I think I have always been a lover of books.  When I worked at a restaurant in high school, I would laugh when I saw younger girls reading their chapter books at the table – that was definitely me.  Still is, although I try not to read when my family is around.  At least not during dinner.  I have several book shelves crammed with books and make weekly library trips with my kids.

I also consider myself to be a musician.  Having played the piano since I was in 1st grade, I have a deep appreciation for all kinds of music.  My husband is also a musician – we have a rack of guitars for him and the kids and have more than a dozen instruments in our house. Drums and electric pianos and even antique ones that hang on our walls.

Not only do we seem to collect instruments, we also collect songs.  Well over 9,000 on our i-pod.  Basically we could stay home and just listen to music continuously for almost 2 months non-stop.  (That might be a bit pathetic. 🙂 )  One of the ways that God often impacts me the most is through listening to Christian music.  The number of times that exactly the right song has been played on MyBridge Radio are too many to mention or even remember.  When someone manages to put inspiring words to sounds, beautiful music is created.

If you are not as avid of a reader or if you barely have a playlist, knowing where to begin can be a bit overwhelming.  So, I would like to begin giving some reviews of some of my favorite books/authors and songs/albums/artists.  While I do read secular books on occasion and do have secular artists on my i-pod (Harry Connick, Jr. anyone?), I plan on sticking with Christian reviews because those authors/artists are not always easily identified or as familiarized in the media.  Plus to me those are the books and the songs that matter!  I plan on continuing my Monday morning devotional thoughts, then adding a review or two each week.  Now to begin picking my favorites … 🙂

Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Psalm 108:1 “My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!”