter your age and financial status. Most importantly, I recommend it to anyone who is starting out on their financial freedom jour...

I absolutely loved! reading this book. The Radical Pursuit of Rest : Escaping the Productivity Trap by John Koessler . It was a call to action. It was a gentle admonition from your favorite uncle But it was also the voice of gentle condemnation? from your boot camp instructor who's calling you out for still eating McDonald's double cheeseburger after taking his exercise class because  #youCANNOToutexerciseaBADDIET  John Koessler took no prisoners with this book. He was firing shots left and right I had to literary and figuratively duck, pause, sigh, laugh, cry and repent from all the things he mentioned of which I WAS GUILTY of perpetuating in my own faith walk. There is so much to be said about this book, the best thing I can say is, Go read it for yourself. There is an introduction and 9 chapters where he addresses different aspects of rest. Each Chapter ends with a series of discussion questions that make this book a wonderful read for ...

Form : Book & CD Audio So I read parts of the book and also listened to the cd audio version in part due to some long driving commutes I've had for work this month. I think my audio cd (13 cds in total) was the original audio copy narrated by the author himself Stephen Covey. Keeping in mind that the first publication of this book was in 1989, I have to say that this books seems to be the grandfather of self help books. The 7 habits explored are concepts that I have seen other  more modern self -help authors explore deeply on an individual basis. By that I mean, there is a plethora of self help books today, each one, picking one of the 7 habits and  deep diving into it. For me the 7 Habits where like gentle reminders. Am not sure if it's because I have already read other more recent books on the subject matter? They are all things we already know we need to do, but we need to be reminded why it's important to implement them. The Habit sections I l...

after reading his book,  Born a Crime I.  I have been misusing the quote " Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a life time" Trevor talks about how no matter how much you teach the man, if you don't give him a fishing rod aka TOOLS OF SUCCESS, he's still not going to be able to catch the fish and feed himself for a lifetime. This is so true when it comes to breaching the opportunity gap between socioeconomic classes.  It's not just about motivating people to work hard* It's about combining their hard work ethics with tools such as academic/merit scholarships, internship opportunities, employment opportunities, small business loans for entrepreneurs, etc...... Without the fishing pole, there is no hope. This is the problem with Africa at large...too many brilliant students who have spent years memorizing text books but no opportunities of employment for them to put to use what they have....

It was a simple read like the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho I just didn't see or understand or have a revelations of any "deep" philosophical ideas in the book as some of the reviews suggested. Maybe I have to go back and reread it? Basically what I got out of it was that a young girl was in denial about her mother's passing. It doesn't say if she died by accident or if she was so depressed about being stuck on the island that she committed suicide by jumping off the cliff.  I wasn't clear on that point. And it makes sense to me that with one young married woman and an inattentive husband, that she will seek companionship in the arms of the only other bachelor on the island. I wish how that came about was explored in the story line. I guess as a lover of thrillers and suspense novels, I had high expectations based on the reviews I had read about the book.  And my expectations where not met. It was shortlisted for the Common Wealth ...