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Paperdoll: What Happens When an Ordinary Girl Meets an Extraordinary God
What happens when an ordinary girl finds the extraordinary love of God? By a well in Samarla, one girl found out when she came face to face with Jesus. Today' young women may be in a different culture, but they have something in common with that girl by the well: Sometimes they go looking for love in all the wrong places. Just as the Samaritan woman carried an empty jar to the well, they carry their empty, two-dimensional hearts, looking for one person, one more award, one glowing accolade, to fill it up and make it whole. True love is waiting at the well. In the eyes of the One, the woman at the well had infinite worth, meaning and purpose, and there's a secret waiting for girls who take the time to listen to what Jesus had to say to her that day: When an extraordinary girl fills up on the love of an extraordinary God, unforgettable things happen.
221 pages, Paperback
First published March 27, 2009
7 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Natalie Lloyd
13 books534 followersNatalie Lloyd is the New York Times Bestselling Author of novels for young readers (and the young at heart).
Her first novel, A Snicker of Magic (2014), was an ALA Notable Book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a top 10 Kids Indie Next Pick and an NPR, iBooks and Parents Magazine best book of the year for children. The book has been optioned for television by Sony Tristar. Natalie’s other novels include The Key to Extraordinary (Scholastic 2016), The Problim Children series (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen 2017), and Over the Moon (Scholastic 2019). These novels have won accolades from Entertainment Weekly, Junior Library Guild, SIBA, Amazon and Bank Street College of Education, among others. Silverswift, her first Audible Original, was published in 2020. Hummingbird, her seventh (and most personal) novel for kids, was published in August 2022. In January 2023, it was awarded a Schneider Family Honor Award by the American Library Association. Her next novel, The Witching Wind, will be available in Fall 2024.
Natalie writes in the shadows beside a sunny window in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She loves adventuring with her husband, Justin, and their dogs.
Her first novel, A Snicker of Magic (2014), was an ALA Notable Book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a top 10 Kids Indie Next Pick and an NPR, iBooks and Parents Magazine best book of the year for children. The book has been optioned for television by Sony Tristar. Natalie’s other novels include The Key to Extraordinary (Scholastic 2016), The Problim Children series (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen 2017), and Over the Moon (Scholastic 2019). These novels have won accolades from Entertainment Weekly, Junior Library Guild, SIBA, Amazon and Bank Street College of Education, among others. Silverswift, her first Audible Original, was published in 2020. Hummingbird, her seventh (and most personal) novel for kids, was published in August 2022. In January 2023, it was awarded a Schneider Family Honor Award by the American Library Association. Her next novel, The Witching Wind, will be available in Fall 2024.
Natalie writes in the shadows beside a sunny window in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She loves adventuring with her husband, Justin, and their dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 3, 2011
I seriously adore this book. If you open my copy of it, you'll see tons of highlighted sections. Natalie Lloyd has always had a special place in my heart. Her column in Brio magazine was a definite favorite. She strikes home. This book is incredibly encouraging and I love it to death! :) So many quotable things in it!
March 25, 2019
It was refreshing to run across this title written by Natalie Lloyd who I know by her children's books. This is a book I would give to any young girl entering adolescence or young adulthood. While women of any age can benefit from reading this, I think it especially would resonate with younger women as much of the struggles and insecurities women face generally start in the teenage years. Secular books offer empty ways for girls to secure their confidence and purpose, but Lloyd takes the correct, Scriptural approach and reveals what happens when a girl gives her heart to God and not to the world. True beauty, confidence, and purpose become clearer and the pressure to live up to secular standards are relieved.
Lloyd courageously opens her heart as she shares her journey of joys and sorrows with God. She draws from John 4, the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Years back, I sat in a Sunday School class on John 4 and gained new insight on the passage. I remember the teacher saying (paraphrased): "Jesus meets people where they are." This is true with the woman at the well, with Natalie Lloyd, with me, and everyone else. So there is hope for everyone. I gained even more insight on the John 4 passage after reading this. There are a lot of quotes I plan on adding, but I won't list them here - I encourage you to read the book to discover them!
One last, kind-of-tangenty thought: I was excited to learn that Natalie Lloyd likes mochas, drove a Civic, and one of her favorite songs is Lifehouse's You and Me. We have a few things in common!
Lloyd courageously opens her heart as she shares her journey of joys and sorrows with God. She draws from John 4, the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Years back, I sat in a Sunday School class on John 4 and gained new insight on the passage. I remember the teacher saying (paraphrased): "Jesus meets people where they are." This is true with the woman at the well, with Natalie Lloyd, with me, and everyone else. So there is hope for everyone. I gained even more insight on the John 4 passage after reading this. There are a lot of quotes I plan on adding, but I won't list them here - I encourage you to read the book to discover them!
One last, kind-of-tangenty thought: I was excited to learn that Natalie Lloyd likes mochas, drove a Civic, and one of her favorite songs is Lifehouse's You and Me. We have a few things in common!
April 20, 2018
This book is SO amazing!! I think every Christian girl should read this book! There is so much truth packed into 200 pages. It really convicted me in many areas. I loved digging deep into the story of the woman at the well. Most of us have heard the story many times, but never really studied it. I got so many amazing quotes out of this book. Here are a few:
- We live in a culture with so many interpretations of God. The world keeps looking for a Savior in all the wrong places.
-Whatever you and I have to do to make friends is what we have to do to keep those friends.
-Our human minds are incapable of comprehending the mind of God. All we have to go on is how He describes Himself in His Word.
-Worship, when it is real, is distinctly beautiful.
-My heart is created to love, but I come up empty when I try to find perfect love anywhere besides Jesus.
-Worship is an act of love and adoration, a personal genuine response to God. It’s how I love God back, and there are many ways I can show Him I love Him.
-It doesn’t matter if we’re worshipping in a big church or a small one. What matters is that we are genuine in our worship to God.
-“You will never worship anything you don’t see as bigger than yourself.” ~Chris Tomlin
-I want to engage my culture with His love.
-All along, the love she (the woman at the well) was searching for was sitting right in front of her.
-The more technically connected we get, the more emotionally isolated we become.
-I always wonder how many of the 6 trillion “friends” people have on their social media are really people they know.
-We can work, carry on conversations, order dinner and watch a movie without ever getting off the couch. But no matter how we kid ourselves, we’re still isolated if we’re not actually spending face time with people.
-I’ve noticed that women of every age seem to have this unwritten competition: who leads the busiest life? It’s the first thing we say when we call each other. “I’m so busy.” The truth is, I will make time for what I love.
-True love frees us up.
-Be that girl. Be that girl who can love outrageously, because she is loved unconditionally.
-Walk confidently. Love with compassion. Do great things. Lose yourself in the downpour of His extraordinary love. He has always been faithful. He will always be faithful. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
AND THIRST NO MORE!!!!
I can’t recommend this book enough!!❤️❤️❤️
- We live in a culture with so many interpretations of God. The world keeps looking for a Savior in all the wrong places.
-Whatever you and I have to do to make friends is what we have to do to keep those friends.
-Our human minds are incapable of comprehending the mind of God. All we have to go on is how He describes Himself in His Word.
-Worship, when it is real, is distinctly beautiful.
-My heart is created to love, but I come up empty when I try to find perfect love anywhere besides Jesus.
-Worship is an act of love and adoration, a personal genuine response to God. It’s how I love God back, and there are many ways I can show Him I love Him.
-It doesn’t matter if we’re worshipping in a big church or a small one. What matters is that we are genuine in our worship to God.
-“You will never worship anything you don’t see as bigger than yourself.” ~Chris Tomlin
-I want to engage my culture with His love.
-All along, the love she (the woman at the well) was searching for was sitting right in front of her.
-The more technically connected we get, the more emotionally isolated we become.
-I always wonder how many of the 6 trillion “friends” people have on their social media are really people they know.
-We can work, carry on conversations, order dinner and watch a movie without ever getting off the couch. But no matter how we kid ourselves, we’re still isolated if we’re not actually spending face time with people.
-I’ve noticed that women of every age seem to have this unwritten competition: who leads the busiest life? It’s the first thing we say when we call each other. “I’m so busy.” The truth is, I will make time for what I love.
-True love frees us up.
-Be that girl. Be that girl who can love outrageously, because she is loved unconditionally.
-Walk confidently. Love with compassion. Do great things. Lose yourself in the downpour of His extraordinary love. He has always been faithful. He will always be faithful. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
AND THIRST NO MORE!!!!
I can’t recommend this book enough!!❤️❤️❤️
March 5, 2015
Great book for young girls! It builds self-confidence and teaches girls to be authentic.
May 28, 2012
I love this book. I've read it four or five times and it speaks to me each time I pick it up again. Natalie has such a beautiful writing style! She takes the story of the woman by the well, which to be honest was never one of my favorite Bible stories, and makes it so applicable to young women. My copy is marked up and highlighted because I have *so* many favorite parts. :) My favorite chapter is the one about waiting for Gilbert, but I also love the last one. The whole book is incredibly inspiring and encouraging...it makes me want to love harder and live braver and seek God with everything I am.
February 6, 2011
Incredible!
May 13, 2013
There are no words to express how beautifully written this book is!!! Natalie Lloyd did a phenomenal job at authoring such an inspiring, tear jerking, feel-good book!
October 14, 2013
Perfect. One of the best books ever written. Well Done Ms.Lloyd!
November 17, 2019
This book is written more for teens young adults, especially those who struggle with all the pressures of modern culture. I think it is a wonderful book for ages 15-20 about living authentically and all out for Jesus and not allowing the culture to define you.
September 21, 2015
This book was amazing. A must read for all christian teen girls.
May 18, 2017
i didn't like it at the end i liked the very begining
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews