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Bookish Tay

Good Books + Good Living

Categories: Faith, Journal

Come What May and Love It

I used to be really good at looking at the bright side of things. I look back on my life and see my younger self full of so much hope, despite the hard things that I was going through.

Sometimes I wonder when that hope turned into bitterness and anger. And lately I’ve wondered how to get that hope back. Because I want it back. I need it back.

Then, tonight in my online zoom class, we were talking about trials and adversity and hard things. And at one point, it hit me hard just how I can bring that hope back into my life. We read this quote from C.S. Lewis:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

What if I started looking more at the bigger picture? What would happen if I put more trust in God instead of trying to do it all myself or getting upset when he starts knocking those walls down? What would happen then?

These were the thoughts swirling in my mind when we read about this experience:

I remember loading up our children in a station wagon and driving to Los Angeles. There were at least nine of us in the car, and we would invariably get lost. Instead of getting angry, we laughed. Every time we made a wrong turn, we laughed harder. Getting lost was not an unusual occurrence for us. Once while heading south to Cedar City, Utah, we took a wrong turn and didn’t realize it until two hours later when we saw the “Welcome to Nevada” signs. We didn’t get angry. We laughed, and as a result, anger and resentment rarely resulted. Our laughter created cherished memories for us.

This comes from a talk given called “Come what may, and Love It” we talked about that idea, that maybe regardless of what came our way, we could try laughing more, showing gratitude, and maybe maybe even loving it.


Come What May and Love it quote

It’s so hard for me to do. And I’m not saying that we should ignore our pain or grief or anger. We can feel those things, we need to feel those things because life is hard and we lose people and dreams fall apart and we can be abuse or hurt or so many different things can go wrong.

But maybe, just maybe (and this really is just me trying to think out loud for how I want to be In the future). But maybe, instead of holding onto that anger (even when the moment has passed) or the stress or the sadness, what if I started to look for the good again, like I used to so often.

Because hard things are always gonna happen, but I’d rather go through life looking for the good things, even in the hard stuff, than feeling bogged down by all the stuff that isn’t so great. Cause I’ve been there, I’ve done that, and I don’t want to live that way anymore.

So I’m gonna keep looking for (and sharing) the good. Because there is so much good, even if it’s a small thing today, someday we’ll be able to see the big things.


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Categories: Faith, Motherhood

Raising a Daughter


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Today was a bit of a rough day for all of us. At least, it was for Von and I. I had a PTSD episode last night, which resulted in me getting very little sleep, and Von has been tired and cranky most of the day. We’ve also had lots of snuggles and a nice car ride, but I am glad that it’s nearly time for bed.

I feel like even though today was on the harder side, it was still a good day. I cried as I watched TikToks of Veteran’s coming home and felt grateful for their service. And I cried as I read this post from Stephanie Nielson. I’ve been reading Stephanie’s blog for as long as I can remember (but very regularly for the past 5 years) and this post made me cry.

I had a rush of emotions as I read about her daughter who just got her mission call. I was thrown back in time to 8 years ago when I was preparing for my own mission. I felt so much peace and joy as I remembered getting called to serve in California and my experiences of sharing Christ there.

Then I cried again as she wrote about how she can remember Claire being a little toddler, running around and then how quickly she’s grown up.

Sometimes I feel like I blinked and already it’s been (almost) 3 years since Von was born. How is that even possible? And then I step back and wonder, am I doing enough to teach her about Christ? To raise her to love God? Ultimately, that’s what I want for her, to have her own relationship with God because my own relationship with Him has brought me so much peace.

I feel like 2020 rocked my world a bit, with anxiety higher than it’s been in years and then the pandemic which has made it so we don’t attend church each week. I really miss going to church. I’d also love to say that we’ve been great about doing at home church, but it just doesn’t happen as often as I’d like.

I’m hoping after the reflecting I’ve done today, that that will change, even if it’s just small and simple changes at first. I know that God loves our efforts and blesses us for them, it’s just time for me to show up a little more so that we can all be more centered on the Savior during this time of so much unrest.

And I guess that’s what the point of this post is today. I can talk about Jesus all day long online, but if I’m not talking about Him as often at home, then I’m failing in that aspect. Today was a reminder to 1) give myself grace and 2) try a little harder to bring Christ into our home a little more.


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Categories: Books, Faith

Tay’s Book Club Faith Pick: November 2020

This post may contain affiliate links. See the site disclaimer for details.

Hi reader friends! In October I started a 2nd buddy read/book club pick for Tay’s Book Club. In an effort to grow closer to God myself, I wanted to read more books that taught me of Christ and helped me grow spiritually. In October we’ve been reading You Are the Girl for the Job and I’ve loved it!

We’ll have our discussion over on Instagram (in a chat) and I’m so excited for that! I’m also excited to continue this part of my book club in November.


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Our book for November is Even This by Emily Belle Freeman

Even This invites readers to make room for daily personal experiences with God. From the very first page readers will walk down a spiritual path meant to remind each of us that God will meet us in the unexpected, bringing His goodness, giving us cause to trust, reminding us of His capacity. Filled with deeply personal stories about holding onto belief, daring to trust, and longing for understanding, Even This chronicles one woman’s quest to find God in the everyday moments-with one of the most powerful experiences taking place as she searches for sea shells while walking on the beach-and provides many opportunities for individual introspection. “Yes, God is good and He can be trusted,” Freeman concludes, “and it is the daily discovery of these truths that has the potential to become the greatest journey of a life and lead us closer to Him.”

Ultimately, the author hopes Even This will encourage and motivate readers to:

Stop letting fear dictate the depth of your belief through simple daily reflections that will restore your confidence in God.

Let go of your need to control by discovering what is holding you back from being completely vulnerable in your relationship with God.

Diminish the power of doubt by coming to understand why the place of deepest asking is where the believing begins.

Learn how to trust that God may have something entirely different in mind than you could ever anticipate–something better.

Why I Picked Even This

Because now more than ever I think we need to have daily experiences with God, but I know that I have not always been in a space to do that. I am excited to read this book and see how I can be better about letting God in, even when things don’t go the way I planned or if I ever have a crisis of faith.

Where do we chat?

Besides this post here announcing our book, we’ll have a discussion over on Instagram. I’ll share a post near the end of the month that includes questions for you to answer + we’ll have some chats on my stories, so be sure to follow along over there!



Where can I grab a copy of Even This

Check your library to see if they have it! Mine did not have a copy of this, so I did request it for my library to get, but I also bought my own copy from Bookshop.org!

  • Amazon

  • Bookshop.org

  • Free with new Libro.fm account

I’m so excited to read Even This and learn how I can make God an even bigger part of my life. Will you be reading with me!?

Categories: And She Knew It, Faith

Peace, Be Still

As I sat and listened to General Conference just a few weeks ago, I felt inspired to re-read the talks, one each week, and share some of my thoughts, quotes, and invitations here on my blog.

I thought about making my own reading schedule, but I was planning to join the Work and Wonder community in their study. So, I will be following their study schedule (for the most part) which you can see here if you want to study with me/us.

These posts will be slightly different than what I generally share, but I feel the need to talk more about Jesus here online, because He is such a large part of my life, that I can’t separate Him from who I am. Each Monday I’ll be sharing some spiritual thoughts.


Peace, Be Still by Lisa L. Harkness

Read full address

How many times this year have you cried out to God, wondering where He is? Wondering why there is so much chaos and seemingly little peace? I don’t have the number for the times I’ve cried out to Him.

There have been so many moments, this year especially, that I felt as if I were drowning. As if I were about to sink and didn’t know how to keep my head above water. Moments when I forgot that there is a Savior who is the Master of Peace, and that He is ready to say “Peace, be still.”

There is a mortal tendency, even a temptation, when we find ourselves in the middle of trials, troubles, or afflictions to cry out, “Master, carest thou not that I perish? Save me.”…

Certainly, the Savior of the world understands our mortal limitations, for He teaches us how to feel peace and calm even when the winds blow fiercely around us and billowing waves threaten to sink our hopes.

There’s a song, that you can listen to hear, that says “when there’s no peace on earth there is peace in Christ.” I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. 2020 has been… well, you know what it’s been like and with the election coming up, I feel like there has been a lot less peace than there has been.

So how can we find that peace? How can I feel calm? How can you feel the calm you so desperately want?

Regardless of our circumstances, we can intentionally make efforts to build and increase our faith in Jesus Christ. It is strengthened when we remember that we are children of God and that He loves us. Our faith grows as we experiment on the word of God with hope and diligence, trying our very best to follow Christ’s teachings. Our faith increases as we choose to believe rather than doubt, forgive rather than judge, repent rather than rebel. Our faith is refined as we patiently rely on the merits and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah

It is our faith that will bring more peace into our lives. Because as we bring Christ into our lives more, there will naturally be more peace. Lately, in times of chaos, darkness, and anxiety, I have said the word “Christ” out loud. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the light of the world. Saying His name brings calm and light and power, even if it’s for a brief moment. Saying His name always makes me feel better.


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This week my challenge for you and for myself is to take more moments of stillness to really feel Him and think about Him. I set an alarm on my phone calendar that says “be still and know” several times throughout the day, and my hope is that when that reminder pops up, I can pause what I’m doing and think of Him.


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Categories: And She Knew It, Faith

Watch Ye Therefore, and Pray Always

As I sat and listened to General Conference just a few weeks ago, I felt inspired to re-read the talks, one each week, and share some of my thoughts, quotes, and invitations here on my blog.

I thought about making my own reading schedule, but I was planning to join the Work and Wonder community in their study. So, I will be following their study schedule (for the most part) which you can see here if you want to study with me/us.

These posts will be slightly different than what I generally share, but I feel the need to talk more about Jesus here online, because He is such a large part of my life, that I can’t separate Him from who I am. Each Monday I’ll be sharing some spiritual thoughts.


Watch Ye Therefore, and Pray Always by M. Russell Ballard

Read full address

As I read this address today, I couldn’t help but remember an experience I had nearly 10 years ago now, when I first knew that God was listening to my prayers. I was struggling and I felt so, so, so alone and in one of my prayers to God before I went to sleep I was begging, and crying, for relief and understanding. In that moment a name of a dear friend came to my mind, but I pushed it out, I was worried about what was happening in my life, why was I thinking about this person?

Then, that night I had a dream about this friend and another, and the next day at school both helped me out of a situation that I was incredibly relieved to be out of, and I realized that thinking their name during my prayer, had been an answer.

Answers to prayers don’t always come as we want them to or how we expect them, but throughout my life, I know that they come.

Prayer will lift us and draw us together as individuals, as families, as a church, and as a world. Prayer will influence scientists and help them toward discoveries of vaccines and medications that will end this pandemic. Prayer will comfort those who have lost a loved one. It will guide us in knowing what to do for our own personal protection.

Life is hard and may continue to grow more challenging in the coming days. One thing that will help us? Prayer. We have been promised peace, answers, comfort and so much more as we pray to God, and as we get up and go to work after we’ve prayed.

Invitation for this week: Make an effort to make your prayers more meaningful. Kneel in prayer, say your prayer out loud, pray for something specific then get up and act on the thoughts and feelings (promptings) that you have. Take time to pray this week.

After we kneel in prayer, we need to get up from our knees and do what we can to help—to help both ourselves and others.


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Hi there! I'm Taylor! Welcome to Bookish Tay, a book and lifestyle blog. Looking for a good book or way to make life better? You're in the right place.

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