It’s time for another First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books! The posts shared on this linkup typically feature fiction books, but I’m going to shake it up today and share from a nonfiction book: Stop Calling Me Beautiful by Phylicia Masonheimer. This is such an important book for today’s culture, I want everyone to know about it!
“I attended my first Bible study when I was 16 years old. I came into the house clutching my copy of Beth Moore’s Believing God and spent the next sixteen weeknights glued to my pastor’s TV screen.”
Stop Calling Me Beautiful by Phylicia Masonheimer
The Basics
Title: Stop Calling Me Beautiful: Finding Soul-Deep Strength in a Skin-Deep World
Author: Phylicia Masonheimer
Genre: Nonfiction – Christian Faith
Publication Date: February 18, 2020
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
From the Back Cover: “You’re a beautiful daughter of the Most High King.” And it’s true. But it’s not the whole truth. The beauty of being God’s daughter has backstory.
If you’re tired of hearing the watered-down Christian teaching and hungry for a deeper spiritual life—one that gives real answers to your hardest questions—Stop Calling Me Beautiful teaches you how. You will learn:
- how to pursue the truths of who God us and who you are in relationship to Him
- how to study Scripture, and how your view of God determines how you face life’s challenges
- how legalism, shallow theology, and false teaching keep you from living boldly as a woman of the Word
- how to experience God’s presence in painful circumstances
Jesus doesn’t offer a powerless salvation. He makes your brokenness part of His whole redemption story—if you allow Him to. Don’t settle for a feel-good faith. If you want victory over insecurity, fear, shame, and the circumstances you are facing, it’s time to embrace Jesus. All of Him.
My Thoughts
Phylicia is one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram, so I was so excited to read her book! If you’re not following her on Instagram, go do that now – she is such a needed voice in today’s world, teaching on discernment, how to study God’s Word, the importance of community, and more.
In Stop Calling Me Beautiful, Phylicia uses the story of the woman at the well to encourage us to go deeper in our faith and live as overcomers in Christ. Her writing style is convicting, practical, and full of grace, and her passion for her message shines through. She touches on topics like spiritual disciplines, legalism, anxiety, community, and more, showing us how the power of the gospel message and getting to know Jesus can transform every part of our lives. I found myself highlighting multiple lines in every chapter; this is definitely a book I will be re-reading and recommending to my friends. Read this book if you want to go deeper in your faith and in your understanding of theology – if you want to live an abundant life as an overcomer in Christ.
Now it’s your turn! Please share the first line of the book you’re reading in the comments below, and don’t forget to head to Hoarding Books to see what first lines other bloggers are sharing, or to share your own!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Happy Friday! My first line is from “The Fifth Avenue Story Society” by Rachel Hauck:
“Well this was a fine mess.”
My first line is from The Blizzard Bride by Susanne Dietze
“ Forgive my cryptic invitation to lunch, Miss Bracey, but I dared not go into detail on the chance your post was intercepted.”
Happy reading this weekend!
I’m currently reading Finding the Road Home by Tina Radcliffe and the first line is “Police chief Mitchell Rainbolt shook his head as he slid into the front seat of his departmental SUV and tried to remember by he was still in Rebel, Oklahoma, running a department with less staff than the Arrowhead Diner across the street.” I’m really enjoying it so far! I hope you have a nice weekend. 🙂
This week on my blog I shared the first line from More Than We Remember by Christina Suzann Nelson but I’m currently reading The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck so I’ll share the first line from chapter 9: “The only thing worse than donning a rented tux on a Friday night so he could rub elbows with Manhattan’s rich and infamous, was inviting a last-minute date.” Hope you have a great weekend!
I just finished The Fifth Avenue Story Society yesterday! Enjoy! 😃
Happy Saturday! Today I’m sharing the first lines from When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser: “The lady come out of the bookstore — it was all decorated for Halloween, all sizes and colors of pumpkins making faces at me from where I watched across Haywood Street in downtown Asheville.”
https://moments-of-beauty.blogspot.com/2020/02/first-line-fridays-when-i-close-my-eyes.html
This sounds like an amazing read, and such an important topic for our culture today! I’m definitely going to have to look this one up. Have a great rest of your weekend! 🙂