In the midst of our busy, stressful lives and the increasingly chaotic state of our world, we can lose sight of–or never really discover–our personal significance. We desire meaning and fulfillment but battle the stress and loneliness that often push their way into the forefront of life. What makes you significant as an individual? As a woman? As a wife, mother, daughter, or friend? No matter … friend? No matter what your age or current course in life, you can come to know your remarkable significance and eternal value. As you thirst for relief from stress and loneliness, you can build a foundation on what is divine and eternal, while also immensely practical for this life on earth. The truths God says about you as a woman are powerful and glorious!
In Significant, you will discover that you are the steward of your own self and will be challenged to embrace every season of your life. What is God calling you to do through the power of His Holy Spirit? The days of cowering in fear, hiding behind insignificance, and wallowing in lack of opportunities are over. God is blowing doors wide open for women as never before. It is time for women to march forward in grand anticipation of all that God can do through even one woman submitted to the call of God and filled with His Spirit.
So often we look for identity, purpose, and comfort in all the wrong places. We have sought lasting meaning from temporary fixes, immature voices, and cultural Band-Aids. This book is a call to women who possess a relentless desire to discover their unique purpose, to embrace their true identity, and to be comforted by irrepressible hope.
Significant reminds women from every generation that identity, confidence, and purpose come from who God is–not from how we feel at any given time. How wonderful to know that we are allowed to be both God’s masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time!
You never know your true self until you know yourself in God.
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Significant
Significant is a nonfiction book I found very interesting. The author talks to you in everyday language. I did not feel like I was being preached to like some books I have read. I love how the book was written for women. I really could relate to the chapter called Overwhelmed. Life can be overwhelming a lot. I loved the advice the author how on that.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from Celebrate Lit. This book review is my own opinion.
My Thoughts on Significant:
I love a good encouraging book. Sometimes you just need another woman in your corner saying I see you and I hear you and let me walk with you. That is what this book is. It’s not someone preaching to you how you should change this or that to improve these things.
Sometimes in life, we lose ourselves in the busyness. Life just gets too much and too hard. We have so many roles as women that we’re trying to do and it’s hard to remember that we’re really doing something of value all the time.
Last year I was talking to a friend. We both are moms of many but in different seasons of life as hers are growing and getting older with no babies in the house anymore. The common theme though was that we don’t know who we are anymore. Our whole identity is wrapped up in us as a wife or us as a mother but not in who we ourselves are. What makes us tick? What do we truly enjoy on our own?
I’m not saying that having your identity as a wife and mother is bad, but I am saying that we can lose ourselves along the way and it’s okay to have things that we enjoy and still knowing who we are while devoting our lives to our family. It’s not an either/or type scenario.
I highly recommend this book to all women who may be feeling a little lonely and lost in their mothering. It’s going to be great for you.
I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.
I know that I have struggled all my life to feel important and have a purpose. Growing up I constantly heard how stupid I was and that I would never amount to anything. I now know those were words that the enemy wanted me to believe. If I’m walking around in self doubt then the enemy knows he can continue to control my life. This book has refreshed me in ways I can’t describe. It is nice to read, “Discover why you were born and go for it with every ounce of creativity and passion in your soul!” That sentence gets me excited and empowers me to forget about those words spoken in my life that squashed my dreams.
One of the thinks I liked about the book was when the author identified how more comforting it is to talk to someone who has gone through the struggles you have. People say they understand how you are feeling, but a person who has walked in your shoes can better relate to you. If you have been abused, someone who has experienced the same thing will be able to guide you with compassion and understanding. The simple fact is we are all significant. God made us in His own image to love each other, show mercy and lead people to Him.
Another chapter I liked talked about being alone. I am alone a lot and sometimes find myself lost. The book encourages us to ” use those uninterrupted hours to pray to the Father.” It is an opportunity to draw closer to Him and feel His presence in our lives. Being a woman is special and we need to embrace that. The last pages of the book to me were very powerful. I will end my review with this from the book.” Live each day knowing that God’s plan for your life is always surrounded by His abundance and undeniable peace.”
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Earlier this year, I read Carol McLeod’s “Storm Proof”, and it truly spoke to my heart and stood out as one of the best nonfiction books I read in 2019. Now, however, I think that “Significant” might be eclipsing it for the top spot! With any work of Christian nonfiction, there is a requisite balance of Scripture, information, and detail, and pulling it all together is not an easy task. Furthermore, engaging the reader and making them want to keep turning pages adds to the challenge. What is the best way to speak to and embolden women in today’s self-loving and judgmental culture?
Simply put, “Significant” encourages and builds women up in the Lord. McLeod addresses the contemporary issues that weigh us, as women, down, and she does so through friendly, uplifting, conversational dialogue. As we sift through our identity and purpose, we discover the glorious hope given to us. We can never understand who we are until we realize Whose we are. In God’s own Word, the Bible, He tells us that we are created in His image. McLeod points out two aspects of the Creation that I had not previously considered: that God referred to everything He created as good, but mankind he called “very good”, and that Eve listened to the serpent’s statement that she would become like God if she ate the forbidden fruit when in fact she was already like God! If we realize that we are the pinnacle of God’s creation, and that He has had plans for each of our lives since eternity past, even giving up His own Son Jesus that we might live, how can we feel anything but significant?
Another truth that stood out to me while reading this book is that because God loves us and will always do what is good for us and what will bring Him glory (Romans 8:28), we can trust that we are here, when and where we are, for a purpose. “We were created by God to reveal His heart and to do His good works during this singular moment in all of recorded time.” So we are living today and not at any time in the past because God needs us here, today. McLeod reminds us that “to live a truly significant life, we must simply leave a positive impact on those who surround us.” In five affirming sections, each beginning with the phrase “You Are…”, she demonstrates what God’s Word says about us, addressing the weary, the anxious, the hopeless. As a woman who has dealt with infertility and miscarriage, depression, and cancer, McLeod herself speaks from a place of experience. She uses Hebrew words throughout her book to demonstrate both the strength of meaning and impact of certain Scriptures, which I loved, and concludes each chapter with a quotation, most of which are from women.
For any woman struggling to figure out who she is, why she is, and where she belongs, I highly recommend “Significant.” Let it be a guide that points you to the Bible and to the Lord God Himself. After all, “Your life, dear friend, will only be as significant as your choice to lay down your life and tell Jesus’s story. The overriding, driving purpose of your life is to reveal Jesus to others!”
I received a complimentary copy of this book through CelebrateLit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.
Author Carol McLeod has written a captivating book for women. It is a Christian Living book but could be used as a devotional. I found it to be thought provoking, inspiring, and something that would be beneficial to any woman.
Using scripture, biblical principles, and examples author McLeod speaks to women about their importance and self-worth. She states “I want all women to know their eternal value, to understand their God-given purpose, and to walk in their sacred calling in life.” Don’t all Christian women yearn for this?
The author has an engaging style of writing. In her opening she said as she penned her book she “pictured you, the reader, across the kitchen table from me.” That is exactly how it reads, like a conversation with a helpful friend sharing good counsel.
The opulent words drew me in and made me want to continue reading. However this is a book that needs to be read a chapter at a time and ruminated. There are twenty-eight chapters dealing with various topics. The chapters are short but powerful. I loved the inspirational quote at the end of the chapter from people I recognized, such as Max Lucado, Barbara Bush, and Beth Moore.
This is a heavy hitting book that has the potential to change lives. While some of the information is known it is presented in a delightfully new fashion. It would be a wonderful book club selection and great gift.
I highly recommend this book. Any woman would certainly glean a bit of encouragement and inspiration. I received a copy from Celebrate Lit but these are my honest words.