Grace for the Good Girl

 

 i am honored and tickled

& humbled and excited

to share with you

Grace for the Good Girl

by my friend

Emily Freeman.

i climbed in bed tonight with the manuscript that i received back in the spring.

we were supposed to sorta pace ourselves

& read a few chapters a time,

then follow up by

 answering a few questions at the end of each chapter on a specified date.

well

i could hardly put this book down.

tonight as i peruse the manuscript again

it brings a smile to my face to find it

 filled, line after line highlighted in neon yellow.

pages are dog eared

&

starred with my favorite blue pen.

i have written notes in the margin 

&  things like "AMEN SISTER!" beside some of my favorite parts.

i began prayerfully and thoughtfully "re-highlighting" my most favorite quotes

or pages in preparation for the release this month.

only to find that i had used orange post it note tabs

on 24 out of the first 36 pages.

that is how much i LOVE this book!

emily personifies the qualities i highly admire in a person.

it's easy for those of us who personally author a blog

to put our best face on for you to read. 

we tidy up our kitchen before we take the picture

& post the images where our family looks its best...as we would for any company that

we invite to our real life brick & mortar home.

but emily balances that perfectly.

emily is the real deal, my friends.

emily is fragile and yet brave at the same time.

emily is an artist whose words create a safe haven for a tender heart.

In Grace for the Good Girl

emily is that same, real deal, sweet girl

who brings a daily dose of hope through the words in her own blog.

as i often do when reading fiction,

i can 'hear' the characters in my mind.

emily writes in such a way that i truly feel as if we are sitting together

chatting and laughing, feet curled up underneath, holding a coffee cup with two hands,

hair falling in her face, sweet southern drawl and all.

she does that to me

& i think she'll do that to you too.

you'll feel like she knows you.

that she may even know your own 'good girl'.

in Grace for the Good Girl

emily will

 encourage you to lay down your lofty,

often times unattainable,

high expectations you've set before yourself,

to re-set your mind

& fully lean on His love.

and then she'll tell you it's ok.

that there is peace & healing in the "being found".

that truly living in His spirit is freedom.

that you can lay down that mask.

you can walk out , maybe unmasked for the first time, ever,

and truly live.

she'll tell you that your new life is in Christ-a new life, living outside of yourself,

outside of whatever good girl you must present to the world around you,

that He is "unoverwhelmable" 

that He can handle whatever you feel you must handle

that He has a limitless supply of grace

& love

& peace

for you.

that you are dearly loved

& that you can rest.

you can lay down that mask 

once & for all

and truly belong to Him.

& be 

be all He created you to be.

i'll introduce my own 'good girl' next post

& how i called her out 

thanks to emily's tender, sweet words.

oh & 

 i have a copy to give away this week too

so stay tuned for that!

Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, 

a division of Baker Publishing Group.

& ps.... emily
you know it didn't go unnoticed by me
& it makes me love you even more
that your name on the front cover
is in all lower case!
atta girl!!