Lioness Arising - Lisa Bevere - Book Review

I am lion, hear me roar.   That's what I wanted to title this, but I was afraid people looking for a book review wouldn't be able to locate this.

WOW!  A wonderful friend gave me this book and I don't believe they had any idea how much it would speak into my heart at this point in my life.  It's right on with what God has been speaking to me already.  I read - a lot - and most books, although I enjoy them - don't meet me where I am in life at that moment.  This one has.

You know this means quotes people - right??  I think I have half the 60 pages I've read already highlighted!  However, before I share some quotes that have touched my heart - let me say this one thing.  This book is giving me freedom.  Freedom to be who I am and stop thinking in my head I'm too - I don't know - too bold.  So much of my life, I've felt a Christian woman should be meek and mild, barefoot and pregnant, quiet and reserved.  Nothing like who I am (although I have been both barefoot and pregnant before) - and it has always made me feel as if I am somehow less of a Christian woman because of it.  I don't know where I got these ideas from - but my boldness has always left me feeling I am not what people think a Christian woman should be.  Maybe it has come from the many times people make me feel as if I should be silent and not share my mind, my opinions, my feelings - so publicly.  Anyway - that doesn't matter.  What matters is in reading this book, I am finding myself.

Onto the quotes - and there will be many!

Right at the start:  "To all of my lioness sisters who feel something wild, fierce, and beautiful stirring within them.  You are stunning.  You were born for this moment.  Don't be afraid of your strength, questions, or insights.  Awaken, rise up, and dare to realize all you were created to be."

"I was a cancer survivor and a stay-at-home mom with a dysfunctional past...Was it possible that God thought I was destined for more?  Was something powerful and slightly fierce waiting to be awakened inside me?  Maybe I'd wear courage well."

"I was tired of being thought of as weak and whiny...Tired of wearying my mind with so many things that didn't matter.  Tired of pretending.  Rather than nice and safe, I was ready to be seen as slightly fierce and definitely focused."

"I was almost at the point of drowning in my day-to-day life.  I was so caught up in my ever-expanding and increasingly demanding to-do list, I'd forgotten who I was.  I was full of self-doubt.  My life was small, self-centered, isolated, petty, safe, and ineffective.  I remembered my name, whom I was married to, and who my kids were, but what I did and who I was responsible for overshadowed my sense of being God's daughter."

"To everyone else I had a name that was attached to a job description.  I was mother to my children, wife to my husband,  .... but to God Most High, I was simply daughter.  As I focused on just being his and what all that meant, life and strength flowed into my days, and rest entered my soul.  My heart enlarged. .... I began to step out of the shadow of my insecurities, fears, comfort zone, and failures and began to reach out to others."

"At other times, they gasp as though they've breathed in the revelation and realized it's okay to be beautiful and fierce."

"Will we supersede the conflicting noise and arguments that say our contribution is not necessary, not God breathed?"  (Oh how I needed to hear this)

"Because of fear, I had forfeited strength, life, and beauty.  I had lost a sense of my true self, and with that loss so much of what God wanted for me was yet unrealized"

"I've seen many women terrified by their own strength.  They recoil in fear if ideas, questions, or passions arise unbidden within them.  Strength is not to be feared; it is to be embraced"

"I see gross wickedness and global injustice exposed and conquered on many fronts by an encounter with God's inescapable light and his unassailable justice.  I see his daughters stretching forth like lionesses preparing to pounce.  I see all this in our future.  Like you, I do not see those things because I read the paper.  I see them because I have eyes to see in the Spirit."  (Can we shout AMEN??)

"It is easier not to have seen or heard.  Because this is true, most turn from those disturbing sounds and images and quickly fill our ears and eyes with distractions" (I wish I could say this is not true - but it is)

"How loud must the alarm of our time become before we are fully aroused and fully awake?"  (I want to shout this statement!!)

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.  Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice." - Prov. 31:8-9, NLT

"Yes, that is what they are - our sisters.  They are not prostitutes by choice; they are victims and courageous survivors."

"Well-behaved women rarely make history" - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

"What would happen if, like the lions, we were dangerous and fully awake?  Then and only then would we pose any threat to the darkness that holds so many captive."

"We are the collective body of Christ, and as such we are destined for triumph, victory, signs and wonders."

That's only 60 pages people - I've still got 3/4 of the book to read!  I am on fire after reading this book so far!  It motivates me to action.  I'm excited to see where God will lead, what darkness he will use me to turn to light.  I'm ready.  It is time.  Who's with me?