Beautiful Me: Believing God's Truth about You

by Stasi Eldredge

God loves who you are!
In this 90-day devotional for young women, Stasi Eldredge takes excerpts from her book Free to Be Me and combines them with prayers, scriptures, and positive declarations. Day by day, she turns you back to the truth that God sees you as beautiful beyond measure—and he delights in dreaming big dreams with you for your life!

Genres: Christian Living

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Stasi Eldredge loves writing and speaking to women about the goodness of God. She spent her childhood years in Prairie Village, Kansas, for which she is truly grateful. Her family moved to southern California back in the really bad smog days when she was ten. She loved theater and acting and took a partiality to her now-husband, John, when they were friends in high school. Stasi earned her bachelor's degree in Sociology from San Diego State University, which she attended primarily because it was close to the beach. She became a Christian her junior year in college and dove into the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. After graduating, Stasi joined Youth for Christ, heading up a ministry to pregnant teenagers and teen mothers. She has been active in ministry ever since, including theater ministry, crisis pregnancy center ministry, women’s ministry, and children’s ministry. The Eldredge family moved to Colorado in 1991.

Stasi loves the joy and freedom that comes from knowing the passionate, stunning love of Jesus Christ and lives to see others come to know him more deeply. She loves worship music, time to bake, celebrating life, getting lost in a good novel, baths, walking in the woods, hearing her sons' laughter, the sound of wind in the trees, a good cup of coffee, the smell of the earth after it rains, a powerful turn of phrase, animals in the wild, gardens, freshly mowed grass, family traditions, cherished friendships, the Tetons, rivers, mountain lakes, the grace and beauty of horses, the affection of her dog, and most of all, her family and her God.

Reviews

[Charity · Rating 5 out of 5]

For full review please go to: 5girlsbookreviews.blogspot.com, Twitter @camartinez and Facebook "5 Girls Book Reviews"

REVIEW BY: Angel, age 13 years, 2 months

MAY CONTAIN SPOILER:

This devotional is something that every teenage girl needs to read and remind herself that she is beautiful. This is very inspiring and super encouraging.

After reading this 3 months devotional, it changed my perspective of myself and God. I would feel more confident when someone criticized my beauty because I know I don't have to be beautiful for anyone, but my God and just me. My beauty right now is in the eyes of God and how he made me.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot say enough good things about Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge. That book blew me away. So when I saw this devotional available for review on NetGalley, I had to snatch it up. It took me longer than it should have to start reading it because I was reading a different devotional at the time. That being said, daily devotionals aren't my favorite types of books. I mean I read them and enjoy them, but I'd really rather dive into a book and read large sections at a time and take breaks when I feel like it rather than read one small section or chapter per day. And so yeah, that's what I did with Beautiful Me too. I'd read like 20 or so devotionals at one time and then take a break from the book for a week or two.

Regardless of how I read books like this, Beautiful Me is an outstanding devotional. I do recommend that you read Stasi's other work--specifically Captivating--before digging into a book like this one. It's not necessary, but she goes so much deeper into some of the same topics within Captivating than she does in the devotional style that she uses in Beautiful Me. Either way, I just kept thinking about the many other women in my life that I know and love that I just know could benefit from this book--even my 12 year old niece. Any woman that might be struggling with confidence issues when it comes to her beauty and self-worth...well that woman could benefit from this book (which is just about everyone, right?).

As I did with Captivating, I found myself highlighting up a storm in Beautiful Me. I wish I could share with you every single section that I highlighted, but that would be too much (what's below is probably too much) and at that point you would really just be better off reading the book yourself. Still, here are my favorite quotes:

-You actually can't be anyone else--that's why it's so exhausting and unsatisfying to pretend. God made you you on purpose.

-Jesus came for your heart. To ransom, rescue, and restore the true you. He hasn't been moving heaven and earth through all eternity so that you would behave yourself. Fit into the crowd. Mind your manners. No. He wants to woo and win your heart for himself so that you will love him with it and live your life from it.

-When we have a change of heart on the inside, it manifests itself on the outside, not the other way around.

-Though my past has shaped me, I am not my past. Though my failures and the failure of others have had an effect on who I am, they do not define me. Jesus has won my victory!

-Our worth is not based on what we do, which life path we choose, or what we believe. Our worth is inherent in the fact that we are image-bearers of the living God.

-Nothing--nothing--undoes the harmful effects of suffering as our choice to worship Jesus in the midst of it. That doesn't mean we must give thanks to God for every wicked, evil, hard, painful, excruciating, grief-filled thing that happens in our lives. That would be calling evil good. No, my sister, what the Scripture says is to give thanks to God in every situation, not for every situation.

-We can choose to let suffering soften us or harden us. We can choose whether we will allow it to make us more compassionate or let our hearts become jealous of others. We can choose whether we will love Jesus in it or resent him for it. Only one set of choices will make us more beautiful.

-The battle is waged and won in our thought life: in your mind and in your heart.

-In our inner worlds, we feel alone. And being alone is the first thing that God named as "not good" (Genesis 2:18).

-You don't want to give to young men the power to tell you who you are--how valuable, how lovely, or how wanted. They don't have the right to validate you as a woman.

-You are made in God's image, right? Down to your feminine core, you express something about the heart of God to the world. And what does every woman's heart long for? To be loved. To be chose. To be a priority to someone. Think of how deeply this runs in you. Now you know something central about the heart of God. He wants that too.

-The world does not need yet another young woman who despises the lovely creation that she is. God does not long for another girl who rejects herself and, by extension, him. The world needs a woman who is thankful for how God has made her, trusts that he is transforming her, and actually enjoys who she is. It's a good thing to like who you are. God likes you! We get to like ourselves too! When you like yourself, you are free to enjoy others, and in your presence people experience an invitation to become and enjoy who they truly are as well.

-In Christ, I am no longer unclean. I have been cleansed. I am no longer a sinner. I am a saint. I am no longer unwanted. I am sought after. I am no longer ugly. I am beautiful. I am no longer guilty. I am blameless. I am no longer under condemnation. I am innocent. I am no longer in bondage. I am free. I am no longer alone. I am loved.

-Sin, failure, or your past does not define you. You are forever and only defined by the finished work of Jesus Christ. You are a daughter. A bride. And you are beautiful.

Beautiful Me was a highly enjoyable and even beautiful at times--go figure. I think that this devotional can be beneficial to all kinds of women with a myriad of different struggles. And even all different ages, from the pre-teens who understand feeling like they don't fit in to the elderly who may have a lifetime of hurts and scars that need to be redeemed. I'd easily give Beautiful Me 4.5 Stars. Have you read Beautiful Me? What did you think? Let me know!

*Side Note: I don't like the fact that Stasi Eldredge chose to use paraphrase translations on occasion for the Scripture used. Paraphrase translations can sometimes significantly alter the meaning of a particular passage. And as always, anytime I review a Spiritual book I have to recommend that you always go to the Bible to compare any of the author's thoughts against what the Bible actually says.

[Li Yuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how Stasi arranged the 30 days devotions into small sections from pursuing freedom from our own brokenness and insecurities and ends with the reminder of our identity as a woman-in-Christ. Initially, I thought the book was rather thin. But after reading through every chapters, I love how she relates her stories to my life. This book is well-recommended for those who started reading daily devotional books.

[Chelsey with a y · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this many years ago and lot it. I recently found it so started it up again and loved it

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good devotional for women. My only complaint is the author jumps between agrees of audience throughout the book. Some is geared towards teens and others adults.

[shane audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

grateful that this allowed me to be reminded of who I am and always directed me to how God sees me

[Sarah]

From the author of Captivating and Becoming Myself comes an encouraging 90 day devotional for young women that reminds of your identity in God's eyes. Using excerpts from Free to Be Me, prayers, scriptures and encouraging positives, Stasi provides daily insights of how God delights in you.
I love Stasi's previous books and was excited to see a devotional with daily readings and encouragements. I was not disappointed! I will be snatching up extra copies of this gem to pass on to to a few young women i know. Beautiful Me is a great way to spend a few moments of your day and a good resource to return back to for further encouragement.
Thank you NetGalley and David C Cook for my complimentary copy in exchange for honest reviews.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This ninety day devotional by Stasi Eldredge encourages women to seek a closer relationship with God and give up many of the misconceptions we may have about being female. There are messages about how much God loves us; how He changes us into the person He would like us to be; and how it's ok to be feminine but we shouldn't feel inferior because God made us to be His daughters. We are special to Him.


Each daily message comes with a Bible verse, short message and a prayer. I think this a lovely book to give a gift to a young woman--perhaps on a special birthday.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this.