NYSC CAMP BOOK BUCKET LIST

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
(Hosea 4:6 a)

**dusts cobweb off blog doorsteps and window **
Hello my loves,
I’m in such a great mood today, I’ve been dancing all day; in the bathroom, in the bedroom, everywhere. I hope they don’t think I’m crazy at work today but even if they do, I’m crazy for the Lord. Can I get an Amen!!!

So, network and power supply have been trying to frustrate my blogging career in Ado Ekiti but I refuse to accept defeat.

I’m bringing you this post straight from my  window, saturated with yellow walls, in a little private secondary school in Ekiti state. I’m going to be telling you about the books I got in camp that helped keep spiritually and intellectually sane. If you read my first post in the NYSC series, you’d get a glimpse of why I needed something like that. So without much ado, let’s stroll to my i-got-it-at-nysc-camp library.

How to be an Irresistible Woman by Michelle Mckinney Hammond
If after reading this book, your self esteem as a woman is not a hundred, send me a mail, I gotta pray for you. Michelle has this clever, modern and “gisty” way of explaining issues that affect women and romantic relationships daily, but from a Christian perspective. It helps you to understand some of the spiritual aspects of romantic relationships; how women push men away unknowingly by forming Miss Independent (nobody says you should be dependent but don’t go about making him feel like he’s not needed, you just might be sorry) or how women sometimes shoot themselves in the foot by being selfish in relationships. She answers the question: do you want to be a wife or do you want to be a husband???
She also includes prayer points at the end of each chapter.
It’s a beautiful book, I tell you.

The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Ortman

If you are reading this and you’re single, a Christian and you’re not already praying for your future spouse (wife/husband) or you’re married and you don’t pray for your partner, kneel down now, let me baptize you. Whattttt!  What are you waiting for?
Stormie through this book, helps you to understand how important it is to pray for your husband as a woman. She highlights some of the issues she has gone through in her marriage and how she prayed her way to victory. She also has deep prayers at the end of each chapter to help you practice all you’re learning in prayer. The prayers range from his finances to temperament to spirituality. She didn’t fail to include prayers for bedroom matters ?, fatherhood and husband-hood. Someone was  saying some days ago that it didn’t include prayers for your mother in law and stuff. This is just a guide, it’s your job to incorporate other prayer points that are important to you.
It spurred my prayer life and I think you should read it.

I Declare by Joel Osteen

Joel is one preacher that is so simple yet profound. If you’re a new believer and need someone to help breakdown some seemingly hard Christian values like Word of Mouth, Forgiveness and so on,  you should follow his preaching on YouTube or his podcast.

I Declare is a devotional that has 31 prayers of declaration and stories to back them up. These prayers help you to speak positively into your life and birth greatness with your mouth. He included stories of himself and people who had practised powerful declarations and have seen God show up over the years. If you don’t have a devotional and you need a simple, easy to understand one, I’d advise you get this one.

HeMotions by TD Jakes

He motions is a very emotional book as it gives you an insight to what we hardly see;  the hardships and depression that men go through…strong men still struggle! There are a thousand and one books on women fighting their way through oppression and stuff like that but it’s quite rare to see such books that are focused on men. There is also a one hour plus video,  that gives a snippet to what’s in this book, on YouTube. You should totally check it out if you can’t lay your hands on the book just yet. TD Jakes takes us through a journey of how the society has succeeded in labelling men as “scum” and groomed them to “never cry but be strong ” , whereas they’re dieing inside because they can’t express what they’re going through. This book also helps us to understand that speaking positively into the lives of the men around you and in the society at large,  saturates the atmosphere with lositive energy and you’d be able to attract good men and not “scum” like twitter says.

How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime,  Anywhere – The secrets of Good communication by Larry King

If you read my birthday gifts wish list, you should remember that this book was on that list. It’s funny how I got to camp and saw it and I just couldn’t let it go. Larry King is a very popular broadcaster on CNN who gives very simple tips on how to be a great communicator. Everyone should read this. We all communicate so it’s essential to understand the basic know-how of navigating our way through conversations.

The  Power of Being a Woman by Michelle Mckinney Hammond

This book takes us back to the beginning of the creation of man- how Eve was formed, the kind of power she was given and how she misused it. It also takes us on a journey on how God redeemed us and restored the power that we have. Michelle explains the power in submission and corrects the notion that submission makes you weak, instead it makes you strong. She explains how influential a woman is in the life of a man and in the society. She also includes prayers that help women to speak to God to transform them into who he created them to be.

Getting Smart about Life, Love and Men by Michelle Mckinney Hammond

I got this book from a friend I met in camp, Jaiye (hey girl ?). It’s funny how when people saw me reading this book,  they automatically concluded that from the title, it must teach something erotic or negative but that’s actually far from the case. This book writes stories of specific influential women in the Bible from their own perspective ; talking about their struggles, mistakes and lessons you could learn from them. For example, Sarah tells you why she allowed Abraham go in with Hagar and how she learnt the hard way to wait on the Lord to fulfil His Promises. There are stories from Sarah, Hagar, Delilah, Ruth, Naomi, Deborah and so on. It’s so enlightening and will enable you to see a fresh perspective on bible issues. You’d learn about submission, total obedience, Godly influence, women’s sexuality and so on.

I also got Good Morning Holy Spirit by Benny Hinn but I forgot it in camp so a wonderful person helped me pick it up and I’d be getting it probably this week. I’ll give a recap when I’m done.

Please let me know which of these books you’ve read and what you learnt from them. I’d love to hear from you.

Till my next post,

Remember,

Always reflect God’s perfection xx.

Picture credit : @thinkpoppy on instagram.