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sarah_b 's review for:
Stop Calling Me Beautiful: Finding Soul-Deep Strength in a Skin-Deep World
by Phylicia Masonheimer
Stop Calling Me Beautiful is a testament to Christian womanhood - to dig deep into the Word of God, to learn who God is, and to live without shame.
A few weeks ago, the name Phylicia Masonheimer was introduced to me through Instagram, and I began following her. Her posts prove to be incredibly insightful to the woman's plight while containing spiritual "meat" to help those women grow in their walk with Christ. Having all that said, it was really quite accidental (providential?) that I happened to stumble across the title of her new, soon-to-be-released book. A quick skim of the chapter titles confirmed that I should read this.
This book discusses Bible study, legalism, anxiety, shame, grief, broken sexuality - all in the light of God's Word. The idea is to find "soul-deep strength in a skin-deep world," and the only way to do that is to ground oneself in the principles God wrote out for us in His Word. Everything Phylicia (because I feel like we're on a first-name basis now) says has a foundation within Scripture.
She claims that Christians "live with rigid rules or uncontrollable addictions, controlling spirits, and untamed tongues. Everything they were before Christ, just with fire insurance." Whoa. How true and how convicting is that?
Here's the thing: [most women] long "to know more about God and have godly community. But nothing she's ever learned about Christianity has penetrated that surface level. She feels ill-equipped to dive deeper. What if her conclusions are wrong? Isn't a pastor supposed to tell her what to think? How does any of it apply to life practically? Where does she start?" Phylicia begins the book by asking the real questions and then proceeds to answer them, answers found right in Scripture.
One example: As someone who has grown up in a church where legalism is practically a lifestyle, my eyes were opened further to the harmful effects of "man's shortcut to holiness." The only so-called fruit of legalism is a condemning attitude and a judgmental heart. So whoever is telling you that you have to cover your knees or your shoulders to stand holy before God? They fail to see that the real issue is in the heart. True modesty before God is not how much skin you can cover up, but by how you approach Him in humility.
I could go on, but the bottom line is that most Christians are living every day as if they do not fully believe in what Christ did at Calvary, as if they do not fully accept that their sin and their shame is indeed finished.
If you have not done so already, please get your own copy of Stop Calling Me Beautiful.
A few weeks ago, the name Phylicia Masonheimer was introduced to me through Instagram, and I began following her. Her posts prove to be incredibly insightful to the woman's plight while containing spiritual "meat" to help those women grow in their walk with Christ. Having all that said, it was really quite accidental (providential?) that I happened to stumble across the title of her new, soon-to-be-released book. A quick skim of the chapter titles confirmed that I should read this.
This book discusses Bible study, legalism, anxiety, shame, grief, broken sexuality - all in the light of God's Word. The idea is to find "soul-deep strength in a skin-deep world," and the only way to do that is to ground oneself in the principles God wrote out for us in His Word. Everything Phylicia (because I feel like we're on a first-name basis now) says has a foundation within Scripture.
She claims that Christians "live with rigid rules or uncontrollable addictions, controlling spirits, and untamed tongues. Everything they were before Christ, just with fire insurance." Whoa. How true and how convicting is that?
Here's the thing: [most women] long "to know more about God and have godly community. But nothing she's ever learned about Christianity has penetrated that surface level. She feels ill-equipped to dive deeper. What if her conclusions are wrong? Isn't a pastor supposed to tell her what to think? How does any of it apply to life practically? Where does she start?" Phylicia begins the book by asking the real questions and then proceeds to answer them, answers found right in Scripture.
One example: As someone who has grown up in a church where legalism is practically a lifestyle, my eyes were opened further to the harmful effects of "man's shortcut to holiness." The only so-called fruit of legalism is a condemning attitude and a judgmental heart. So whoever is telling you that you have to cover your knees or your shoulders to stand holy before God? They fail to see that the real issue is in the heart. True modesty before God is not how much skin you can cover up, but by how you approach Him in humility.
I could go on, but the bottom line is that most Christians are living every day as if they do not fully believe in what Christ did at Calvary, as if they do not fully accept that their sin and their shame is indeed finished.
If you have not done so already, please get your own copy of Stop Calling Me Beautiful.