2 Fresh New Books for Imperfect Christian Women

I love to read authentic stories about how God powerfully works in the lives of imperfect women. Here are two fresh new releases with extra bonuses for you!

An Imperfect Woman: Letting Go of the Need to Have It All Together

I am a recovering perfectionist. That’s why I love serving behind-the-scenes for the Grit N’ Grace Podcast, which is all about perfectionism recovery. I’m a big fan of brave women who are willing to admit they aren’t perfect.

Kim Hyland is one of those brave women. In her first book, she speaks about letting go of perfect ideals as a woman, wife, and parent. I enjoyed her humble perspective and her self-effacing humor. She even puts poems at the beginning of some chapters, which wins points for me as a poet. She tells story after story about how she let go of perfectionism and let God heal her.

The scene that stands out most to me in the book is when she took her young son to the doctor to have a tick removed. She had to help restrain her young son, along with a nurse, while the doctor extracted the danger.

Her young son looked up at her in fear and childhood ignorance. She knew what she was doing had to be done, even though his cries of “It hurts, Mama, it hurts!” over and over broke her heart. After the ordeal was finished, she held him and rocked him. He still said, “It hurt, Mama, it hurt,” over and over.

She realized that his cries were just like her cries to God. God sometimes doesn’t remove our pain. He may feel far away and unkind in our moments of suffering. But He’s there all the time, watching over us as imperfect women. He has a good plan in place, even when we don’t understand why the pain is necessary. He allows the pain for our greater good. All He asks is that we cry out to Him for help. He also wants us to tell him our hurts, even after they are over. He wants us to know Him in close relationship. Kim’s book affirms these truths in an honest voice.

Quotes I enjoyed from An Imperfect Woman:

• Abba is the Jewish word for daddy. This is the image of a beloved daughter who cries out in humility and weakness, but in power too because of the strength of her daddy.
• Why is it so easy to slip back into perfectionism? It is because we are made for Eden. Our hearts are forever longing to return to that place of perfection.
• Only Jesus can satisfy our hearts’ longing for perfection. But it takes a humility that is willing to forsake our pride and its many manifestations.
• As I tried so hard to live up to a constantly changing standard of perfection, I forgot my true end as a wife and mom: becoming a woman of peace who both enjoyed and reflected the love and grace of God to her family.
• Entrusting ourselves wholeheartedly to a sovereign God we can’t even see, much less comprehend, is a lifelong process. It’s hard, but it’s our surest hope for security.

Right now Kim is hosting a 4-week book study in a Facebook group. I like getting to know her better through that group. You can watch a preview video and join the group here.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free preview copy of this book.

Never Alone: Exchanging Your Tender Hurts for God’s Healing Grace

I chose to review Tiffany Bluhm’s book based on the title. Loneliness has long been my companion as a child of divorce, and since her book is about healing from past hurts, I sought inspiration from her story.

Tiffany shares the many hurts in her life in a quiet, poignant voice. In India, she was given up for adoption as a newborn and never knew her birth parents. She speaks about feeling outcast due to her different skin color and nationality in America, though she loved her adoptive family. She also struggled with crushing rejection from her fiancé and endured months of pain working with him after they broke up. After she married, she and her husband faced deep heartache when an international adoption failed. She has walked through a world of hurt, and I understand how that feels.

I found inspiration, hope, and deep faith in these digital pages dotted with virtual tears. This is not a light, breezy read. But when you come from a background of hurt, you need the affirmation that you are not alone in your pain. Even though I have spent years in counseling, I still seek stories of other imperfect women who struggle with past hurts. I need to read stories of faith to keep hanging on in my own struggles, and Tiffany’s book is a peaceful nook of inspiration.

Tiffany walks through the all-too-familiar hurts like fear, shame, rejection and doubt and shows how God offers healing for all of them. She admits to living as a work-in-progress, and never pretends that she has a magic wand of faith to wave over her hurts. Yet her faith is strong because God showed her how much He cared about her feelings and her story. Because her writing is vulnerable and tender, hurting women will be drawn to her authenticity.

A few of my favorite quotes from Never Alone:

• When we lie at His feet, pour out our heart[s], and accept His healing touch, we can stand up and walk in freedom and peace, for shame is no longer ours to bear.
• In our doubt, we can wrestle for God’s presence and perspective. He isn’t put off by our doubts. He is a capable God who won’t be shaken.
• Our emotions won’t overwhelm Him, trick Him, or hurt Him. We can unleash all of it to Him. He will heal us.
• My suffering was real as was the glory found only in His presence.
• As we offer our vulnerable experiences to the Father and receive His love and truth, our hearts grow stronger.
• The opposite of isolation is neediness. It is hearty connection with ourselves, with others, with God.

On Tiffany’s website, you can download the first chapter of the book for free and also watch the first video in her accompanying six-week Bible study series for Never Alone. She’s even offering free Skype sessions for group studies–what a neat perk!

If you know imperfect women who struggle with childhood trauma or past hurts, please tell them to read Never Alone. They will find the healing God offers and be drawn into a deeper study of His Word.

Netgalley generously provided me a free copy of this book.

Questions for you:

Which book will help you most in your life season?

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