Forever a Foreigner

This is a book for your sisters, for your daughters, and for your mothers!

“This book is less about preparing you for your future husband than about preparing you for our God….if you read this book and think, ‘Wow! I love the Lord more than ever!’ then I’ve succeeded.”

Ready for Him Today

I’ve read a lot of Christian living books.

I’ve read a lot of Christian living books about being single–some directed at young girls, focused on purity and dating, others directed at older women struggling with singleness and loneliness. To be honest, most of these books felt shallow to me, quick reads with what they have to say able to be gleaned from their chapter titles alone. My default method for reading such materials is to skim, often “finishing” such a book in one or two sittings, with a vague sense of disappointment that I was not challenged or led to meditate deeply.

When my mother suggested I read Read for Him Today: Preparing Wisely for the Future, Living Fully in the Present, I was skeptical. The cover was unimpressive and the ebook formatting was in need of an update (the book was published in 2013). The book had almost no reviews, and my mother’s recommendation was purely based off of a short story that the author had written elsewhere.

So imagine my surprise when I opened up the book and found myself engrossed in a full-on Bible study on love from page 1! This was not a book I could skim. I had to read it carefully. Chapters unfolded, one after the other, some of the best ones at the very end of the book. I finished not only challenged but enriched, itching to talk about its contents with others. Soon my mother, younger sister, and I were doing a book study together, going through two chapters a week.

So, What Is This Book?

This book is a hidden treasure, overlooked and mostly unknown, but vastly superior to anything else I have ever read on the subject, and that subject is living godly in this world as a single Christian woman.

Yaasha Moriah begins by discussing the true definition of love, leading the reader through Scripture to look at God Himself and His grand, amazing love. She then discusses the fear of the Lord and authority in relationships. The chapter on the father-daughter relationship made me cry. She talks about your relationships with your brothers. Marriage, purity, temptation, sin, romance, contentment, etc. are topics that are all explored in depth, from practically every angle.

What I appreciate so much about this book is how this author goes deep. She does not touch on a topic briefly, leaving you with a few thoughts and platitudes. Instead, you are led to think comprehensively and Biblically about each topic. She also is very practical at times, with advice and tips that I found surprisingly helpful and relatable.

“I have wrestled to understand singleness, marriage, and love as God sees them, and not as my culture sees them.”

Ready for Him Today

The other thing I appreciate about this author is that she clearly comes from a conservative background and is able to take counter-cultural stands. That also felt very refreshing to me. I didn’t agree with every conclusion that she came to, but I appreciated her honesty and dedication to following God’s Word, though we might differ in interpretation and application in some areas. These differences led to good discussion with my mother and teen-aged sister as we read through the book together. I would highly recommend this book for studies, where you can discuss it with your mothers, sisters, friends, and daughters. The content is so comprehensive that it will cover almost every important topic that a woman facing a period of singleness would need to work through. My father even took an interest.

Yaasha Moriah does write from the perspective of someone who is coming from a loving Christian home. This colors some of the things she says and some of the conclusions she comes to. I imagine someone from a different background would have more to add to the conversation, but, again, fodder for discussion!

Ultimately, I am excited to recommend this book, and hopefully I can help get it out of the shadows where it has laid hidden.

https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Him-Today-Preparing-Present-ebook/dp/B00CSGIWL8