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Second Chances: Finding Healing for Your Pain, Regaining Your Strength, Celebrating Your New Life
Let Go of the Past--Embrace Your Second Chance
You have a destiny . You may have lost sight of it, opened a wrong door, taken a misleading path, but it's there--you haven't missed your chance! Yet it can be hard to see, hard to find, when the only things in front of you are challenging circumstances, lost opportunities, or overwhelming obstacles. But there is hope!
With warmth and insight, Pat Smith shares the truths she and other women have learned on their own journeys from heartache to hope. She encourages and empowers you to recommit to the destiny God has for you in life, love, work, and faith. She also shows how to let go of what's holding you back, reinvent yourself, and rediscover your purpose and joy. There is a second chance waiting for you--it's time to celebrate your new life!
You have a destiny . You may have lost sight of it, opened a wrong door, taken a misleading path, but it's there--you haven't missed your chance! Yet it can be hard to see, hard to find, when the only things in front of you are challenging circumstances, lost opportunities, or overwhelming obstacles. But there is hope!
With warmth and insight, Pat Smith shares the truths she and other women have learned on their own journeys from heartache to hope. She encourages and empowers you to recommit to the destiny God has for you in life, love, work, and faith. She also shows how to let go of what's holding you back, reinvent yourself, and rediscover your purpose and joy. There is a second chance waiting for you--it's time to celebrate your new life!
190 pages, Paperback
Published May 17, 2016
23 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 25, 2016
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.]
Pat Smith, the author of this book, happens to be the wife of Emmitt Smith, NFL Hall of Fame Running Back for the Dallas Cowboys, and she also happens to be one of the leading group of members within the church of T.D. and Sarita Jakes [1], which puts this book squarely within a set of books relating to widespread concerns about family well-being and dignity regarding the black church and sports culture. Indeed, this is a book directed clearly at women, and especially black women, who share the author’s background and who would understand easily what is meant when the author breaks into one of her rants against the “Great Gazoo” (124), which is apparently an expression for Satan I had not been familiar with before, having only heard of it as a zany character on the last season of The Flintstones television show, or “the Enemy,” as he is more often known. The author uses this book mainly as an opportunity to speak about the narrative arc of her own life and her own struggle against fear and insecurity and past mistakes, as an opportunity to promote her Treasure You ministry which seems to pamper women, and the chance to tell inspirational stories about women overcoming incredible difficulties.
The contents of this book are divided into fourteen chapters that describe the author’s life interspersed with other accounts in a large chronological fashion. The author talks about her experiences as the first runner up at the Miss USA contest, after she had been the first black Miss Virginia, her early unsuccessful marriage to Martin Lawrence and her experience of co-parenting their daughter, her recovery and experience of forgiveness from God, her courtship with Emmitt Smith and the results of an act of unfaithfulness that led him to have a daughter with another woman while they were dating, her efforts to overcome the loss of her mother to breast cancer and to fulfill her dream of being a television presenter, and her encouragement of Emmitt Smith in his efforts on Dancing With The Stars and to secure his legacy after the end of his football career. Along with her own stories she tells a wide variety of stories of women she has worked with and gotten to know, who dealt with horrors such as being sold into slavery by family members, abandoned by parents with drug habits, subjected to rape and domestic abuse, and so on. No opportunity to tug at the heartstrings of the reader or to draw empathy and concern [2] is left out of a book that is modestly sized at about 190 pages.
How is one to best view a book like this? It is clearly aimed at a female audience, and for upwardly mobile black women who enjoy reading and have a sense of fellowship with like women, this book is likely to be greatly enjoyed. On a wider level, this book is written at a level to appeal to a contemporary Christian female audience in general—it praises the importance of marriage counseling even when things are going well, praises communication, urges women to be less aggressive in their prayers [3], and deals openly and compassionately with struggles in co-parenting even after a marriage has broken up. This is not a book that points to an ideal as much as it provides encouragement for those who have been through immense difficulty and live broken lives and come from broken families. It is a large target audience, although the book is long on talking about the messages of her ministers that she views as being directed at her, and is rather short on biblical exegesis and a pointing to a godly biblical ideal. God reaches down into the dust and the mire out of love for His children, but He doesn’t expect us to stay in the mire, but rather to be cleansed so that we can sit with princes (see, for example 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Psalm 113, the Magnificat of Mary [4]). This book makes for a warm and encouraging girl power read to encourage other women, but with a bit more biblical understanding it could have been much more. Nevertheless, it has modest aims and meets them, and that is likely to be enough for many female readers to celebrate warmly, and a book that will likely not irritate those few male readers who are likely to work their way through it either.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example, this discussion of the struggle of the author’s bff Tara:
“Even with her many career accomplishments, including a thriving, successful career in law, Tara was frustrated with the fact that God gave a life to her that she didn’t want.
Her frustration grew as she remained single, even as I entered into my second marriage and had three more children. For our friendship to stay true, we had to be open and honest with feelings. We had several defining moments where we expressed our emotions—everything from support to jealousy. She was jealous of my family life; I was jealous of her freedom, ability to travel, and successful career (81).” Believe me, I can relate.
[3] In this the book strongly mirrors the advice of films like War Room:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[4] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
Pat Smith, the author of this book, happens to be the wife of Emmitt Smith, NFL Hall of Fame Running Back for the Dallas Cowboys, and she also happens to be one of the leading group of members within the church of T.D. and Sarita Jakes [1], which puts this book squarely within a set of books relating to widespread concerns about family well-being and dignity regarding the black church and sports culture. Indeed, this is a book directed clearly at women, and especially black women, who share the author’s background and who would understand easily what is meant when the author breaks into one of her rants against the “Great Gazoo” (124), which is apparently an expression for Satan I had not been familiar with before, having only heard of it as a zany character on the last season of The Flintstones television show, or “the Enemy,” as he is more often known. The author uses this book mainly as an opportunity to speak about the narrative arc of her own life and her own struggle against fear and insecurity and past mistakes, as an opportunity to promote her Treasure You ministry which seems to pamper women, and the chance to tell inspirational stories about women overcoming incredible difficulties.
The contents of this book are divided into fourteen chapters that describe the author’s life interspersed with other accounts in a large chronological fashion. The author talks about her experiences as the first runner up at the Miss USA contest, after she had been the first black Miss Virginia, her early unsuccessful marriage to Martin Lawrence and her experience of co-parenting their daughter, her recovery and experience of forgiveness from God, her courtship with Emmitt Smith and the results of an act of unfaithfulness that led him to have a daughter with another woman while they were dating, her efforts to overcome the loss of her mother to breast cancer and to fulfill her dream of being a television presenter, and her encouragement of Emmitt Smith in his efforts on Dancing With The Stars and to secure his legacy after the end of his football career. Along with her own stories she tells a wide variety of stories of women she has worked with and gotten to know, who dealt with horrors such as being sold into slavery by family members, abandoned by parents with drug habits, subjected to rape and domestic abuse, and so on. No opportunity to tug at the heartstrings of the reader or to draw empathy and concern [2] is left out of a book that is modestly sized at about 190 pages.
How is one to best view a book like this? It is clearly aimed at a female audience, and for upwardly mobile black women who enjoy reading and have a sense of fellowship with like women, this book is likely to be greatly enjoyed. On a wider level, this book is written at a level to appeal to a contemporary Christian female audience in general—it praises the importance of marriage counseling even when things are going well, praises communication, urges women to be less aggressive in their prayers [3], and deals openly and compassionately with struggles in co-parenting even after a marriage has broken up. This is not a book that points to an ideal as much as it provides encouragement for those who have been through immense difficulty and live broken lives and come from broken families. It is a large target audience, although the book is long on talking about the messages of her ministers that she views as being directed at her, and is rather short on biblical exegesis and a pointing to a godly biblical ideal. God reaches down into the dust and the mire out of love for His children, but He doesn’t expect us to stay in the mire, but rather to be cleansed so that we can sit with princes (see, for example 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Psalm 113, the Magnificat of Mary [4]). This book makes for a warm and encouraging girl power read to encourage other women, but with a bit more biblical understanding it could have been much more. Nevertheless, it has modest aims and meets them, and that is likely to be enough for many female readers to celebrate warmly, and a book that will likely not irritate those few male readers who are likely to work their way through it either.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example, this discussion of the struggle of the author’s bff Tara:
“Even with her many career accomplishments, including a thriving, successful career in law, Tara was frustrated with the fact that God gave a life to her that she didn’t want.
Her frustration grew as she remained single, even as I entered into my second marriage and had three more children. For our friendship to stay true, we had to be open and honest with feelings. We had several defining moments where we expressed our emotions—everything from support to jealousy. She was jealous of my family life; I was jealous of her freedom, ability to travel, and successful career (81).” Believe me, I can relate.
[3] In this the book strongly mirrors the advice of films like War Room:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[4] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
June 24, 2017
good book. inspirational how she shared stores of other women who were face with challenges. Like how she gave pointers for each chapter. Good read and uplifting to those that are facing issues in their lives
January 9, 2025
A small piece of my story is actually in this book!!! It’s a beautifully written and put together book.
June 13, 2016
Pat Smith really shares from her heart about her life and shares the lives of others in this wonderful book. She tells about her first failed marriage to Martin Lawrence and how that really broke her down. She has to start over and was so discouraged and distraught over everything. She felt like a failure and started lose all confidence in herself. I've been there and I'msure you have, too.
She also shares the stories from other people who have overcome great adversity with the help of God. The changes in the lives of the people are just so inspiring and shows how much God can give us strength and comfort through these adversities.
I really loved the "Power Points" that she has at the end of each chapter. These are little nuggets of wisdom that are well worth remembering. I wrote a lot of them down in my inspiration book that I have. She also has wonderful questions at the end of the chapters that really makes you think and helps you focus in on God and making choices to better our life. Because of these questions, this book would make a great study for a women's small group.
I highlighted so much of this book! It is inspiring and I loved how she focuses on God and the Bible throughout. You can see through her writing that she is truly a godly woman and wants to share the love of God through this amazing book.
I give this book 5 stars and highly recommend it!
*This book was provided to me for my honest review by Bethany House
She also shares the stories from other people who have overcome great adversity with the help of God. The changes in the lives of the people are just so inspiring and shows how much God can give us strength and comfort through these adversities.
I really loved the "Power Points" that she has at the end of each chapter. These are little nuggets of wisdom that are well worth remembering. I wrote a lot of them down in my inspiration book that I have. She also has wonderful questions at the end of the chapters that really makes you think and helps you focus in on God and making choices to better our life. Because of these questions, this book would make a great study for a women's small group.
I highlighted so much of this book! It is inspiring and I loved how she focuses on God and the Bible throughout. You can see through her writing that she is truly a godly woman and wants to share the love of God through this amazing book.
I give this book 5 stars and highly recommend it!
*This book was provided to me for my honest review by Bethany House
June 29, 2016
Second Chances is a powerful testimony to God's unfailing love for us! Pat Smith pours out her heart and she shares life's struggles and triumphs. This is a journey of many women's stories of hope, faith and trust in God.
July 29, 2016
Motivational, Empowering, Uplifting, Inspiring & Moving! An Awesome Read! I Loved It!
June 15, 2016
Lovely Book, and packed with a lot of motivation and inspiration. I feel blessed to have read it.
August 29, 2016
Very inspirational.
Read
January 5, 2017Perfect example of women empowerment while dealing with difficult life challenges
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews