I’m Not a Therapist, But—

These are strange times we’re living in, people. And I’m not sure what I think of them. 

Scrolling though my email and social media feeds, I see everyone is sharing their tips and tricks to avoid anxiety in this bizarre situation brought on by Covid19. 

And guys, I am not the person to write that type of post. I’m not a super cuddly, emotional person who is gonna give you a virtual hug and assuage all your fears. I might send you a meme. A somewhat morbid, rude meme. Because you can’t be scared when you’re laughing, right?

So I’m not going to try and give you Six Weapons to Use When Slaughtering Covid19 Fears and Anxieties (even though it sounds kind of fun to write). 

I am, however, going to remind you that God told us these sort of things would happen in the last days. Are these the exact and literal last days? I don’t know. They very well could be. But regardless if this is the beginning of the end, or just a super flu that’s going to blow over soon, we should remember God’s promised and commands to us. 

He promises to never leave us. He’s not practicing social distancing. 

Deuteronomy 31:6

Deuteronomy 31:8

He tells us not to fear and panic. 

Hebrews 13:5 (stop hoarding the toilet paper, guys)

Isaiah 41:10-14

2 Timothy 1:7 (I can’t read this verse without singing it anymore)

Pray. Pray. Pray. 

1 Peter 5:7

Philippians 4:6-7

Psalms 55:22

Hebrews 4:16

He’s got it under control. 

Romans 8:28

And if this whole Covid19 panic buying, quarantine infested life has you considering God for the first time, he’s got promises for you too. You don’t have to start tallying your good deeds when things get scary and hope it’s enough for God to lend you an ear. Our good conduct isn’t enough. But the good news is, it’s so much simpler than that. It’s as simple as Admit, Believe, Forever Receive. 

• First, you must admit that you are a sinner and need to be saved.
• Second, you must repent and be willing to turn from your sin.
• Third, you must believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross.
• Fourth, you must receive through prayer, Jesus Christ into your heart and life.

Romans 3:23 KJV “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Romans 6:23 KJV “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 5:8 KJV “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 10:9 KJV “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Romans 10:13 KJV “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 8:1 KJV “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Romans 8:38-39 KJV “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So stay healthy, friends. Now is not the time to get the gang together and start licking door knobs. But rest assured we serve a risen savior who is more powerful than any virus or toilet paper shortage, and as his children we can talk directly to him when things weigh heavy on is. And if you ever need a listening ear, hit me up. We can chat. 

To Best The Boys Book Review

Yes, yes. I know I’m way too late in reading this book. But better late than never, right? I’m here and I have thoughts. 

The Blurb: 

The task is simple: don a disguise. Survive the Labyrinth. Best the boys.

In a thrilling new fantasy from the bestselling author of the Storm Siren Trilogy, one girl makes a stand against society and enters a world made exclusively for boys.

Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. The poorer residents look to see if their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father’s microscope.

In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition.

With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the deadly maze.

Welcome to the Labyrinth.

Honestly, I think I’m going to give it five stars. I have no complaints. Zero. 

Right at first when I started reading, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. I get really tired of the whole Girls Can Do Anything spiel. I’m sorry. I just do. BUT this book was good. It felt very balanced and non-preachy with the girl power, and I fell in love after the first chapter. 

The characters:

Rhen is an awesome protagonist. She’s quirky and fun, strong, caring, and awkward. She felt very real, honestly, and her desire to “best the boys” felt was very natural rather than a soap box. 

Selini may take first place for best friend character. Usually the rich proper friend is also an airhead and weakling, but not Selini. She’s with Rhen every step of the way, and I loved how she portrayed being strong and capable but still 100% feminine. I also loved that her highest aspiration was to be a wife and mom—and that she was happy with it. So often homemakers are looked down on in fiction, and as a wife and mom myself, that makes me really sad. 

And you can’t best the boys without boys, and man were the boys in this book awesome. The villains were completely vile, and I actually did not see the final reveal coming at all. That was quite the surprise, and made perfect sense. I LOVE Will and Sam and really enjoyed their friendship with Rhen. And Beryl is absolutely hilarious, I can’t even stand it. 

Obviously, Lute is a heartthrob—anatomically correct lips and all. I just wanted to hug him. His story made me so sad, but yet he’s so perfect, and he’s so manly, but then he can wax poetic too (who doesn’t like a boy who talks about the sea? I mean, come on). He was perfect. That is all. 

The world: 

The world is very cool. I loved how chill it was with the magic. Oh yeah, there’s sirens in the water. Ghouls will rip your chest open. No big deal. It doesn’t give any explanation, which was really cool, because why would a character bother to explain if all of that is normal in their world? I really liked it. It was nice to just be able to accept, yes there is magic and monsters, and you just have to deal with it and watch out at night, without getting bogged down in a full blown epic fantasy explanation. 

The whole concept of Mr. Holm and his labyrinth is stinking awesome, and the way the labyrinth is described is so cool. This is a very vivid book, and Rhen’s quirky voice is absolutely awesome in describing it. 

The plot: 

It’s awesome. I had heard a lot about how good this book was when it first came out, bought it right away, then didn’t read it. So all the details I had heard before kind of slipped away from me, and I came into reading it with absolutely zero expectations. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, so every twist of the plot was a complete surprise and thrilling. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time (did I mention I read it in like, two days?) and couldn’t wait to see what happened next. 

It was really neat to have dyslexic and autistic characters in the story too. I feel like the author kind of took all the hot topic items of the day—diversity, representation, feminism, etc—and put it into a story that somehow magically doesn’t sound like a political rant. It’s fantastic. 

So, long story short, this book completely caught me by surprise in the best possible way, and if you haven’t read it you really should.