Learning to Love Books Rightly: The Personal Story Behind Life Book Awards

Why my lifelong love for reading became one of the deeply personal reasons behind Life Book Awards.

For the first time, I want to come out and talk about this part of my struggle with honesty and vulnerability.

This is not simply a story about books.

It is a story about my love for reading, how something I loved became unhealthy, and why I am now learning to redirect that love back to Christ.

I Have Always Loved Reading

I love reading.

As early as two years old, I was already reading books way past the books for my age. By elementary school, I could read literature meant for college students.

I loved reading so much that if I had nothing left to read, I would even read old newspapers used to wrap tinapa.

Books were everywhere in my childhood.

And I wanted to read everything.

Looking back, reading was never simply something I did when I had spare time. I genuinely loved stories. I loved discovering something new inside the pages of a book.

But eventually, my love for reading didn't remain simply a passion.

It became an unhealthy addiction.

When My Passion Became Unhealthy

In high school, my cousin introduced me to pocket romance novels like Precious Hearts Romances. That opened my eyes to more mature stories.

Later, in college, a friend introduced me to stories in the boys' love genre.

Looking back, these became seeds that would grow into a struggle I wrestled with for years.

And perhaps one of the most difficult parts of this struggle was that, throughout those years, I was also reading my Bible.

I loved God.

I wanted to write for Him.

Yet many times, my addiction to unhealthy stories remained like a thorn in my flesh.

There was this contradiction in me: I wanted my mind filled with the things of God, yet I kept making room for stories that were pulling my thoughts somewhere else.

I Thought I Had Overcome It

During college, as I continued writing for God, I thought I had finally overcome this struggle.

Then the pandemic happened.

And it came back again.

Even now, I am still learning to overcome it.

I don't share this because I already have a perfect testimony with a perfect ending.

I share it because this is where God is still working in me.

Perhaps there is vulnerability in admitting that God is still working on something rather than waiting until everything has been perfectly resolved before talking about it.

And this particular struggle has become connected to something I am now building.

Why Life Book Awards Became Personal to Me

This is one of the deeply personal reasons behind Life Book Awards.

I want to discover those gold mine books—books that are beautiful, engaging, worth reading, and most importantly, books that point me toward Christ instead of away from Him.

I want to fill my reading life with books that leave less room for the unhealthy ones.

And above everything else, I want to regain my focus on reading the Scriptures.

Life Book Awards may be an awards program on the outside, but for me, there is something much more personal behind it.

I want to discover books that give life.

I want to find Christian books that I can genuinely enjoy reading while also being reminded of Christ, challenged in my faith, encouraged toward Christian living, and drawn back toward the Word of God.

Perhaps there are other readers who need those books too.

I Am Starting With My Own Bookshelf

So I'm beginning again.

My first book is one that has actually been sitting on my own bookshelf for years:

📖 Currently Reading: I'm No Angel by Kylie Bisutti

I bought this book way back in 2018, but I don't think I ever finished it.

So now, I'm going back to it.

Not because I need to read more.

But because I want to become more intentional about what I read.

After that, the next book on my list is:

📚 Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh & Sean McDowell

And then I want to continue building a reading list of books that strengthen my faith, challenge my thinking, tell beautiful stories, and ultimately bring my attention back to Christ.

Maybe Life Book Awards will help me discover many of them along the way.

Learning to Love Books Rightly

Perhaps this is one way God is teaching me to surrender something I have loved all my life.

I don't want to stop loving books.

I want to learn to love them rightly.

I don't believe the answer to my struggle is to stop reading. Reading has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

Instead, I want to become more discerning about what I allow to occupy my mind and heart.

And above every other book, I want Scripture to remain greater than everything else I read.

Christian books can encourage me. Stories can move me. Authors can teach me. Beautiful writing can stay with me for years.

But none of them should take the place of God's Word.

More Than Simply Giving Awards

And if Life Book Awards can help me—and eventually other readers—discover books that give life and point us back to Christ, then this journey will mean something much deeper to me than simply giving awards.

Maybe somewhere out there is a Christian novel I cannot put down.

Maybe there is a testimony that will strengthen someone's faith.

Maybe there is a devotional that will lead someone back to Scripture.

Maybe there is a children's book that will plant something beautiful in the heart of a child.

Maybe there is a Christian author quietly writing a book that somebody like me needs to discover.

Those are the books I hope to find.

This is personal.

This is part of my journey.

And I am still walking through it with Christ.

Read With Me 🤍

My reading list is just beginning.

If there is a Christian book that strengthened your faith, brought you closer to Scripture, challenged you to live more like Christ, or genuinely pointed you toward Him, I would love to know about it.

What book would you recommend I read next?