Podcaster and bestselling author of?The Year of Living Happy?Alli Worthington knows all about the ways a woman can be hard on herself. She shares her own fear struggles with humor and honesty—real strategies, biblical truths, and woman-to-woman encouragement for coping with life's big fears and little everyday worries.
Sometimes Jesus's call to "fear not" seems like the hardest instruction to follow. Some days you faultlessly juggle everything that is your life—kids, husband, house, job, church, friendships, school, pets, appointments, and on and on. Other days the very thought of which ball you're going to drop makes your anxiety level unmanageable. You're afraid you're forgetting something. And you God's advice to fear not.
Alli uses biblical wisdom and practical insight to help
Identify fear-based thinking.Overcome the big and little worries in life.Learn a simple trick to stop the anxiety spiral.Live a more confident, less worried life. Grab a cup of coffee and sit down for some encouragement from a friend. Alli's no-nonsense, wise advice will lighten your heart and help you cut through the daily clutter of fear and worry to reconnect with your own fierce faith.
Oh, I wish I could sit over a cup of coffee and tell you about my real thoughts regarding "Fierce Faith." This book is amazing! While it's filled with amazing truths from Alli Worthington, it's also filled with her heart. I need truth, grace and authenticity when I am struggling with a deep issue. Alli meets me right in the middle of the mess. We all have seasons of life where an author or book speaks to the heart of an issue we are facing and Alli speaks to my heart. She gives practical ways to live out and face fear, anxiety, while tackling it daily. I love how she has stories with humor and grace. I felt encouraged while reading this book and never alone. I really enjoyed this book and think you will too!
When I became a mother, I feared everything. In her new book, Fierce Faith, Alli Worthington says, "Fear is a liar. It speaks over us so convincingly, we believe that something terrible is certain to happen, even in the absence of any evidence whatsoever. Fear turns our what-ifs into certainties, freezing our faith and flipping our world upside down." Do you struggle with fear, worry, or anxiety? Fierce Faith is a must read! Alli knows fear. She is right there with us and walks us through how to fight fear and overcome anxiety with a deep, fierce faith. "By worshiping, trusting, and praising God, you are telling the enemy loud and clear that you are not a woman to be messed with."
I’ve been in a battle with fear, and anxiety all my life, I’ve fought the enemy with prayer and scripture I’d memorized but felt it this wasn’t enough. I never felt victorious but alone and anxious. This author is transparent, practical, and gives readers a step by step battle plan – a hands on approach to not be paralyzed in fear. She shares her experiences and gives readers strategies and insight that are helpful. It’s the best battle plan I’ve read. It’s energized me and given me hope.
She talks about being frozen in fear, talks about not so healthy ways to respond to fear, fighting fear along with other struggles and finally how to be brave and unafraid.
The author says, “When we try to make safety our god, we live life stuck in fear and worship a powerless god.” Ouch! She discusses “self-talk” the things we tell ourselves that plant seeds of fear and hopelessness. That was eye opening.
At the end of each chapter there are Action steps. For example, “Ask yourself…”How Fear, Anxiety and Worry Affects Us….What type of fears and worries affect you most often?” “How have you dealt with fear and worry in the past? Is your natural inclination to fight, to flee, or to hide?”
I like how this author breaks down our thought process as she says, “Our thoughts have the power to tear us down or build us up.” We can be our worst enemy. What we believe and tell ourselves are so important. She says, “We are all called to be strong and courageous.” It’s not only for a select few but for all. This is book is an exciting, hopeful tool I’ll be reading and re-reading as I implement the principles she lays out. I’m so encouraged.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 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”
One of the hardest things is to Fear Not, we all fight with fear at sometime or another. I have had people tell me they have so much faith they never deal with fear, I say wrong, if your child has been given a bad diagnosis then you will experience FEAR. If you are a single mother and you are told your job is cutting back and they don't need you anymore, you will experience FEAR.
Well Fierce Faith is a book that we ALL need to read. We need to learn the lessons in this book and try to adhere to them. This book is for the worrier, the gals that wrestle with anxiety, the gals they fight fear regularly.
I found a lot of wisdom in this book and it's very well said.
I gave this book 4 stars. I recommend this to all the ladies.
The Mary Reader received this book from Wynn Wynn Media for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.
This is a good one that I highly recommend. Filled with truths I need to be reminded of especially when fear, worry and anxiety start to creep in. Alli breaks down the different ways fear can enter our livers, including fear of... betrayal, missing out, rejection, failure, not being enough, the future. Each chapter has a battle plan with several steps laid out to remind ourselves of the truth, point us back to Jesus, and fight the enemy’s lies in our lives. I spent several months reading this book because I didn’t want to read it fast. I wanted to take each section in and let the truths sink into my heart.
I don't think that I'm Alli's target audience for this. Or, at least, I didn't. I got the galley copy because I've enjoyed her books in the past and was invited to be part of the launch team, but once I read the description I wasn't sure it was in my wheelhouse. Anxiety? Fear? I'm a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky gal! However, I can say that I definitely caught myself nodding along to this book over and over again, highlighting passages, and just generally devouring it like it was water of life. I did not expect this. Alli's writing has really matured over the past two years from her first book to this one, and I honestly believe this is a book for every Christian woman. Whether we admit it or not, we all fear something, and we all have a hard time believing, sometimes, the promises of God, and become anxious over our lack of control over our lives. You may think, like me, "fear doesn't rule my life, I don't need a book like this" but this book is for all the ladies. :-)
Finally! This is the book about rejection, fear, and anxiety that I have been looking for! It provided a good balance of discussion and teaching. It gave enough time to acknowledging the many instances and effects of fear, worry, and anxiety in our lives but didn't present it in a way that made me feel depressed, guilty, or ashamed. Instead, it provided scripture-based how-to suggestions for fighting the internal battles. It left me feeling empowered to deal with the situations and struggles that pop up as I go about my daily life. I voluntarily read an advanced review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley and I offer my honest opinion in response.
Great book with really concrete tools to combat anxiety and fear that are faith-based. Appreciated her own personal stories and the way she laid out specific types of fear we face. Got a little repetitive and slow at times but overall 4 stars and new tools for my toolbox!
Amazing, inspiring read! I'm currently recovering from nearly dying in January and this book has really helped me gain such insight. It strengthened my faith in God, and renewed my trust in Jesus! I HIGHLY recommend it!
I love Alli’s writing style. She is so real and you feel like you are having a conversation with her. She gives good insight on fear and anxiety and shares practical ways to battle it. The book is easy to read but also challenges you to really think about how you think. It is definitely a worthwhile read .
This was not a book I was excited about reading, but my small group voted on it, so I dug in. I've battled fear for years, so reading a book about battling it wasn't on the top of my list. I suppose it was a bit of a 'been there, done that' kind of mentality. But, as leader, I couldn't show up to meetings without reading the material, so I plunged ahead. I'm glad I did!
Alli writes simply and honestly, sharing her life including those moments you know she was cringing at sharing. But what God taught her in those moments fuels a passion within her to communicate truth that all women--all people--need to grasp. If you are God's child, you can fight and win the battles against those fears, worries, and anxieties that hold you back and cripple your effectiveness.
One-by-one, Alli addresses some of the most common fears and concerns: rejection, parenting, failure, betrayal, missing out, the future, not being enough, and God doesn't care. She highlights unhealthy responses, giving practical and highly relatable examples of each, and for each specific fear or anxiety, she writes out a battle plan to combat it.
Although many of the lessons Alli shares, I've learned during my own battles, I did pick up some new tips and found great encouragement while reading. I found this to be an excellent book I will recommend to others, and I'm confident God will use her words to provide training and motivation to others to battle the fear that is distracting them from what God wants them to accomplish and stealing the joy He's provided for the journey.
Fierce Faith spoke to a deep place in me, a place I didn’t even realize needed to be unearthed. The thing with Fierce Faith is Alli Worthington does the hard, honest work of transparency but we must meet her there for the words and applications to matter. A Chapter that really spoke to me was “What If The Kids Aren’t Okay?” As a Mama about to launch her oldest that simple question has rolled through my brain with intense regularity, but again...Alli says the hard thing and makes me feel less crazy while showing me that it’s her too and how to walk this season out. A book gets 5 Stars from me when I feel like it was worth my time to read it when there are about a million other books I can be reading, Fierce Faith is 5 Star worthy. This book is a gift to the world, I believe.
This is SUCH a helpful and relevant book chock-full of applicable advice on how to fight fear and anxiety through faith. I loved Alli's first book Breaking Busy and knew that this one would be no different (props for alliterative titles too, girl!) -- it was fresh, helpful, fun to read, both light and deep at the same time, and really just a powerhouse book for women.
Each chapter addressed a new question that I think every one of us worries about at some point, and included such easy to remember lists of tools and reminders for how to fight back and find freedom. If you aren’t a person who loves lists, this might not be the book for you, but I know so many of Alli's strategies here will be game changers for me personally!
Just so you know, this is not a philosophy text about struggling with fear and doubt. This is a grit-your-teeth, make-a-plan, FIGHTING kind of book.
If you're an Eeyore type, preferring to lay down and wallow, you probably won't like this book. This is a book that is seeped in Gospel-centered inspiration and real-living practicalities. It encourages you to face those fears with the armor of God (particularly that shield!)
Yes, we all have worries and anxiety that can paralyze and twist our guts into sailor knots. The difference between finding joy and peace and, well, NOT, is what we DO with those knots. I love how Alli gets down to our level (honestly, many Christian authors prefer to stay clean of the whole "sin makes life suck" thing) and provides the gentle Scriptural prodding we need to call out to Christ, cling to his word, and start. walking. forward. out of the Anxiety Forest.
I mean, honestly, who can't relate to chapters like these?
What If They Don’t Like Me? Fear of Rejection What If the Kids Aren’t Okay? Fear for Our Children What If I Can’t Do This? Fear of Failure What If I Get Hurt Again? Fear of Betrayal What if Everyone Has Fun Without Me? Fear of Missing Out What If Things Fall Apart? Fear of the Future What If I Never Measure Up? Fear of Not Being Enough What If I Can’t Trust God? Fear That We Are on Our Own
Ah, yes please! I have felt each of those Worry Warts. If you've ever struggled with fear and anxiety, I can't recommend this book enough. It puts meat on the bones of the pithy phrase "Let Go and Let God". As if life is as simple as a bumper sticker, anyway! As my kids are growing bigger and bigger, and I find my ability to control every aspect of their life (correction, THINK I control every aspect...) fly out the window like a super motivated sparrow, this book (particularly the chapter on Fear for my Children), reminded me of the numerous times in the Bible God has tenderly cared for motherly fears (case in point, Jochebed and Moses).
Alli points you to Scripture in every chapter, which makes my heart happy because I know these are GOD'S PROMISES that I can rely on. Great for men, women, students... pretty much every Christian, honestly, at any age. I could also see this being a great book to use in a group discussion, since there are questions to consider (or journal over) at the end of every chapter and a really great Battle Plan workbook at the end of the book to use. Very highly recommend!
“Our own fear of failure isn’t the fear of failing in and of itself; it’s that we fear what the results of that failure might be: rejection, loss, financial destruction, and loneliness. But what if… What if even in the big things we could believe that failure is the rich soil where our faith grows? And most importantly, what if we believed God doesn’t see our failures, but sees our future and holds it in his hands?”
Alli Worthington does an amazing job connecting to readers in a way that reminds us we are not alone in this battle against fear, worry, and anxiety. Through funny anecdotes and appropriate scripture application, Alli demonstrates that we have one of the best “Battle Plans” around…we need to lean into the “truth that God is good; he does good in our lives; and he will give us the strength to come out on the other side victorious.” When we find ourselves unable to wrestle through the scary side of our “what ifs”, we have to shift our gaze to the God who sees the scary side, the anxious side, and the worry-filled side and proclaims his victory over our lives. By filtering our “what ifs” through the victory found in the cross, we are able to fight the lies and stand in the victory with Jesus.
Each chapter ends with “Action Steps” and the “Battle Plan” pages at the end are an amazing resource. Plus some of them are able to be downloaded and you can create your own “Battle Plan.” As someone who journals and likes to see how I process through my doubts and fears, this is awesome because I can create a new “Battle Plan” whenever I need one! This book can be used as an individual or group study book as well. It also transcends stages of life, meaning someone in college, mid-30s and single (that’s me!), married with kids, or empty nesting, would all benefit from the book.
Sometimes Jesus’s call to “fear not” seems like the hardest instruction to follow. Some days you faultlessly juggle everything that is your life—kids, husband, house, job, church, friendships, school, pets, appointments, and on and on. Other days the very thought of which ball you’re going to drop puts your anxiety level through the roof. You’re afraid you’re forgetting something. And you are: God’s advice to fear not. Alli Worthington knows all about the ways a woman can be hard on herself. She shares her own fear struggles with humor and honesty—while offering real strategies for coping with life’s big worries as well as those little everyday worries. Grab a cup of coffee and sit down for some encouragement from a friend. Alli’s no-nonsense, wise advice will lighten your heart and help you cut through the daily clutter of fear and worry to reconnect with your own fierce faith. Alli uses biblical wisdom and practical insight to help you: Identify fear-based thinking.
Overcome the big and little worries in life. Learn a simple trick to stop the anxiety spiral. Live a more confident, less worried life. Like having coffee with an old friend, the author breaks it down and keeps it real in this humorous and real-life book. Life isn't easy, but it's a lot easier with friends who build us up and keep us going through the hard times...friends who remind us to refocus and put our faith back front and center. The solutions to life's little problems (and it's always the little stuff, right?!) are scripture-based, but without being preachy, and this is like seeking wisdom from an older, wiser, and funny girlfriend. Her faith and maturity guide the advice as she tackles grief, burnout, fear, pain, and all of the anxieties we take on in this life.
Alli Worthington's book Breaking Busy spoke volumes of truth to me. Alli's warm, funny stories and practical applications helped me learn how to manage my priorities with greater peace. Since fear, worry, and anxiety are perennial struggles for me, I was excited to see what Alli would teach me about how to handle them.
This book is filled with practical strategies for fighting those three bullies. Each chapter has a Battle Plan for handling these problems in new ways. I especially enjoyed her chapter on betrayal. I read dozens of Christian non-fiction books every year, and I don't see this topic covered often enough. Alli does a wonderful job with it.
What I appreciate most about Alli's approach is her humility. She tells stories of her own struggles in each chapter, so the book feels like advice from a girlfriend-in-the-trenches, right alongside me. I know we can never completely eradicate fear, worry, and anxiety from our lives this side of heaven. But these practical tips give me new ways to look at my issues and handle them proactively.
Here is one of her Battle Plans that I enjoyed most (fighting the fear of the future):
Develop gratitude for what God is doing right now. Think about your future self. Stack up your own stones of remembrance. Ask the right questions (evaluating the fearful situation--do I have any control?). Trust the master plan.
There are so many practical takeaways, including the game-changing Five Bad B's I've fallen prey to on a daily basis. This book is a wake-up call and a map for finding greater peace. If you like books with practical application, you'll love Fierce Faith.
I received a free review copy of Fierce Faith from the BookLook Bloggers Program.
Although we all know how to put on our “Sunday” faces for those who don’t know us intimately, we all have struggles of one kind or another. In her book Fierce Faith, Alli Worthington gets real with Christian women. She gives us a “battle plan against the fear, worry, and anxiety” that want to pull you down. She uses anecdotes to illustrate the kinds of battles that we face and identifies that the attack usually comes from the spiritual realm. She offers Scriptural promises and practical applications and ways of fighting back with a “fierce faith.”
Worthington addresses issues you may not even know you have because you avoid confronting them by strategies such as staying busy, bingeing on a variety of things, or becoming numb. I don’t consider myself a fearful person, but I got zinged a number of times as she addressed fear of betrayal, rejection, and an uncertain future. Some might identify with FOMO (the fear of missing out) which began with Adam and Eve but is put on steroids by social media. Fear of failure and not measuring up are other common forms of attack.
Alli Worthington offers practical help for common problems. She encourages the reader to trust God and explains how to do that. I recommend this book for all Christians regardless of where you are in your faith walk.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Zondervan for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Are you in the midst of a season where you’re fighting fear, wrestling worry, and struggling to overcome anxiety, but feel like you’re losing the battle?
In her new book Fierce Faith, Alli not only candidly shares her own personal struggles with fear, worry, and anxiety, she also shares how being a woman of faith has helped her to fight these giants in her life so that she can lead a more confident and worry-free life, and provides us with practical yet biblical guidelines that allow us to follow victoriously in her footsteps!
From the moment I started reading Fierce Faith, I appreciated Alli’s down-to-earth candor and found myself immediately engaged with this book.
Fear can be a cruel taskmaster that magnifies little things and makes False Evidence Appear Real – but Fierce Faith helps us to break through the paralysis that often accompanies fear, worry and anxiety so that we can solve our problems and reclaim the joy of our lives!
Fierce Faith is a book that most of us would find extremely beneficial.
This excerpt is part of an original review that is published on my blog. To read my review in its entirety, please visit Create With Joy.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own, based on my assessment of this book.
As a member of the book's launch team, I was fortunate to read an advance copy. As with her previous book (Breaking Busy), Alli fills this book with insightful words of wisdom, relevant passages of Scripture, and delightful candor and humor. Reading this book feels like having a conversation with a good friend who has some difficult, but important truths to share, and who is comfortable being honest about her own struggles. There are also some useful practical suggestions and reflections.
Another reason this book resonated so strongly with me is because of the life circumstances I'm currently in - circumstances in which my professional future is uncertain, and that could breed fear and doubt. So I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who needs a voice of encouragement.
All in all, I am grateful to Alli for writing this book; and know it will become a tool I return to in the future.
I began reading Fierce Faith right as the new year turned. With goals to be more intentional in my reading this year, I was excited to dive into a book that I thought was all about faith. But remember, I had failed to read the entire subtitle when I chose this book. It was almost as though God knew I would turn it away thinking I didn't need it if I had read the subtitle in the beginning.
Never one to quit on a book, I pressed on. And I'm glad that I did. I thoroughly enjoy Worthington's writing style. Last year, I read Breaking Busy for a book club and loved how Worthington approached a topic that is only now becoming more widely accepted - the need for us to rest. Now, Worthington lets us in on a new glimpse of her life. The attack that often comes as we step out in faith with a message from God and then feel the fear of that endeavor. The fear that can cripple us, dull our message of hope and keep us from living a full life.
Rather than letting us stay there, Worthington uses the pages of Fierce Faith to remind us that God has made us for so much more. She gives us practical steps into how to move through so many fears - from FOMO to rejection and failure, from our children to the fear of being hurt again. Worthington points us back towards scriptures and truth. She invites us to live our daily lives without avoiding those things that cause us fear.
I enjoyed Worthington's take on this topic. I was challenged to begin thinking through some situations in my life in a different way.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. This review is my own, honest opinion.
Wonderful resource on fear and anxiety for Christian women.
While I bought this ebook on Kindle years ago, I only just got around to reading it, which was probably one of those signs from God that Alli is talking about. This book came to me in the time of profound fear and anxiety, and I'm grateful for that.
Fierce Faith is not a fluffy just-believe kind of book. Instead, it is divided into chapters on separate issues, e.g. fear of rejection, betrayal, the future. In each, Alli, brings up real-life stories of someone struggling with this fear, as well as a corresponding Biblical story - and what I liked about this is that they were explained in relatable, modern language. Then, the author outlines strategies to deal with it, with numbered steps in your own Battle Plan.
I want to thank the author for writing this illuminating, calming book. I plan to return to my highlights and individual chapters when I'm in need.
As a woman and mom of 5 who has struggled with anxiety for many years, I have read many books, and prayed many prayers in an attempt to “make it better”. I am a big fan of Alli Worthington’s Breaking Busy and was excited to see what she wrote about worry and anxiety. Alli Worthington is funny, realistic, and definitely has a way of turning checklists into memorable chunks. Her book differs from others in that it is meant to be dog eared, highlighted, referred to. You can tell she is passionate about equipping women with the tools to overcome worry and anxiety. She shares her stories, her experience, but she makes sure the reader can duplicate a fighting response to their fear and worry. This was such a blessing to read and will stay on my nightstand for months to come. I purchased a copy from the publisher in advance. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Alli Worthington hits the nail on the head in her newest book Fierce Faith when she points out that the Bible instructs us to FEAR NOT and the enemy is the one behind the lies, fears, and doubts that we tell ourselves.
The best part of this book is that Worthington doesn't just tell us how not to fear but she uses examples in her own life of when she let the fear win and how looking back she can see how she was deceived by lies.
From fear for our children, betrayal, failure, rejection, and more Worthington walks us through steps that we can take to and truths we can tell ourselves when faced with worry and anxiety. I related to so much in this book and like how it's woman to woman, not preaching or condemnation.
This book was given to me by BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.
Very practical, transparent account of how the author uses her faith to combat the fears she and many other women wrestle with in our present day world. I resonated with most of what she relates and she does a decent job of being honest with how well she follows her own advice. But I particularly like her conclusion, which is ultimately about how keeping our eyes on Jesus is the only surefire way to win the fight against our fear. I wish there had been more ways throughout to focus on this message and to see how this specifically applies in each case. Regardless, there are some really good step-by-step ways to live in the world today without letting all the fears that come with that eat us alive.
Although, at two chapters a week (for book club), this book took awhile to finish, I liked it.
Worthington offers a battle plan for fighting fear and anxiety, with lots of easy-to-implement tips. There are many discussion points throughout the book (albeit maybe not intentional ones) as we related to the book or the subject of the current chapter, which made Fierce Faith well suited to book club reading ... at least, with a close friend or close group of friends. Be wary of reading and discussing this book with strangers ... Worthington gets to the heart of the matter quickly and you might end up exposing more of yourself than you bargained for.
I liked the stories woven throughout, and would recommend this book to Christian women struggling with fear, worry, or anxiety.
This is a life-changing book! In Fierce Faith, Alli opened my eyes to fears I didn’t know I had and lies I’ve believed that have hindered my faith. Fierce Faith has given me the strategies to face the fears and dispel the lies. I’ve been set free to stand firm in my faith believing the promises of God for my life. Using examples from her own life, the pages are soaked with wisdom Alli gained through her own struggles. This book reads as if you were sitting across from her having a conversation. It is straightforward, insightful, real, and authentic. This is a practical book to overcome fear holding you back!
Fierce Faith is exactly what I needed to read during this season of my life. This book was beyond what I was expecting. Alli's writing has made me feel like I know her personally. Not only is Alli very open about her very real thoughts and very real life, she also has AMAZING tips and encouragement on how to defeat fear. My favorite line in this book says, "Our job is to trust God every single day. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to do so." My perspective has totally shifted in how I see and trust God. I'm looking forward to more books by Alli. She has easily become one of my favorite Christian authors.
Fierce Faith is a profound journey of self-reflection and realization, steeped in biblical truths that resonate deeply. Though it may start with a gradual pace, as the narrative unfolds, its momentum builds, revealing its immeasurable value, especially for those navigating demanding life phases. Particularly for mothers of young children and those grappling with anxiety, this book stands as a beacon of spiritual guidance and wisdom. Beyond merely mirroring the reader's vulnerabilities, it offers transformative insights grounded in scriptural teachings. A must-read for those keen on confronting their deepest fears and anxieties through the lens of faith.