Girl Meets Change

Kristen Strong

Description

Whether chosen and celebrated--like going off to college or welcoming your first baby--or unexpected and anxiety-inducing--like losing a job or grappling with a broken trust--all change brings stress. Kristen Strong knows about change--especially the kind you didn't choose or expect. What she's fought hard to learn over the years is that change is not something to be feared but something to be received as a blessing from a God who, more often than not, works through change, not in spite of it. Strong has learned to see change not as a grievance but as a grace.In this hope-filled book, she shows women how when we follow God's will, we receive blessings of contentment, purpose, and renewed strength. She encourages women to see change not as the end of their story but as the scenery for this part of life's journey. And she offers practical advice for coping with change in every part of life. Anyone who has struggled to adjust to life's transitions will welcome this warm and personal perspective.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 08 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441248510
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

© 2015 by Kristen Strong
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www . revellbooks .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 978-1-4412-4851-0
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007
Scripture quotations labeled The Message are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV 1984 are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published in association with William K. Jensen Literary Agency, 119 Bampton Court, Eugene, Oregon 97404.
“Kristen Strong is an uncommon gem whose gospel-brilliant writing makes Jesus shine.”
— Ann Voskamp , New York Times bestselling author
“Change is inevitable, but thriving through it is optional. That’s why every woman needs this inspiring and insightful message from Kristen Strong. She’s a true encourager and helpful guide who will lead you toward hope and a future one word at a time.”
— Holley Gerth , Wall Street Journal bestselling author
“I was knee-deep in change when I picked up Kristen’s book. Our family was facing a crossroads of jobs, relocation, new schools, new friends and all the feelings that go with that level of change. So when I got to chapter 3 and Kristen’s experienced, tender permission to ‘Don’t Just Get Over It,’ I may have exhaled my tears and inhaled the rest of the book. Kristen doesn’t minimize the pain, fear, or worry that comes with change. Like the dear friend that she is, she simply sits in the midst of it with you until you are ready to see the good that God had always planned for you. This book is not just one more way to get over life’s hardest changes but a tender companion to help you get through them.”
— Lisa - Jo Baker , author of Surprised by Motherhood and community manager for (in)courage
“Kristen Strong is a kindred companion for anyone navigating life’s changes. In Girl Meets Change , Kristen offers a saturated-with-grace conversation about walking through the seasons of life that are disruptive and disorienting. Her understanding voice and hope-filled truths take us by the hand and help us find our way.”
— Leeana Tankersley , author of Breathing Room
“In her book Girl Meets Change , Kristen Strong wisely suggests that perhaps the darkness that often accompanies change doesn’t mean we’ve been abandoned but means we’re being covered by God’s hand. I had never thought of change that way before, and since reading her kind words, my soul has been deeply encouraged in the midst of my own life transitions. The gift Kristen gives is that she takes what we already know in our heads about change and delivers it gently to our hearts.”
— Emily P . Freeman , Wall Street Journal bestselling author
To David, my abundantly good man who first showed me all change is a grace.
To James, Ethan, and Faith, three effervescent joys who forever changed my life for the better.
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Endorsements 5
Dedication 7
Foreword by Myquillyn Smith, The Nester 11
Introduction 13
Part 1: Acknowledge: The Change and the Loss 21
1. Change: Up Close and Personal 23
2. The Way Change Moves 34
3. Don’t Just Get Over It 47
Part 2: Accept: God Is Believable 67
4. Go Ahead and Give Up 69
5. Accepting Limitations 89
6. Light in a Windowless Room 108
7. Handing Over the Hand-Wringing 129
Part 3: Adapt: A Heart That Thrives 149
8. Because We All Need Friends in Low Places 151
9. Asking the Right Questions to Become Fit for the Right Purpose 171
10. Settling in the Home Where Your Heart Thrives 188
Conclusion: Changed by Change 201
Appendix: Bible Truths That Never Change 207
Acknowledgments 211
Notes 215
About the Author 219
Back Ads 220
Back Cover 222
Foreword
L et’s face it: high school and college are teaching us all wrong.
I’ve been an official adult for twenty years now, and there are three skills I use daily that I was never taught in school: budgeting, saying no with grace, and knowing how to approach change. I can’t remember the last time I diagrammed a sentence or applied the Pythagorean theorem. Can you?
Luckily, there are plenty of books and courses on budgeting, and there are teachers on the topic of doing things with intention. But where are all the books and conferences and hashtags about one of the most inevitable things in life that we all face daily: change?
Change isn’t something that happens to us that we have to face with tears, anxiety, and binge-watching HGTV. Change is something God uses to get our attention. Our reactions to change shape our life. And we are grown–ups—we can actually choose how we approach, live through, and respond to change.
When it comes to change, it’s possible to thrive, even if that change looks like the exact opposite of the path you’d prefer. That’s the message I needed to hear twenty years ago, that’s what I need to remember today—and that’s exactly what this book is about.
Kristen has been there, done that and is ready to shine the light on the murky future and imperfect, unknown tomorrow that change often brings with it.
If you need to be encouraged that change isn’t synonymous with loss but that it brings along its own gifts, this book might be the best money you’ve ever spent.
If you need a change mentor, you’ve found her.
If you are wondering what the Pythagorean theorem is, I think it has to do with math.
Myquillyn Smith moved fourteen times—most involved the ugly cryauthor of The Nesting Place
Introduction
I f you’ve ever found change to more resemble foe than friend, this book was written for you.
If you’ve ever resented change for all the craziness it brought into your life, this book was written just for you.
If you’ve ever believed change pushed your contentment just outside of reach and stole your joy, I want to hug you hard because sister , I get it . If you’re like me, unwelcome change smacks right into you, demanding your full attention like a relentless preschooler who hasn’t learned the word no .
When the change is something I’ve longed for and hoped to see, then I’m all for it. When change comes that’s my own idea, then by all means, bring it. But the many forms of change that are not my idea? I don’t think so.
I’ve lived life believing that if it would just stop changing—and asking me to change with it—I would be more content. I’ve tried to run away from change, or at least ignore it. But change doesn’t go away. It sticks close by, begging us to turn our heads and give it our all-consuming attention. I’ve done that too, although I’ve not given it favorable attention. I’ve hollered and waved my arms at it as I’ve pleaded with God to take it away.
Until one day, beat-up and bloodied from fighting it, I gave up. I gave up the fight and felt the Lord ask me to change my prayer from God , remove this change from my life to God , remove my attitude toward change .
That was my simple goal in the beginning. If change isn’t going away, then I needed my attitude about change to go away. Not only did God faithfully remove my inability to acknowledge and accept change, but he began to show me how to adapt to it.
Not only adapt to it, but thrive because of it rather than in spite of it.
The answers that came weren’t neat and tidy but hard fought. I wish I could say I’m a quick learner of new things, but some tests I retake because I don’t pass the first time. I often have to relearn the same lesson more than once, and that takes time. But with a new goal tucked inside my heart—a goal to thrive amidst change—I knew the road that was best for me to travel. And that road was paved with brick after brick fashioned with God’s faithful promise of “ You can trust me, girl, because I know what I’ m doing. ”
I believed him, and with time, I believed the change he allowed in my life was for me, not against me.
Sister, maybe in the furthest corners of your heart you hope there is a way for you to thrive amidst change too. But that idea is a little too fairy tale because the reality you stand in today seems too far gone, too hope-gone. Or maybe you’ve done your best to avoid change, and in spite of making all the safe choices, change finds you anyway.
That’s how it all began for me as an eighteen-year-old high school senior.
The gravel poked under my bare feet as I sprinted toward the mailbox at the end of our curved driveway. Reaching it, I opened the creaky brown metal lid as my eyes instantly grasped what I hoped to find: an envelope from the University of Arkansas’s music department. I had already been accepted to the university, but this letter would tell me if I won the scholarship I needed to be able to attend there.
Grabbing the cream-colored envelope, I pulled it out of the mailbox and tore it open. Holding