Change: A guest post from Stasi Eldredge

I’ve long been a fan of Stasi Eldredge. I think it began in college when I read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge with the hopes of understanding boys. [Any Christian girl that was in college in the late 90s will tell you she did the same. I can almost promise you that.] But then his wife Stasi released Captivating and while she almost lost me in the first chapter when she compared herself to an Indian princess, I kept reading and was greatly impacted by that book.

Her new book, Becoming Myself: Embracing God’s Dream of You, arrived in my mailbox last week and I was giddy with surprise. If you know my current journey with PCOS, I’ll think you’ll understand why.

But this is not a book about weight loss, it’s a book about CHANGE. Stasi generously offers today’s guest post all about change. Take it away, Stasi….

. . . . .

Many women feel like a failure as a woman. I know that oftentimes I do. A failure as a human being, really. It has underscored just about everything I have done and everything I have been kept from doing. But I am not a failure as a human being or as a woman. In some core place deep within, I know this. I fail, yes. But I am not a failure. I disappoint. But I am not a disappointment. Yet when I find myself struggling again – losing the battle for my beauty, my body, my heart – I can sure feel like a failure in every way. And isn’t that true for every woman? Don’t we all have secret places where we are not living in the victory we long for, and that colors how we see ourselves? Doesn’t it go on to become a barrier between us and the people in our lives? A wall separating us from the love of God?

Or is it just me?

I didn’t think so.

Sometimes we feel hopeless to ever change, simply because our personal history is filled with our failed attempts to change. Where was that angel who is supposed to be guarding our tongue and preventing those harsh words from lashing out at our children? Where did that fruit of the Spirit go empowering us to be self-controlled and pass by the donut section? God has not given me a spirit of fear, so why am I so consumed with worry over my children, my finances, my future? If the fear of man is a snare, why do I still find I am terrified of exposing my true self and then being rejected? My addiction and bondage to food has been revealed as a liar and a thief, and yet in the moment of pain, too often I still turn to it.

God knows.

God knows.

He has not turned his face away. The very fact that we long for the change we do is a sign that we are meant to have it. Our very dissatisfaction with our own weaknesses and struggles points to the reality that continuing to live in our weaknesses and struggles is not our destiny. Read those two sentences again. Let hope rise. Why are you struggling with the things you do? There is a reason. It is found in the life you have lived, the wounds you have received, what you have come to believe about yourself because of them and not having a clue as to how to bear your sorrow. It is also because of who you are meant to be.

It is not too late. It is not too hard. You are not too much. God’s mercies are new every morning. There is mercy in his eyes right now.

. . . . .

RIGHT? I know.

Becoming Myself: Embracing God’s Dream of You releases TODAY! I highly suggest you nab it and let it walk with you through this next season of your life.

Check out the website for Becoming Myself too… it has A LOT of cool resources.

Thanks to Stasi for such a beautiful post and another beautiful book.

[FYI: I was given a free copy of this book to review, but all the opinions here in this blog post are totally mine. Except, you know, Stasi’s guest post because those are her opinions, but I agree with her. Okay, I’m officially overexplaining. Bye.]

Let's be friends!

Stay up to date with our weekly newsletter. It’s all things fun with Annie.
No spam we promise