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Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life
By Emily P. Freeman


Let me start this review with a the statement that I didn't really think I was the good girl this book referred to, I just heard it was awesome and figured I'd give it a shot. However, I am this good girl, I just took a little detours from the "good girl" path in my past, yet my desire to be this good girl was always there battling. This revelation was made while I read the first few chapters of this book.




And ladies, if you are putting together your Christmas wish list, do yourself a favor and add this one to it. I really do think there is a chance this book could impact your life for the better!

 So here our my thoughts on this great book.

This book is a great testimony of how Freeman learned that hiding behind a "good girl mask" is just as detrimental to her walk with Christ as it would be to hide behind more obvious and serious sins. And to be honest this is a statement that could turn many women away from this book, but trust me this book is not hard to read, yes it is challenging, but the overall message is uplifting and inspiring.

Freeman does such a great job, I'm going to share her words that seemed to leap off the the page for me.

"But I am in desperate need of a source outside of myself all the time. And so are you." (191)    This point grabbed my attention so completely, Freedman must have known me, it is so true. I find myself at the end of my capabilities on a daily basis - do you?

"Not only do I want to do everything perfectly, I want to look perfect while I do it. I want to act perfect and sing perfect and have perfect teeth. I want to parent perfectly, to wife perfectly, and to have a clean house. All the time." (223)  Did she read my journal? See like I said, I really am one of these good girls...

But then I knew this was a book I needed to read because Freeman explained my fear to me, in the words I've been too afraid to voice.  "I want to let go, rest, and believe, so that he can hold, refresh, and redeem. But what if I do and he doesn't?" (256) This is exactly my fear, and why I continue to try so hard on my own, within my own power, even though I want to rely fully on Him and His strength.

And this was followed by a statement that gives my personal addiction (no pun intended...), "I recognize my addiction to wanting to be left alone. I am addicted to the island of myself." (856) Yep, totally.

Then came the nugget that I am clinging to as I start the journey of realizing my masks and taking them off. "The truth is true whether I let it be or not." (2074)  This is so honest, and simple. Why would I want to live life ignoring the truth just so I have the control? I mean if I have the control, then I also have to take the fall out... and who wants that?



I could go on and on because this book rang so true to me. And because of this I am grateful to Emily Freeman for taking the time to write this book and get it out there. For this stage of my life I know I was supposed to read this book and hear this message.









So please, please add this book to your Reading List for 2013. Let me know if read this book and what you thought. I'd love to hear from you!





(All quotes are marked as found in the Kindle edition of Grace for the Good Girl)


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