31 May, 2015

Fierce Beauty - Book Review



It's much harder to review a really, really good book. Mediocre? That's easy, just ramble on about the storyline, and why it was good and why it wasn't. But when it comes to reviewing one of those books that is just so good, I stall. How can I put all that goodness into words? It's impossible. But I'm going to try, because Fierce Beauty is one of those books.


Fierce Beauty is all about being a warrior for the King. It's about what true beauty really is. Kim points us to the fact that God does call us to be beautiful, but not in the way we've come to understand beauty. He wants us to be beautiful on the inside where it really matters. He wants us to be fierce beauties, to fight against the lies that define who we are, and against the hopelessness that encircles our world. As Kim Meeder says, “You were not created to be a princess of entitlement but a warrior fighting to bring love and hope to the world.”

In Fierce Beauty, Kim shares many true stories from her life, each rather extraordinary. Then she expertly draws a lesson from each one, and points us back to our King and what we're really made to live for. She summarizes the book in the introduction: “The first section is a challenge to evaluate what you're honestly living for. The second section is an invitation to discover the God who offers you His eternal love, hope, and purpose. The third is an opportunity to see how you can answer God's call and begin living the life you were uniquely created for.” In each of these sections, she covers many topics like forgiveness, surrender, true beauty, trials, using our gifts even if they're small, and never quitting, ever.

This idea that being a daughter of the king meant being a warrior, a soldier fighting to the last to bring the good news about God's hope, love, and peace, really resonated with me. I'd never taken on the idea that being a daughter of God means I'm a little pink princess. Of course, it's true – daughters of kings are princesses, but it can sort of lead to an image that we sit here on earth fondling our tiaras while we wait for the King to take us to heaven. But that part isn't true; we all have work to do here, and that's where being a warrior makes more sense. We've got to be active in the cause. This book was also encouraging to me in that it said again, even if we don't have big gifts, God can still use our small things, even seemingly unimportant things like a smile. (There's a really good story in the book about the power of a smile, but I won't spoil it for you. :)

Fierce Beauty is a little different from Kim's other books (two of which are reviewed here and here), mostly because of the topic, but in my opinion it's the best. She writes descriptively and well; it was never boring, uninteresting or preachy. Instead, it's encouraging, inspiring, and motivating, and I recommend it to everyone, especially young ladies who, like me, are wondering how and where they can effectively live life and share hope.




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