Great Book Recommendations For Lent

Today is the first day of Lent! I cannot believe we are forty days from celebrating Easter week. 

Growing up, I do not remember fasting.  I had heard people talk about giving up chocolate, soda, or social media, but I personally had not participated until 6 years ago. 

My first Lent, I gave up saying hurtful and unkind words. I joined Karen Ehman’s study, *Zip It: The Keep It Shut 40 day Challenge; the goal was to pause and think before you speak.  I loved this idea because at the time, I was really struggling with keeping control of my words.

After that, I decided I wanted to do something each year for Lent.

The second year, I celebrated Lent by participating in Mark Batterson’s book, *Draw the Circle: the 40 day Prayer Challenge. Focusing on prayer each day is an excellent way to prepare our hearts for Easter. I did this prayer challenge last year and plan to do it again this year!

The third year, a new book caught my eye.  The description of the book read, “What if you fasted regret?  What if your friends fasted comparison?” These words grabbed my attention.

I love the idea of fasting the negative emotions and lies that can easily entrap us.

These heart fasts came from the book, *40 Days of Decrease by Alicia Britt Chole. Listen to how she describes it: “I offer forty different fasts in the hope that collectively they will prepare us to be duly awed by Christ’s resurrection by being daily available to daily crucifixion.”

I want to be “awed by Christ’s resurrection.”  I want you to be “awed by Christ’s resurrection” too.

As we prepare our hearts for Easter, I love to share resources to wonderful books and other great ideas for Lent. So last year on the podcast, I did an entire episode about this: Check out Depth Podcast Episode 120

This year, I want to share one more great idea. This week on the Depth Podcast, I talk with Sandy Cooper about taking a social media break. I highly recommend listening to Episode 165 to hear 5 compelling reasons why to fast social media this Lent.

My prayer is that as we prepare our hearts for Easter, we can give up whatever is holding us back from becoming the amazing person God created us to be. 

Love, Jodi

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support my ministry. Thank you!