grace for the GOOD GIRL, letting go of the try-hard life

by emily p. freeman

Grace for the Good Girl Portfolio Video from Jason Windsor on Vimeo.

This book was like reading my biography. At some point while reading it, I sent Emily an email and asked how she knew me so well? I connected on so many levels to the various masks that we “good girls” wear.

We walk through life doing everything; putting on a good performance, with that fake smile with the “I’m fine” attached to it, making sure we get in that Bible reading time every day (or our day just may not get blessed), all the while making sure we are seen as strong and responsible. We wear these masks to cover up what’s really going on inside our heads.

I was the good girl while growing up. Never going past curfew without a phone call. Not going to a friend’s house without a parent home. Toeing the line. So much the goody-two shoes was I, that the only time I ever got plastered … I was with my parents and did it with their permission. (hmmm… maybe Mom was trying to teach me a lesson, like when she offered me a drag off my uncle’s cigar at the age of 3 or 4, it must have worked because I haven’t touched either since.)

I met Jesus at the age of 20 and quickly became a list follower. I wanted someone to filter down all the “right stuff to do” into a neat list for me to follow, and for a while I had a mental one locked in my head and I worked very hard at making sure I walked within those lines too. There was no joy in my life and I craved the life of “joy unspeakable and overflowing” that the Bible spoke of.

Why didn’t that seem to apply to me? I was doing everything I was supposed to. Wasn’t I?

This book is a grace filled breath of fresh air for those of us trying to work our way to happiness and favor.

It is for those of us who need to be reminded of the TRUTH of what God’s word says. It gives us ammunition against those lies that Satan keeps trying to get our dead flesh to believe instead of living in the Spirit while trusting in HIS TRUTH.

Emily challenges us to take off the masks and abide completely in His Spirit and to remember the truths of our standing in Christ. On page 170 she nails it, (at least for me)

“Satan’s biggest, most effective weapon against good girls may not be lust or slander or adultery or addiction. It is forgetfulness.”

I need to be constantly reminded to abide in Him and believe the truth and discard the lies my old flesh keeps throwing up at me.

I needed to read this book and am so glad I have… and am going to dive back in a read it again!

(Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.)

A little backstory:

I’m looking forward to meeting Emily in. real. life. at Relevant 11.

When I lived in the Philippines, I began reading a few (read: VERY few) blogs. One of the blogs I checked daily was Chatting at the Sky. It really was a place for my soul to breath … fresh air I desperately needed. It was a time in my life that I really needed to focus on the positive and was encouraged to do so by Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky. After much prayer, (I had to have the right name and all that, right?) I decided to start a blog so I could participate. It was the very first linky party I ever joined. My birthday gift to myself that year was Hiking Toward Home.

When Emily went to the Philippines, my heart ached and my prayers went with her. She walked streets and saw places I hold dear.

When Emily asked if I’d like to review her book on my blog, I was honored. Here is a woman, who God has used so often to speak to my heart, offering a chance to read more of her beautiful God-inspired words. Thank you, Emily, for this opportunity to read and be blessed all over again through your writing. And thank you, for unknowingly helping me survive several rough spots in my life and grow in my hike with the Lord, through your encouraging words.

You can find her book on Amazon by clicking on the cover:

(This review is completely my honest opinion and does contain an affiliate link.)