I found Emily P. Freeman on her blog “Chatting at the Sky” in 2011 or 2012.  Her writing captivated me and resonated with me.  Some of her posts just seemed like an echo of my heart.  Since then, I’ve read her books and listened to her podcasts.  And I’m still listening to her podcasts.  I have to catch up.  But my podcast-listening habits are another subject for another post.

Grace for the Good Girl is all about ditching perfectionism.  It’s about not focusing on your own performance and instead focusing on God and his grace and your relationship with him.  Continually being told to be a “good girl” as I was growing up made me buy this book when I saw the title and read the blurb.  And it’s all about the relationship with God, people!  You can’t ever be good enough.

You know how much of a relief that was?  It’s not like I didn’t know that from my own reading of the Bible, but sometimes it takes someone else with a similar experience to put it into her words that finally got it through to my heart.

A Million Little Ways is a beautiful book.  Emily Freeman takes the idea of artist and turns it on its head.  Your every day stuff is art.  As a creative person, it made me feel that even if I wasn’t actively painting or crocheting or sketching, what I was doing could be art.  And it’s not just about the doing, it’s about who God created me to be.  I can’t find all of the words I would love to have to be able to tell you how this book made me feel.

Read it.  Especially if you’re a creative and you don’t find much time for creating.  And especially if you don’t think you’re creative.  This book can help you see that you really are.

Simply Tuesday is so counter-cultural.  Instead of focusing on the hustle, Emily Freeman encourages you to slow down and take your time in the ordinary, the every day, the Tuesdays.  Celebrate life as it really is.  Be present.

I really don’t like the word hustle.  I’d much rather be present and take my time and cherish the beauty in every day.  That’s where Simply Tuesday will take you.

All the words I cannot find to tell you how much these books have shaped my life.

Go read them.  Find her here.  Read her blog.  Listen to her podcasts.  I dare you to come away unchanged.

(goodreads)

Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life
Many of us believe that we are saved by grace–but for too many, that’s the last time grace defines our life. Instead of clinging to grace, we strive for good and believe that the Christian life means hard work and a sweet disposition. As good girls, we focus on the things we can handle, our disciplined lives, and our unshakable good moods. When we fail to measure up to our own impossible standards, we hide behind our good girl masks, determined to keep our weakness a secret.
In Grace for the Good Girl, Emily Freeman invites women to let go of the try-hard life and realize that in Christ we are free to receive from him rather than constantly try to achieve for him. With an open hand and a whimsical style, Emily uncovers the truth about the hiding, encouraging women to move from hiding behind girl-made masks and do-good performances to a life hidden with Christ in God.
A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live
The majority of us would not necessarily define ourselves as artists. We’re parents, students, businesspeople, friends. We’re working hard, trying to make ends meet, and often longing for a little more–more time, more love, more security, more of a sense that there is more out there. The truth? We need not look around so much. God is within us and He wants to shine through us in a million little ways.
A Million Little Ways uncovers the creative, personal imprint of God on every individual. It invites the discouraged parent, the bored Christian, the exhausted executive to look at their lives differently by approaching their critics, their jobs, and the kids around their table the same way an artist approaches the canvas–with wonder, bravery, and hope. In her gentle, compelling style, Emily Freeman encourages readers to turn down the volume on their inner critic and move into the world with the courage to be who they most deeply are. She invites regular people to see the artistic potential in words, gestures, attitudes, and relationships.
Readers will discover the art in a quiet word, a hot dinner, a made bed, a grace-filled glance, and a million other ways of showing God to the world through the simple human acts of listening, waiting, creating, and showing up.

(goodreads)

(goodreads)

Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World
Our obsession with bigger and faster is spinning us out of control. We move through the week breathless and bustling, just trying to keep up while longing to slow down. But real life happens in the small moments, the kind we find on Tuesday, the most ordinary day of the week. Tuesday carries moments we want to hold onto–as well as ones we’d rather leave behind. It hold secrets we can’t see in a hurry–secrets not just for our schedules but for our souls. It offers us a simple bench on which to sit, observe, and share our stories. 
For those being pulled under by the strong current of expectation, comparison, and hurry, relief is found more in our small moments than in our fast movements. In “Simply Tuesday,” Emily P. Freeman helps readers 
– stop dreading small beginnings and embrace today’s work
– find contentment in the now–even when the now is frustrating or discouraging
– replace competition with compassion
– learn to breathe in a breathless world 
Jesus lived small moments well, slow moments fully, and all moments free. He lives with us still, on all our ordinary days, creating and redeeming the world both in us and through us, one small moment at a time. It’s time to take back Tuesday, to release our obsession with building a life, and believe in the life Christ is building in us–every day.

 

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  1. Pingback: The Next Right Thing — Chalaina Reads

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