Yesterday I told you about some books on my wish list that are down-the-road
reads. Today I want to catch you up on what I’ve read since my last book
update. I crossed two more books off my reading challenge list. The first one
fulfilled the category “2023 New Release,” and I was very excited to
read it. I chose Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s book Becoming Free Indeed. My
sister got it and passed it on to me when she was done, so it was like
Christmas in March!
Back in the
day, I was a faithful viewer of the entire collection of Duggar reality shows.
I found them fascinating, even if I didn’t fully agree with all their beliefs
or methods. And I certainly didn’t agree with any of the messes the
oldest one got into, just to be clear.
If you’re not a
big follower of the Duggars, let me catch you up: most of the children seem to
be straying from the intense practices of the family. Most of the girls, after
getting married, have started wearing pants and some aren’t homeschooling. Most
attend an actual church, and some reportedly use birth control. All these
things are contrary to the teachings they grew up with.
Jinger married
a pastor, and they now live in Los Angeles. They have two young daughters.
Jinger was the first to publicly deviate from the outward expressions required
of the Duggars. And now she has written a book talking about how she
disentangled her faith from the teachings of her upbringing.
She was clear
before the book even came out that this is NOT a tell-all about her family, and
that is absolutely true. It’s hardly a tell-any, actually. So if you’re looking
for gossip, you won’t find it in this book. Her hope in writing it is to reach
those who also grew up in the teachings of the IBLP community under the
authority of Bill Gothard. She wants to explain how his teachings don’t
align with Scripture and offer Biblical truth in their place. If you did not
grow up in that sort of teaching, you probably won’t find anything
theologically earth-shattering in this book. Her words will probably make sense
to you because you’ll already know the truths inside.
But if you
aren’t familiar with the IBLP or Bill Gothard’s teachings, you’ll probably be
surprised to learn what so many people out there believe to be absolute truth
because he said so. I did not know what all his teaching entailed, so I learned
a lot from what she had to say. I didn’t know all the reasons behind the
things I saw on the show.
Because the
book is mostly about her faith, the truth of Scripture, and the contrast in
theologies, it’s not abundant with personal stories. I did not find that
frustrating, but I imagine some readers might. I wanted to read it to learn
more about what she had been taught as a child, and I did learn that. It is
helpful for me to understand how people who don’t believe the truth are still
deeply entrenched in what they do believe. It is real to them. I think
that’s important to remember when trying to tell others about Jesus.
I’m really glad
I read the book. I appreciated her thoughtful approach to the topic. She followed
her conviction to write the truth, even though I’m sure some of her family
members were not in favor of such a move. That took incredible courage and
boldness. I also appreciated how she handled her talk of her parents with such
love and grace. She doesn’t agree with their fundamental beliefs, but she was
quick to say (repeatedly) that they loved her well and raised her as they
thought was best. Sure, that may have been flawed, but she’s able to see their
intentions.
Also, in a time
when so many are deconstructing their faith (which seems to subsequently lead
to leaving it entirely), I appreciated her choice to use the word
“disentangling.” She is clear to say she still deeply loves Jesus, but now she
knows the truth of Who He is and what He desires from His people.
My next read
was a surprise for me! One of the categories in my challenge was to read a book
“borrowed from a friend,” and I figured I would save that category for later in
the year when I needed a book quickly without purchasing one or worrying about
it being on the shelf at the library. One day, Ryan came home from work and had
in his hand two books his co-worker loaned to him to share with me. I had no
idea she was going to bring them in, so I just dove in and moved this category up
to…now!
We live in a
county with a literary claim to fame! Years ago (think late 1800s/early 1900s),
a young woman named Gene Stratton-Porter moved to this county, and she was an
author, photographer, entrepreneur, and advocate for the preservation of nature.
I had heard of her as I grew up, but I’d never read anything written by her,
and truthfully, I didn’t know much about her, other than she was an author from
days of yore who loved nature.
The book I read
was called Nature’s Storyteller, and it’s written by Barbara Olenyick
Morrow. It’s Gene Stratton-Porter’s life story, complete with photos, and I
drank up every word of that book. It shocked me how much I loved it! The book
is technically a young author read, so it’s easy to digest.
Gene grew up
over by Wabash, Indiana, which is very near where I lived in Marion, so it was
fun to read about familiar places. She reminded me a lot of myself in her educational
interests – but she took them several steps further than I did. She didn’t like
math in school, so she just refused to do it! She did well in the subjects she
liked and saw no need for the rest. Like me, she was also the youngest in her
family, but she had several more siblings than I have, and some of them helped
raise her.
She ended up
marrying a gentleman from the Adams County area and moved this way to live as
an adult. Nature fascinated her, just as it had when she was a child, and she
loved photographing it and writing about it. She ended up having a very
successful writing career. Her publisher made an agreement with her to publish
her nonfiction works (her favorite) to pacify her enough to write fiction
(their bread and butter). And she, in turn, agreed to write the fiction (which
she didn’t love) so they would publish her nonfiction when perhaps other places
would not.
Gene was a hard
worker, determined lady, and passionate advocate for preserving nature. She
lived in our area until the price of progress meant loggers came in to cut down
trees and disturbed everything about her beloved land. She relocated to
northern Indiana to start over there and eventually moved to California to
enjoy warmer temperatures. She ended up getting involved in the movie industry,
too, and some of her books even became motion pictures!
Gene died in a
car accident in California, but her life’s work lives on in her many books, and
some excerpts of those books appeared at the end of this one. I do want to
eventually read her own writing – and we want to visit the historic site in our
area that preserves her home!
I’m so glad I
had the chance to read about her!
.JPG)
