Do You Believe You're Amazing?

I am a lover of many things. Nature, photography, writing, running, people, my husband and my three beautiful daughters.

I am also a lover of books.

I can usually start and finish a book in no time flat.

Other times, life gets in the way and those books are left sitting on my night stand.

This book fell victim to life getting in the way.

It didn't make reading it any less enjoyable though. As I read, I felt like I was really sitting across the table from Holley in a coffee shop.

As the rich aromas of competing coffees mingled in the air, Holley talked to my heart.

Words every woman needs to hear. Words every woman needs spoken to her in love.

The truth is in the title, You're Already Amazing, but it's so easy to forget and so hard to remember when life gets in the way. Just when I thought reading this book and the deadline I had couldn't have come at a worse time, it was only when I finished that I realized it came at the right time.

Life has a way of getting in the way of well . . .  life. When that happens the reflection in the mirror tells you that you are failing, you could do better, you are not enough, everyone else can avoid the blows so why can't you?

Those lies! And that is exactly what they are . . . lies. They have a way of eating you from the inside out. They have a way of taking up residence and making you believe that they are truth.

In her book, Holley gently but firmly gives you the correct truth. And that truth is that we are all amazing. We were perfectly made and when we start trying to change or avoid who God made us to be, we are tampering with a well designed instrument that was created to sing a different note so together, a beautiful symphony of sound would result.

Our reactions, our emotions can sometimes take us by surprise or cause us to feel ashamed. It is no secret that I have had my share of emotions these last ten months. Deep grief, intense anger, unbelievable sadness, and that empty feeling. I didn't plan to bury two of my daughters. I didn't want it so when these surprising emotions take over, they are unwelcomed guests. They make me believe that I have become someone I was never intended to become.

Holley negated all the way those emotions have lied to me by these words, "We have the capacity to reflect him through our emotions because we're made in his image - every part of us. Those tears you cry. That smile you give. The anger you express at injustice."

She tells us that it is okay. That we are okay. She sits with us and works through our doubts and our fears and then shows us that how we were made, who we are and who we are becoming is okay. It is right. It is not a mistake.

~ I'm slowly learning it's not about being perfect but about being perfectly loved ~ 

Holley Gerth in You're Already Amazing. 

Stephanie