He Sings Over You with Love

In Becoming Myself, Stasi Eldredge endeared herself to me in the first two pages with her sword-through-the-heart story about one-size-fits-all bathrobes at the spa she didn’t want to go to in the first place.  As a call to freedom and wholeness, the book is inspiring for cover-to-cover reading, but I see a greater role for it as part of a mother’s tool belt in empowering her daughters to embrace God’s dream for them.  Here’s why:

First, Stasi devotes an entire chapter to female biochemistry, the ebbing and flowing of hormones and emotions, and as I read, I pictured a mum sitting down with her inconsolable teenage daughter, sharing the information from chapter three and saying, “Honey, this is why you feel the way you do,” only to pull the book out the following week, look in the mirror, and say the same words of consolation to herself.

Second, rather than posing as an expert in all things spiritual, Stasi’s writing voice demonstrates that she is coming from a place of deep neediness fulfilled in Christ and from recurrent failure — forgiven.  Three chapters that start with the word “becoming” echo the book’s encouraging title and theme:  that no one is ever stuck, and that healing, restoration, and deliverance are gifts from God.  The sensitive re-telling of the resurrection story in chapter twelve deserves an annual read every Easter for the whole family.

Third, living near the powerful rivers that make up the geography of Colorado, Stasi has observed the abundance of wildflowers that follow a spring flood.  She follows the dots between this metaphor and the floods that characterize life in a family, life under difficult circumstances, life overwhelmed by past failures, and reminds her readers that the price of beautiful wildflowers is paid in sandbags.

Becoming Myself is an anthem, sung to the tune of Zephaniah 3:17:

“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

It is in the lyrics to His song that we find out who we are, and that we learn the grace of rejoicing along with God in the beauty of His wonderful dream for each one of us.

This book was provided by David C. Cook in exchange for my review.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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