Graceful

Hi everyone!  I hope your summer has been wonderful.  It is hard for me to imagine summer coming to an end soon.  It has flown by.  I just finished a book and wanted to post a review.  The book is Graceful by Emily P. Freeman.  It is a very rich book and I have MARKED IT UP!

In Graceful, Emily writes about things we hide behind, masks we put on, and how to come out of our hiding.  She opens the book talking about playing hide-and-go-seek as a kid with her dad when he came home from work.  She would hide in the same spots every time.  Her favorite part of the game was being found.  This illustration was a great way to open up the book.

There our many "good girl" voices in our heads that tell us to hide behind different things.

The Actress says "You have to perform."
The Girl Next Door says "You have to impress."
The Activist says "You have to make an impact."
The Heroine says "You have to be strong and responsible."
The Bystander says "You don't matter."
The Judge says "You have to be perfect."
The Intellectual says "You have to be the best."
The Dreamer says "Your life won't start until later."

We listen to these voices.  We hide behind our performance, our reputation, our causes, our responsibility, our comfort zone, our rules, our report card, our somedays.  We try to handle everything ourselves but we can't.  We need grace.  Instead of hiding behind these things, we can hide ourselves in Christ.  He gives us grace to live everyday.  That is what this book is about.

A phrase that stuck with me from this book is, "Grace plus anything is no longer grace."  And it is true. I would recommend this book for any young lady seeking after grace.

Meg