More Books You Should Read in 2023

Sarah Minerva • Jan 09, 2023

Still looking for a few good books to read? My wife, Sarah, has several recommendations for you!

Woman Code

by Alisa Vitti

THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE. I will probably say that about every book I have on this list, but this one especially. If you’re a girl, read this book. 

After months of complications due to a miscarriage, I was on a desperate search to get my hormones back in check and this book is what did it. This book is far more than the science of monthly cycles and hormones. Alisa explains the four cycles every woman goes through each month (it’s not just one and knowing all four will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Trust me.) and not only does she talk about them, she gives you everything you could possibly need to feel your best during each phase—meal plans, exercises, vitamins, teas, socializing skills, mental capacities, and rest. Did you know some foods are better for you during certain times of the month? Or why you may feel like doing cardio one day but a 10 minute yoga session is all you have the energy for another day? Or why you might be more “people-y” one week but want to just stay home for the rest of your life the next week? The cycles Alisa walks through in this book have given me SO MUCH clarity and I now know how to arrange things in my life according to my womanly instincts and that has been life-changing for me. 

Woman Code

Boundaries for Your Soul

by Allison Cook, Kimberly Miller

This book unpacks a method used in therapy called the Internal Family Systems model or IFS for short. I won’t explain the model, because well, there’s a book for that and this book will do a way better job than I ever could. There are many different methods in therapy, but this specific one has been life-changing for me. The authors do a great job laying out this model in a simple, easy-to-understand way and make it possible for the reader to experience the healing therapy can bring, but at home, on your own.


Boundaries For Your Soul

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

by Peter Scazzero

Nick and I read this one…well, actually, Nick finished it and I started it, and then we started going through it with a small group of people and it has been life-changing. (I told you—you were warned.) In this book, Peter breaks down the wall we often put up between spirituality and emotions and how the two actually go hand-in-hand in experiencing a fulfilling, life-breathing relationship with God and others and self, even. Emotions used to scare me, they still kind of do (we’re still working through the book, give me time) but I’m learning that embracing emotions frees me to be the image-bearer he created me to be and truly know him as my creator.  


Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

The Great Sex Rescue

by Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach and Joanna Sawatsky

Every woman needs to also read this book. Especially if you have grown up or have been immersed in purity culture. I have never read any book on sex or marriage like this one. Which saddens me, but makes me thankful for people like Sheila, Rebecca and Joanna who are willing to speak up against most evangelical’s view of sex, marriage and the roles it carries. They do so in a way that truthfully calls out sin, abuse and damaging mindsets without carrying an ax, but also leads couples, women especially, to freely enjoy sex as God intended. This book is exactly what the title says. It’s a rescue. Not just for women, but for men, also. 

The Great Sex Rescue

In the Lord I Take Refuge

by Dane Ortlund 

I do not often read devotionals—I have nothing against them, they’re just not my cup of tea, or coffee. This one by Dane Ortlund, however, was recommended to me during a particularly hard season of life and I have lost count of how many times I have recommended it since. And that was like last year. Ha. When I could barely muster to pray or read scripture at all, this devotional became the words to my prayers and the scripture I clung to. Dane has a way of saying something profound yet concise, and I will always be grateful for the impact spending a few minutes a day with each devotional had on my life during that time. 


In The Lord I Take Refuge

The Body Keeps the Score

by Bessel A. Van Der Kolk

Woah. This book was a hard one for me. I could only handle a couple chapters at a time, but man was this book insightful. I came away from this book completely fascinated, disheartened and helped. I felt all the things with this one. I learned so much of how our body, mind and emotions are connected and how that plays out even years after experiencing things humans were not created to experience. This book gives a voice to the traumatized. So whether you’re needing to make sense of the hurt inside you or you need to acknowledge the hurt inside others, this book will speak volumes.   


The Body Keeps The Score

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes

by Brandon J. O’Brien and E. Randolph Richards

I had no idea the course this book would set me on when I first started reading it. The subtitle is “Removing the cultural blinders to better understand the Bible” and that’s exactly what this book did for me. Every Christian in western civilization should read this. This is a great starting place to more deeply understand the Bible in its context. I wish I read it sooner. 

Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy

by Mark Vroegop

This book was also recommended to me after we had our miscarriage. (Ps. If your friends don’t recommend good books, are they even your friend?) Reading this felt like Mark and his wife were walking through our miscarriage with us. This book gave weight to what I was feeling. It was encouraging and hopeful, but not in the “It will be okay or things will get better” way, but in the “I have been where you are and I will stay with you as long as you are here” way. We need more of that kind of encouragement in this world, and this book is it.


He also wrote a book called “Weep With Me” which is equally excellent. So when you’re done reading “Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy” pick up “Weep With Me”. You won’t regret it. 

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy

Holier Than Thou

by Jackie Hill Perry

Do you ever read a book that has a bigger impact than it probably would if you read it during a different time in your life? This was that book for me. Remember that dark season I mentioned earlier? I found myself questioning A LOT of things during that time and this book opened my eyes to the goodness and trustworthiness of God that I needed to see. Also, is it just me or is Jackie Hill Perry one of the best writers you’ve ever read? I’m not necessarily talking content, which is good and fine and all, but in the formation of the words she writes and the putting together of sentences…which I clearly don’t have. Ha.


So, bonus—not only does the book have good content, it also reads like butter. 

Holier Than Thou

Upstairs at the White House

by J.B. West

After you’ve dug yourself deep in the trenches of trauma and therapy and deep clouds, Upstairs at the White House is the fun, light-hearted and interesting book you need. I LOVED this book. Like, a lot. J.B. West was the chief usher at the White House during the Roosevelt’s, Truman’s, Eisenhower’s, Kennedy’s, Johnson’s and Nixon’s terms and he worked mostly with the First Ladies. He offers a glimpse into a life many of us will never experience and I love how that humanizes people we often categorize “above us”. They were people too. They had families, ate dinner, decorated their home and went swimming (sometimes naked…you gotta read the book). If you enjoy a behind-the-scenes look on things, you will love this book.


Upstairs At The White House

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A Creed To Remind The Gathered Church Of Its New Life In Christ

By Nick Minerva • 14 Jul, 2023
When I was pastoring I wanted to read a blessing over the church that would remind all of us of our new life in Christ. So I wrote this new life creed and every week I would read it and remind us of what Christ had done for us. We gather together as believers professing our great need We acknowledge that we have fallen short We confess that we are rebels who have gone our own way Apart from Christ, we stand condemned, guilty, and unable to save ourselves But what we are incapable of doing, God did In his infinite love, God made a way of salvation for all who would believe Jesus willingly laid down his life and received the just punishment we deserve So that could walk in new life So yes, we confess our great need We humbly recognize that apart from Christ we are incapable of any good thing But we also proclaim that because of the finished work of the cross we will never be apart from Christ We are forever secure in the love of the Father We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit All because of the sacrifice of the Son, Jesus Christ. We are no longer in bondage to sin We are no longer facing righteous wrath We have been declared holy by our King And nothing on heaven or earth will change that reality This gathering is a testimony to our redeemed state We pursue holy living to be an authentic demonstration of the love we have for Christ We believe that we have been empowered by grace to meet our every need And we gladly anticipate the complete fulfillment of our adaption and the remaking of this world at the coming of our Lord To Christ be glory forever and ever Amen

A Praying Church: A Book Review

By Nick Minerva • 23 May, 2023
Prayer is one of those topics that always seems to convict me. I have never heard a sermon or read a book on prayer and not been challenged. Even as I am writing this review there is a bit of imposter syndrome because I know I should pray more. In A Praying Church , Paul Miller writes about how to become a people of hope in a discouraging world through prayer. And he does so in a way that was very authentic and accessible. While I was consistently challenged, I was also consistently encouraged. Throughout the book, he takes you on his journey of developing a personal prayer life plus countless stories of ministries that developed communal prayer as a vital component of their life together. One thing that struck home with me throughout these stories was the reality that prayer always grows out of desperation for God. There were several things that I found very helpful in this book. One of them was the connection between a life yielded to the Holy Spirit and a vibrant prayer life. The power to do anything of eternal importance comes from the Holy Spirit and the Spirit moves in response to prayer. Paul shows us a biblical pattern we see throughout the New Testament. Prayer-Spirit-Jesus-power. However, this is not a simple formula to get God to do what you want. Another thing I appreciated about this book is Paul tells us time and again that the Spirit often moves in ways we don’t expect and that almost always includes difficulties. The Spirit enables us to look more like Jesus and that means joining him in the fellowship of his suffering. So this is not a “how to turn God into your personal genie” scheme, like many books on prayer. God often answers in ways we don’t expect and in places we don’t anticipate. This book is also full of practical help. I’ve already mentioned the stories he tells, but Paul also offers several helpful charts, strategies, and ideas to help put into place what he writes about (and lives by.) At the end of each chapter, he has a section called “A Word To Pastors” with a few paragraphs of wisdom to help them become a person of prayer and then lead their congregation to become a church of prayer. This book also made me thankful that I am a part of a church that has sought to grow in corporate prayer over the last few years. This would be a great book for any ministry leader who is burdened with the prayer life of his or her church. But it’s also a great read for any believer seeking to develop their own prayer life. Crossway was kind to send me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can get a copy of it at the affiliate link below.

Non-Toxic Masculinity: A Book Review

By Nick Minerva • 28 Apr, 2023
Let me start this review by saying everyone should read this book. If you've grown up in Evangelicalism, you‘ve no doubt heard of purity culture. For the last several years we have seen the harm that has come as a result of this sub-group of Christianity. In Non-Toxic Masculinity, Zachary Wagner does an excellent job unpacking its teaching and the damage that has come as a result. He explains so well the angst I've been feeling with the movement and how often the Church falls short and winds up doing more damage. But unlike many critiques, this one also points a way forward. We know what toxic male sexuality looks like. We see it in the news and unfortunately, in the Church. But what does healthy male sexuality look like? What does it look like for me? What will it look like for my boys? In my heart, I know what I want it to look like, but so often I struggle to find the right words to express it. Non-Toxic Masculinity paints a healthy picture that is (re)humanizing and ultimately looks like Jesus, who, like all of us, had a sexual body. Zach is also very transparent in this book and God used his transparency to encourage, challenge, and convict me. As you read his story you will no doubt find yourself resonating with him on some level. Every man should read this book for themselves first and foremost. But if you have sons, nephews, grandsons, or young boys in your life, reading it is a must. Non-Toxic Masculinity is a breath of fresh air that will prove to be a tremendous resource for generations. Thank you Zach for writing it and sharing your story to serve us.
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