“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”
2 Corinthians 11:30, ESV
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I enjoy conversation but am terrible at making small talk. Put me in a room of people and I freeze. I would rather have a meaningful conversation with one person than have conversations with many whom I will soon forget.
Candid Conversations by Heather Hart, and other contributing authors, is just like having one meaningful conversation after another. Over twenty different women have come together to share their stories – aka – struggles.
We tend to look around at others and see “perfection”. Anything messy is hidden from our sight. Social media, and the sharing of photos, has made it easier than any other time to put our best foot forward. But in so doing, we are not helping one another at all.
Our struggle to cover up our struggles is greater than our struggles.
In the introduction, Heather Hart, sets our thinking on the right path:
“Can I just say that if you are searching for a Christian woman that has it all together, you are either looking for someone who doesn’t exist or a liar. That is why we need Jesus. Jesus came to save us because He knew we could never make it on our own. He didn’t come to give us a leg up ”” a boost in the right direction ”” so we could take it from there. He came to save us from our sins.”
We should all be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Jesus came to save us from our sin, our struggles, and from ourselves. There is no point in pretension for there is no growth to be gained.
It is in transparency, our admission that we find life hard, we will find encouragement and support from others. The amazing aspect of this is we will also be able to extend the same encouragement and support to others.
Candid Conversations is a collection of stories, testimonies, of real life women with real life struggles. These real life women are not perfect but in the midst of imperfection, they are pursuing Jesus with all their heart and might. They are not content to stay stuck in the struggle, but long for transformation and to be all they were meant to be.
Each story is different as each woman is unique. I found the book wonderfully encouraging and hard to put down. At the end of each story, the author included Scriptures and questions for reflection which she titled, “Candid Conversation Starters”. This book would be excellent not only for personal journaling but also for heartfelt small group discussions.
The struggles shared include judgments, disabilities, people pleasing, forgiveness,confidence, waiting, postpartum depression, to name just a few. Each story is compelling, making this book most difficult to put down. In fact, I didn’t – I read all of it in one sitting on a quiet Saturday morning with several cups of coffee.
**I received a complimentary PDF of the book to read for this review. Candid Conversations is one beautiful and candid conversation after another. You will truly find stories of “real women, real life and real faith” in each one.
Today I am joining … Trekking Thru the Week and Unite and #RaRaLInkup and Grace Full Tuesday and Tell His Story and Booknificent Thursday .
Joanne, thank you for your honest and compelling review. Sounds like a wonderful book. I agree with you that social media has made it easy to show only the “edited” version of our lives. It makes us view others’ “perfect” lives and wonder what is the matter with us. In reality, everyone’s life has some messy parts, that we would rather sweep under the rug!
Laurie, the book made me truly realize how refreshing it is when we clean out under the rug 🙂
Looks like a lovely read, Joanne. Sharing this on Pinterest and Twitter.
It was a very sweet and encouraging read. The shares are appreciated!
Well, Joanne, if we ever meet, I hope it’s not in a crowded room, because I’m terrible at small talk as well. I love your description of the book as a series of meaningful conversations. Thanks for sharing this resource!
Michele, no matter where we were to meet, I look forward to meaningful conversation with you ~~
Joanne, thank you so much for reading and sharing Candid Conversations! I’m so glad you were touched by it!
Joanne, thank you so much for this review! I live in a country where we don’t even have a word for “small talk” since that is not a part of our culture! So I think I would gain a lot from reading this. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this over at GraceFull Tuesday.
I am so glad I shared the book!
This sounds like my kind of book. Thanks for sharing about it, Joanne. I’m like you: I’d much rather sit in a corner one on one having a deep conversation than have to make small talk with a whole room of people. 🙂
It’s so good to know there are others like me 🙂 But the book truly is lovely.
I am glad to read about another resource for women. One of my favorite things is candid conversations with other women. There is so much freedom in hearing other woman share her heart.
Yes, I agree, Mary. Probably why I enjoyed this book so much.