Books and Life Long Learning by Colleen van Nieuwkerk

Today we are pleased to welcome Colleen van Nieuwkerk as our Guest Blogger. We hope you will enjoy reading how books have been her lifelong companions.

Reading is one of my favorite pastimes. There is hardly a day that goes by where I do not read something.

Reading was a pastime encouraged by my mother as she instilled a love for reading into me and my four siblings. She read a lot herself, she sometimes read to us, and we received many books as gifts from our parents as well as from our grandmother who owned a Bible Book Store which she ran from her enclosed front porch. There were many treasures found there!

I remember the first time I went to the public library. I was amazed. So many books from which to choose—The Trixie Belden series, The Bobbsey Twins, and Joy Spartan of Parsonage Hill. Grace Livingston Hill was a well-loved author I read as a teen. Required reading at school did not seem to be a chore to me. I have always loved to study.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre. I am the family archivist and reading historical fiction has helped me to understand what our families walked through as they emigrated from Europe to the United States and then into Canada. My husband’s parents lived through WW2 in Holland and emigrated to Canada.

Some fiction authors I enjoy are Brock and Bodie Thoene, Lauraine Snelling, Lynn Austin, Jane Kirkpatrick, Jan Karon, and Francine Rivers as well as many others.

A slower pace these days has not diminished the life-long desire for learning that was developed through reading and studying over many years. As I served in full-time vocational ministry in our church for twenty-three years, I chose to create a plan that would round out my reading and allow me to grow in many areas. In the beginning, about thirty years ago, I began to read in four separate areas, often writing notes and recording quotes:

1. Theology—Bible reading and study as well as authors such as Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Ann Voskamp, Elisabeth Elliot, and Beth Moore.

2. Womanhood—We can always grow as women, even as our age and stages of life change. I read authors such as Sally Clarkson, Jean Fleming, and Anne Ortlund. These authors and others have influenced me in growing into the person I desire to become. Many of these authors write in all these categories and I have collected many of their books in different genres.

3. Children and Ministry to Children—Authors such as Edith Schaeffer, Tedd Tripp, and Jani Ortlund, as well as many curriculum developers influenced my philosophy of ministry to children and helped me to parent our children.

4. Leadership and Ministry—Authors such as Kevin Leman, Oswald Sanders, Michael Hyatt, and Gordon and Gail MacDonald have all had an impact on my life. Since retirement, I no longer read in the areas of Children’s Ministry or Leadership, but I do continue to read about womanhood for my own personal growth, and also as an author who leads as I write and teach curriculum for women. Theology is still on my reading list. I have recently added two new areas of reading in these genres:

5. Grief and Loss—I became a widow five years ago, and have read excellent books by Jerry Sittser, Clarissa Moll, Lisa Appelo, Elisabeth Elliot, and Mark Vroegop who have helped me to learn to allow joy and sorrow to reside side by side deep in my soul. These books were hard reading and yet became so precious to me as I read good and practical advice.

6. Writing—I love to read Memoirs, Biographies, and books about how to grow as a writer. This is an area where I need more study.

Book clubs have never really interested me, except where I have gathered women in a church setting to read and study both the Bible and godly authors who help all of us to grow in our faith.

The ministry that I lead, Heart2Heart: Strength and Dignity, was influenced by reading books about intentionality and legacy. God used these topics to enlarge my writing as ideas for life and ministry alongside women became a new focus for me. I look back over these past ten years, as I have written and taught this course, and am amazed at how books we read can change us forever. Legacy becomes the opportunity we gain to encourage others who are on the journey behind us as we continue to learn ourselves from those who are ahead of us—this is lifelong learning!

Thank you for the opportunity to share my love of reading and studying with you all. I enjoyed reading your posts and now have some new authors to search out.

Colleen van Nieuwkerk is GG to three sons plus 3; twelve grandchildren; and two great-grandsons. She loves to read and enjoys reading to the littles in the family as well as gifting books to them. Colleen writes curriculum for women as well as teaches and is currently writing the story in book form of how this all came about. She lives in northern Alberta and can be found online @colleenvannieuwkerk.com