Formative Media Text

It is most certainly hard to pick just one media text that has had an importance on shaping my life. Of course, the Bible is the book that has the most influence and impact on my life, but I wanted to describe another text that would be more exciting to talk about- one that not many people have heard of. The first idea that came to mind was that books have most certainly impacted me in more ways than TV shows, magazines, the Internet, or any other media text. I didn't really enjoy reading for pleasure until a few years ago. I mean, I read when I was little and all- (the books from the Book Fair that you pay a fortune for and never end up reading), but I never really found meaning in the books I read. In the beginning of my senior year in high school, on a college visit, I remember picking up a Christian Romance Novel called "Ever After," by Karen Kingsbury. My Aunt had given me the book a few weeks earlier and I just didn't think I would have interest in reading it, but the trip to the University of New Mexico turned out to be a disaster, so I needed something to pull my mind away from it. I began reading and was instantly hooked. I have read many of Karen Kingsbury’s books since I touched "Ever After." "Ever After" had a huge impact on me and helped shape my life. My reasoning is probably going to sound corny and cliché to many, but this is the way it affected me. "Ever After" is mainly about a relationships- “two couples are torn apart-one by war between countries, one by a way within.” Through the characters lives, Karen Kingsbury showed realistic life situations. She showed the collapse of relationships and showed that nothing is impossible to handle with God in our hearts and His wisdom in our minds. I was struggling with a relationship of my own; at the time I was reading this book. I was getting ready to decide where I wanted to go to college- facing the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to continue relationships on the same level when I went off to college. “Ever After,” reminded me, in the midst of my doubt and fear of the future, that God has a plan and that I need to be faithful in His plans. This book, along with many others, is one that has had a great influence and has helped shape my life and attitude today.