Monthly Miscellany: September Edition

Recent Reads and Favorite Things

If you’re new here, welcome! This is my monthly recap of things that I love, whether it’s a book, podcast, song, or nail polish color. If I love it, you’re going to hear about it! I love hearing what you’re enjoying as well, so please feel free to leave a comment or hit reply to this email and share your faves with me!

Life Lately

I hate that I was not able to write more this month, but for the past several weeks my job took up most of my precious few brain cells. In January I started working as an event planner and grant writer for a local hunger relief nonprofit, and last Thursday was our biggest annual fundraiser. I started working on this event my first week on the job, so to see literal months of effort come to fruition was incredibly satisfying. I’m relieved that it’s over and relieved that everything went really well. Comedian Mike Goodwin was our entertainment for the evening, and he was hilarious and kind.

I had the privilege of being on the Anxious Faith podcast recently, and while it was slightly terrifying to have my very personal story of depression broadcast to strangers, I am always glad for any opportunity I have to share about how God cared for me during my periods of depression.

Recent Reads

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

I finished two books in September: The Mountain Between Us¹ by Charles Martin and Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan. They both hooked me, but they are very different books (one involves two people trying to survive in a remote mountain range during the winter, and the other involves a single mom who has a meet cute with a guy at a dog park, only to discover that he’s her best friend’s brother—you guess which is which). I have only read one other book by Charles Martin, but I definitely want to read more.

I recently started reading Trusting God by Jerry Bridges and am discussing it with a friend. It is the perfect book for me right now, as it discusses at length how we can reconcile God’s sovereignty with suffering in the world, and I have been wrestling with questions related to this topic. I’m only three chapters in, but it’s been incredibly edifying for me.

Favorite Music

1. “Unfailing Love” by FAITHFUL, Sara Groves, and Ellie Holcomb. I love how this song incorporates lines from Psalm 90. The group FAITHFUL, which is comprised of female songwriters and authors, just released a new album called Night Visions: Psalms of Rest, and this is just one of the songs I love from it. Other standouts for me: “Harbor,” “Night Vision” (which I shared last month), and “Send Rescue.” I highly recommend listening to the whole album.

2. “All Sufficient Merit” by The Worship Initiative with Lucy Shea. I love this stanza: “All sufficient merit, firm in life and death/ The joy of my salvation shall be my final breath/ When I stand accepted before the throne of God/ I'll gaze upon my Jesus, and thank Him for the cross.”

3. “Narrow Road” by Chris Renzema. “I will walk wherever You're leadin'/ Cloud by day, and a fire by evenin'/ You're the lamp that's guidin' my feet/ So I can see where I am goin.'“

Favorite Articles

• “How Is Jesus Able to ‘Sympathize with Our Weakness?’” by Dane Ortlund. “In our pain, Jesus is pained. In our suffering, he feels the suffering as his own even though it isn’t. This doesn’t mean his invincible divinity (the fact that he is God) is threatened. It means that his heart is drawn into our sadness and weakness. His love is a kind of special love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain.”

• “Where God Withholds, He Gives Himself” by Ashley Gibson. “If there is something good that your heart longs for but you have not received from the Lord, it may be that in His infinite wisdom, the Lord has determined that this thing, at this time, is not for you.” This is such a hard, but important truth.

• “Girl Crush” by Katie Blackburn. Katie’s writing almost always makes me cry, and this post about her son’s principal and teacher is no exception.

  Girl Crush

• “Using the Good Notebooks” by Joy Nicholas. “Was it presumptuous, I wondered, to call myself a writer when I had so little to show for it?” I also love Joy’s Substack!

• “Moleskine Mania: How a Notebook Conquered the Digital Era” by Roland Allen. I don’t know why an article about the history of the Moleskine notebook fascinated me so much, but I have thought about it several times since reading it. (Also, I want a Moleskine notebook!)

Favorite Finds Around the Web

• I decided to order a Stitch Fix box to help me find something to wear for my work event, and I ended up getting two lovely items: this jumpsuit and this dress. I decided to wear the jumpsuit to the event, mainly because it has pockets, and pockets were pretty much essential for that night. If you’ve never tried Stitch Fix before, it’s a styling service that selects 5 items for you to try based on preferences you enter, and you can keep any or all of them, or send them all back. There is a $20 styling fee for the service, but if you keep any items in your box, the fee is applied to your order. First time users can get a $25 credit by using my referral link. (I have only ordered a box a few times because the prices are typically higher than I usually spend, but it’s very helpful for special occasions or for trying to find that perfect pair of jeans.)

• These Rothy’s dupes at Target caught my eye, and I wore them for the first time recently. I have no direct experience with Rothy’s, so I can’t speak to how they compare, but they’re comfortable and definitely worth $20.

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Book me for your next event!

I’d love to speak at your church’s next women’s event and am still booking dates for the fall and for spring 2025. I’m passionate about declaring God’s goodness in the midst of suffering and showing the ways God’s Word and His people can sustain us. Whether it’s a luncheon, conference, or retreat, I’m happy to tailor a message for your event. Reach out to me at erinmountspeaks@gmail.com for availability.

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That’s it for this month’s miscellany! What are you reading, listening to, or watching lately? Please give me all the feel-good recommendations you have.

1. All Amazon links are affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission when you purchase through my link. Thank you for your support!