Be the Strong, Confident, and Caring Woman You Were Meant to Be
I have to admit, it took me a while to get into this book. I'm not sure if it was that I was offended at first because of the way the authors described Jesus in the first chapters or what it was. Once I got further into the book, I realized that the authors were right about Jesus, he was nice yet firm in his works. He was Good. He did not worry about offending others by his actions. He knew who he was and what he stood for. And as a Christian, we are suppose to lead our lives in the way that Jesus lead his, Good-not Nice!
There were plenty of reference's to the Bible that have verse's to back up what the authors are saying in the book. They list the ones that apply to what they are describing. There is a great Appendix in the back of the book that list passages where we can find a more forceful Jesus.
The focus of this book is towards Christian women that feel they have to please everyone. As a Christian woman, I can relate to this book very well. I sometimes feel that I have to say yes to someone asking for me to help when I actually have something else planned to do. The older that I have got, however, I have learned to say No. Having a family of three children and a husband keeps me on my toes and I have very little time to satisfy the needs of others. At first I felt bad for this, but as described in the book, you can still be Good without actually being Nice. The need to be nice takes over all other area's of your life if you let it control you. This book gives great examples of how to be good instead of nice in areas such as marriage, sex, work, dating, and friendships. Study questions are available at the end of each chapter that challenge you to think about your life and whether you should make some changes or not. All of this comes from the fact that Jesus did not aim to please everyone and neither should you. You should still be good, but you have to be in control of your life and not worry about what others need or think of you.
I would have to give this book a 4 out of 5 score, with 5 being a very good read. I was very intrigued and interested in what the authors had to say once I got past the first chapter and my own bias opinion. The book was very informative. They did reference the "Nice Girl" tendencies quite frequently which sometimes made it seem as if I had already read that part of the book. This book does have a great message to give, women need to be more assertive and firm instead of being passive in life. I would recommend this book to any Christian woman that needs references in the Bible to help gain control of her life.
I was provided this book for free from
Bethany House Book Publishers in return for a review based upon my honest opinion of the book. If you are interested in reviewing for Bethany House, please visit:
www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers
by Paul Coughlin & Jennifer D. Degler, PhD
