{From the Publisher}:

You’re strong. You’re responsible. You’re good. But…

…as day fades to dusk, you begin to feel the familiar fog of anxiety, the weight and pressure of holding it together and of longing left unmet. Good girls sometimes feel that the Christian life means doing hard work with a sweet disposition. We tend to focus only on the things we can handle, our disciplined lives, and our unshakablegood moods.

But what would happen if we let grace pour out boundless acceptance into our worn-out hearts and undo us? If we dared to talk about the ways we hide, our longing to be known, and the fear in the knowing?

In Grace for the Good Girl, Emily Freeman invites you to release your tight hold on that familiar, try-hard life and lean your weight heavy into the love of Jesus. With an open hand, a whimsical style, and a heart bent brave toward adventure, Emily encourages you to move from your own impossible expectations toward the God who has graciously, miraculously, and lovingly found you.

{My Thoughts}:

Being a quintessential “good girl,” I found myself agreeing with Emily – found myself in her description of herself. The girl hiding behind the masks. The girl who looked like she had it all together on the outside, but desperately in need of grace on the inside.

Emily’s reference to the elder brother’s response to the prodigal son in Grace for the Good Girl was exactly what I would have expected, and needed to be reminded of again. The elder brother wasn’t excited about the Father showering the prodigal son with His grace. Instead, he was upset. As a “good girl,” I have seen myself react in a similar manner to God’s free grace, given to all who will accept it. Being a “good girl” who avoided bad consequences for most of my life by working hard, it can be difficult to see the “bad girls” seemingly “get away scott-free” because of grace.

As I got deeper into the book, I found myself agreeing more and more with Emily’s assessment of the “good girl’s” predicament – hiding behind her masks – and her call to come out of hiding behind masks and, instead, finding our identity in Christ.

This is definitely not a “one time read.” I plan to read this book again and again, taking a notebook along for the journey as I seek to come out from behind my “good girl” masks and seek to find my identity in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!

{P.S. Grace for the Good Girl will be the “book of the month” for November and December on LIFE by Ashley Pichea – won’t you join us in reading and discussing this book together each week?}

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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Ten Quotes from Grace for the Good Girl to Make You Think…

“Instead of recognizing my own inadequacy as an opportunity to trust God, I hid those parts and adopted a bootstrap religion. I focused on the things I could handle, the things I excelled in, my disciplined life, and my unshakeable good mood.”

“The good girl in me stands there with her arms crossed, wishing she had a story to tell that would draw crowds and change lives. In my mind, I know I’m better off without the scars and the hurt and the pain and the darkness. In my head, I know all the grace and love offered to them is available to me. But sometimes it doesn’t feel fair that God seems to most powerfully use those who have chosen wrong and then come back again instead of those who did it right the first time.”

“I hide behind my mask of performance so people will think I am smart, capable, and put together. I hide behind the reputation I have established rather than trusting an unpredictable Jesus. I hide behind my positive emotions rather than let you see my reality. I hide behind my list of rules so I can check off each one, as if I’m another step closer to God because I’ve followed them. I hide behind my mask of strength because I’m ashamed of my weakness.”

“I have to come out of hiding in order to be found. To be healed. To be whole.”

“When I don’t set my mind, my mind sets itself…. If I don’t actively set it, it will inactively switch into default mode.”

“What you believe about God and yourself and the world becomes your hiding place. If what you believe is true, then where you live and breathe is a safe place. But what if the things you believe about God and yourself and the world are untrue? Then the place where you hide is decidedly unsafe.”

“Just because we we feel safe where we hide does not mean we are safe. I feel safe behind my mask, not because it’s always comfortable, but more because the alternative is unknown. To step out from behind that mask is to risk exposure and rejection. That is why I stay there.”

“One of the good girl’s most basic fears is failure. Whether it is in relationships, in our homes, in the workplace, or in the kitchen, good girls tend to avoid those things where failure is a possibility.”

“If you are still hiding behind your mask, then you will be unable to let go of your failure and you will be unable to forgive the failure of others. But if your life is hidden with Christ in God, then failure loses the power it used to have over you.”

“Jesus is the radical, absolutely complete, living answer to all our if-onlys and if-I-could-justs. His unwavering, unchanging, unconditional love and acceptance of us is what we are really looking for.”

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Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. I received the book in exchange for a review from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday hosted by Oh Amanda.

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