Book Review: Your Beautiful Purpose

One last book review to be caught up by the end of the year. Woohoo! The book I have to share with you today is a bit different from my ‘cheesy Christian fiction’ genre of choice. This book, Your Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larson, is nonfiction. It’s a Christian book that focuses on helping women find their purpose in life through God. It’s a self-help book of sorts, but is very much based in the Bible so knowing this, let’s dive in! I read this book as part of the book review program offered by Bethany House Publishers.

Here’s a description of the book from the publisher:

Let God Breathe a Fresh Purpose Into Your Soul

We so want each day to matter–to serve God in big and small ways. But how, especially when everyday responsibilities, work, fears, and other obstacles get in the way?

Like a trusted friend, Susie Larson shares practical, scriptural ways to overcome whatever keeps us from living fully in God’s will. Susie will help you learn to:

• Discern the best use of your time and gifts
• Confidently pursue God’s unique desires for you
• Stretch your faith and deepen your impact

Respond today to that nudge in your spirit–that desire to use your gifts and passions more fully in God’s work. Lay down lesser commitments and lay hold of God’s beautiful purpose for your life.

As usual, my five point review:

• First of all, as I already mentioned, this book is based on the Bible. Most chapters center on one or more passages of scripture to illustrate the chapter’s theme [i.e. waiting on God, stay your course, follow His lead, etc.]. For the most part, I agreed with how the author used the passages, but what I really appreciated was that the study questions at the end of the chapter encouraged readers to read and study the passage on their own again. This way, we don’t have to just take the author’s word for what the Bible is saying–but we can read it and let God speak to us about it. These sort of books don’t always encourage that, so I really liked that about the book.
• I found the tone used in the writing of this book to be both encouraging and challenging. Susie is also a radio talk show host and national speaker, and it seems that she writes in a fairly conversational style. She isn’t an author who would write about things she isn’t comfortable saying out loud to her friends or to stranger. I like that!
• I liked that this book included so many true, inspirational stories of women who have let God transform their lives in many different ways and in different circumstances. Susie also shared many examples from her own life, which I loved.
• This book is hard to read because you can’t just skim through it. It’s challenging and convicting. I had to put it down and come back to it time and time again, hence this late review. But it is good. It is powerful and hopeful. With a forward by Ann Voskamp, I had no doubt it would be!
• This book has a companion DVD series, making it perfect for small group discussion. Personally my biggest complaint with the book is that I felt I was missing something by not reading it in a group [which is encouraged at the beginning by the author]. I’d recommend this book more for group study, instead of individual study but either way it is a good read!

What are you reading lately?

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers. However, I was not required to write a positive review. The thoughts expressed above are entirely my own. Thanks to Bethany House for the chance to read this great book!