From Good to Grace , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Christine Hoover

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102 pages

English

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Many women feel as if they do not do enough and are not enough. They're always trying hard to be good: a good friend, mom, wife, Christian, employee, or ministry leader, hoping for that "atta-girl" from God. With compelling illustrations from her own life, Christine Hoover leads readers to the understanding that they're living by a lesser gospel, the gospel of goodness, one without Christ's grace. Relying on Scripture, they can start asking, "What does God want for me?" before asking, "What does God want from me?" Women will breathe a sigh of relief at this powerful message of freedom and hope. Rather than serving God out of obligation or duty, they'll be compelled to love and serve God with great joy.

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Christianity

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	24 février 2015
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781441222404
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0432€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2015 by Christine Hoover
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-2240-4
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“ From Good to Grace is a song of freedom for the world-weary woman; for the believer who wonders if she’ll ever feel good enough; for the single person, wife, or mother who longs to matter. It is the promise of an extraordinary life in an upside-down kingdom, a must-read in an age when the spirit of the church thirsts to be revived.”
— Emily T . Wierenga , award-winning journalist, artist, and author of five books including the memoir Atlas Girl : Finding Home in the Last Place I Thought to Look
“Christine helps untangle the knots we can make of the gospel. With humble transparency and gifted clarity, she works out the kinks in our understanding of grace. This book is full of wisdom, and as you read it, your soul will breathe a deep sigh of relief. Jesus has accomplished for us far more than we often realize, and the results of his victory are liberating!”
— Kelly Matte , wife of Gregg Matte, pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church and founder of Breakaway Ministries at T exas A&M University
“Christine Hoover has a surprise for you. The surprise isn’t something that can be bought, traded, or stolen. The surprise Christine offers comes from deep inside her heart as she lets her personal encounter with Jesus roll onto the printed pages of her book. Christine is passionate about encouraging women to live and lead from grace. Her new book, From Good to Grace , is a perfect title for the adventure of faith you will embrace through its pages. Her own words “I’m ordinary” help us as women relax and receive fresh insight that takes us from the Gospel of Goodness to the Gospel of Grace! Enjoy the journey. You will be blessed.”
— Pat Layton , author of Life Unstuck : Peace with Your Past , Purpose for Your Present , Passion for Your Future
“Christine has written the book that I believe women in our generation are really dying to read. In a practical and honest way, she exposes the truth and lets God’s grace do its very good work in our lives. This book has been a huge tool to help me stop shouting with a raspy and tired voice, ‘I’m good! I’m good, aren’t I?’ and start looking to my very good God who covers me in his love.”
— Jess Connolly , entrepreneur and author
To my boys, Will, Reese, and Luke, because my greatest desire is for each of you to receive and enjoy God’s grace and to respond to him with your lives
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 2
Copyright Page 3
Endorsements 4
Dedication 5
Part One: Good, Bye 9
1. Obsessed with Goodness 11
2. The Most Important Things 29
3. You Can’t Go Back Again 43
Part Two: From Good to Grace: Receiving 67
4. Receiving His Love 69
5. Receiving His Help 89
6. Receiving His Freedom 111
Part Three: From Good to Grace: Responding 131
7. Love Shows 133
8. Giving Grace 153
9. We Hope 177

Conclusion: We Will Live in Grace 199
Acknowledgments 205
Discussion Guide 207
Notes 215
An Invitation 219
About the Author 221
Back Ads 222
Back Cover 224

1 Obsessed with Goodness
A S I PULLED JEANS in various sizes from the dryer, sorting and stacking them into three neat piles representative of each of my boys, I estimated how many times I’d done this exact task in the previous twelve months. Perhaps 416 times? The number seemed low, quite honestly, because I felt in that moment as if I’d spent my entire life reaching into the dryer for one more pair of pants with holes in the knees or one more pair of superhero underwear. And what did it say about me that the most exciting purchase of the year, a purchase I effused over to anyone who would listen for months afterward, was a large-capacity washer and dryer? By my gleeful estimation, that purchase had cut my time standing at the washer and dryer by at least half.
My laundry calculations led to more: the number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made, meals slaved over, noses wiped, toilets cleaned, grocery stores conquered, and birthday parties planned.
Final tally: a lot.
I had been busy in the past year, not just with our boys and their myriad of needs and activities but also with ministry activities outside our home. As a pastor’s wife, my opportunities had been plentiful for discipleship, counseling, leading, hosting, and planning, and I’d happily taken advantage of each one.
Final tally: a lot, a lot.
In that moment, standing at the washer and dryer, I wasn’t grumbling to myself, as if the gifts of family and ministry weren’t a blessing, or as if these opportunities were just tasks to me. I simply had a salient moment where I sat with the whole of my life in front of me and questioned if all those numbers and tasks and activities and relationships added up to my life counting for something. Was God using my life to impact others in meaningful ways?
What I really found myself asking was this: Am I a good Christian, wife, mom, and minister? Because that’s what I want more than anything else—for my life to mean something in the kingdom of God, to be good at these things.
But I’m just making sandwiches.
I’m just hosting one of our church’s small groups.
I’m just writing blog posts as a means of trying to make sense of what God is teaching me.
I’m just sewing a button on a shirt for my husband and saying a prayer for him as he stands to preach on Sunday mornings.
I’m just listening to a friend pour out her heart and trying to say the words that will help.
I don’t necessarily feel that I’m making a huge dent in this world in the name of Jesus. I don’t feel particularly good at anything, except maybe making to-do lists and getting overwhelmed at the number of demands on that list.
And although I don’t feel particularly good at anything, I want desperately to be good at the things that matter most to me.
I want to be a good wife to a husband who is infinitely good to me. When he has a need, I want to meet it kindly and graciously. When we disagree, I want to respond with gentleness and patience. I want him to enjoy our marriage and be glad he chose me for life. Too often, however, I’m indifferent, distracted, or offering him only my leftover energy and attention. I want to be a good wife—but what is a good wife, exactly, and how do I become one?
I also very much want to be a good mom. And if there is one thing I want to do well with my kids, it’s rearing them to know God’s voice and love his ways. But if there is one area I feel most inadequate in, it’s rearing my children to know God’s voice and love his ways, and every other little thing I’m trying to teach them under this larger umbrella, whether it’s tying shoes or polite social interactions or how to share with one another.
I panic when I think of my children embarking into adulthood, typically because I imagine that they’ll have to call me to come tie their shoes or they’ll freeze to death because I’m not there to remind them to wear pants and coats in the winter. Or they’ll spend every waking minute in front of a video game console because I’m not there to monitor their activities. Will they ever walk with the Lord? Will they become leaders in their homes and influencers in their communities? Will they love people well?
And then I remember that a man isn’t built in a day, and to keep my eyes in the moment, to take small steps, to do the next thing. But even for the moment, I often feel powerless and overcome by the mountain in front of me. I feel like I should be better at this than I am. Or maybe it’s that I feel like all these things should come easily to a “good mother,” so I must not be one. I want to be one. However, what exactly is a good mother and how do I become one?
I also very much want to be a good friend to the women I spend my life with. I want to have an abundance of energy and time and love to pour out on them. I want to remember their birthdays and give them delightful gifts and play fun games together while laughing boisterously late into the night. I want to let them see me cry and tell them when I need help rather than keeping it to myself because I don’t want to be a burden. And I very much want them to feel free to cry on me and call on me. But the reality of it is that I am often in bed before nine, and I sometimes remember to get a birthday card, and I forget to follow up with friends on important conversations. I can be difficult to know. And I hurt people sometimes; I know I do. Despite it all, I want to be a good friend, but what exactly is a good friend and how do I become one?
I am so impatient with myself, so hard on myself, so quick to throw my hands up in frustration or surrender. I find myself thinking that God feels that same way toward me: impatient that I’m not further along, frustrated that I fail, irritated by my faithless worrying. Those thoughts reveal that I often perceive God as huffing at my weaknesses, wishing I could get it together already, arms crossed and foot tapping.
And this is, in fact, where I feel the most weight in my heart because, most of all, I want to please God. I want to be a good Christian. I desperately want to be good at the things that matter most to him. I want to be good at what he wants me to be good at and give myself to the things he wants me to give myself to. And just what is that exactly?
I Thought Life Would Be Glamorous
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