The Saturday Six

One.

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This post written by a father whose daughter was stillborn, is powerful. Goose-bump inducing truths and reminders.

Two.

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One of the mantras of the workout program we've been doing the past seven weeks is that change happens one pound at a time. {Too bad we want it to happen more like one pound a minute, right?} But if you're applying the same kind of pressure to spiritual growth that you're applying to weight loss, you might also be encountering some discouragement in that department! Loved these words from Kelly Minter about growth and change happening one page at a time.  

Three.

My friend Amy sent me this song by sister duo Alanna Story last week. I love the melody, I love the lyrics, and I wanted to share it with you. 

Four.

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In the writing I've done in the last few weeks, I've taken trips back to my teen years, which is never a place I willingly go {and I'm sure a few of you out there could give me a hearty amen on that thought}. Part of what I hated about that time of life was feeling the hurt of others who made life hard or made me doubt who I am. And much like Crystal Stine talks about in this post, those feelings don't go away as easily as we might imagine they will just because we become adults!

Five.

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I am about to do a second cleaning of my closet and this time my jewelry gets a run-through as well. I really need a better system for storing it, because while I don't have a lot of it, I know I don't wear even half of what I have because I can't SEE it. I think I like this system - do you have another idea I should consider??

Six.

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I really enjoy watching medical dramas, but sometimes I have to be careful how much of that sort of thing I take in, because I edge toward some hypochondria and can be sick with all sorts of things by the end of the hour! And on top of that, sometimes the sub-storylines take crazy turns that I know I shouldn't be filling my mind with, so I just don't watch them like I used to. But my love for that kind of show is what drew me to read Step by Step, the second book in the Crisis Team series, written by former ER nurse Candace Calvert.

I didn't even know medical romance was a genre, so this was new to me, and it was an interesting change of pace from other books I've read.

The book centers around ER nurse Taylor Cabot, whose husband died in an accident three years earlier. Taylor has been working diligently through a "survival list" she created - a list she hopes will put her back on the path to some sense of normalcy. Included in the list was moving to San Diego to start fresh, and in that transition, she met a handsome plastic surgeon who finds himself drawn to her and pursuing her.

Also a member of a crisis team, Taylor's attempts to work through her list are skewed when an old friend and fellow team member, Seth Donovan, shows up in town to train new team members. His arrival stirs up all sorts of emotions and new information about her past and her husband's accident, and all of it threatens to completely unravel her carefully constructed checklist.

You know I love learning from fiction {because it's more fun than studying textbooks!} and this book teaches - through story - so much about what it's like to be on the front lines of crisis moments. It gave me a new appreciation for the personal heartache such responders go through as they reach out to the hurting. And much like TV drama, the book was also sprinkled with medical terminology. Interestingly enough, I found that part to be more distracting in print than it is on screen. {I think because I don't know what any of it means and on screen it's sort of just filler information while I watch people work, but in the book, it is the main event on that page and reminds me of how much I don't know about such things!} Even so, the book is not so filled with the jargon that you lose the story completely.

The suspense is very low and casual at the beginning, but builds throughout the book, becoming key toward the end. I thought the characters were easy to get to know, and I appreciated that that Candace didn't smooth things over in the conflict that existed among the hospital staff. We all know that sometimes co-workers are just hard to work with and she didn't make it all nice and pretty just because it was in a book. The friction between them was believable and not neatly resolved for the sake of the story. Even in that, I appreciated the strong presence of faith, Scripture, and the gospel woven throughout.

If you like medical dramas, and you are interested in a book that offers you that kind of story without all the side stories that are not so Christ-honoring, check out this book and series! {NOTE: I realized after reading the book and writing the review that this one actually doesn't release until February 1! I don't normally get them before the release date, so I'm ahead of the game! But you can always pre-order online if you want to make sure you don't forget!}

Thanks, Tyndale, for sending a copy of this book my way in exchange for an honest review.