Begin Again - a Book Review post.

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I know... I really do! I know you may get tired of me talking about All the Books... but buckle up, because this book right here? It was a gift in more ways than one and I'm about to tell you all about it!

I am a part of Revell Reads and this book, Begin Again -The Brave Practice of Releasing Hurt & Receiving Rest by Leeana Tankersley divinely showed up on my doorstep at exactly the right time! (Because of course, right?) 

Begin Again... in this season of our lives, of my life, --this title is such an invitation!  (And if you know me even a little, you know the subtitle about rest had me at Hello!)

In other words...

Yes, you're going to want to get this book!

I wrote about it earlier but the short story is this: In the last couple of months, we have gone from 3 incomes to 0... We have followed Gods' lead into some great unknowns and we are feeling quite 'set up' to (have to?) embrace beginning again, again.  

So to sit in the silence, to pause and to pray, and then to find the gift of this book, filled with words and wisdom that are gifts as well... it doesn't take a prophetic gifting to see that God is up to something here!

Insight... Confirmation... Assurance... 

All of that, yes! 

Yes and Amen!

To be honest, I have started to read Brazen a few times on my Kindle, but I am pretty sure that is a book I need to HOLD in my HANDS... so I had heard of Leeana but I hadn't really gotten to know her voice or her story.  

What I loved about this new release is that I didn't feel like I was behind... I didn't feel like I needed a bunch of backstories and yet, even though she is completely honest and transparent, I also didn't feel like I was reading someone's private journals.  This is beautiful and skillfully written in a way that invites the Holy Spirit in, and invites us to see how He is working in us, as we read about how He was working in the writer.  

This is a #MeToo book in all the best ways! I mean, who among us hasn't felt stuck, restless, shut down, or shelved? Who among us hasn't wondered if we were banished to the dark, unable --ungifted, unfit to start over?  

From her honest personal stories to great quotes and Scriptures, Leeana guides us along a firm foundation as we go from grasping in the dark to moving towards the Light.  She welcomes us to embrace dawn... and the every day invitation to Begin Again.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

 

 
“I am not only caught between dark and light, caught between where I am (tight) and where I want to be (rest), I am also mysteriously held. I’m convinced... that if nothing else, I am held —benevolently- and my job is to give in to this held-ness instead of trying to squirm away because I’ve got to go prove how worthy I am. I am held. For no other reason than Love. If I can sit with this truth, that I am held by Love no matter what, I can and will begin again.” (pg 32, Begin Again)

 "A low knowing inside me hints to me that the noise is not where I will find my guidance. I will be led by listening to the silence. Listening into the silence. Listening is about trading our trying for trust. This is how we find true rest, I believe. Listening is a begin-again kind of ritual. It's never finished and it's always possible, and it's waiting to give us living and breathing gifts that are new every morning." (p32, Begin Again)

 "Our bodies know. They are holding the story -- the story of working so hard to hold it all together, of carrying the burden of making everything work, of constructing a no-crack facade to our work, marriages, families, homes, meals, outfits, health, bodies. At least that's what we think we're doing. It's an impossible burden of "everything is fine" on ourselves. And in this attempt to keep it all together, we are actually preventing the thing that needs to happen most: the falling apart. The stopping, the Sabbath. The letting go of fine and the letting in of Love." (p50, Begin Again)

"The cost, to me, would be a more complete surrender than I had previously experienced, which means a deeper trust than I have ever allowed myself to practice. And what I can tell you know, at the risk of getting ahead of myself, is that the anticipation of all this was much more difficult than the actual passage through. The passage through ended up being a relief. the anticipation of pain, the fear of being in pain, was the hardest part." (p78, Begin Again)

 "As our inner life feels tight and restrictive, we go looking for ways to broaden it externally. As our inner life expands and we begin to come home to ourselves, w do not need the pace and proving and productivity of the external life like we once did. It keeps calling me: a slightly smaller external life, and a slightly larger interior life.." (p117-118, Begin Again)

 
"...those who have sat in the discomfort and listened and waiting know that an even deeper freedom awaits those who will discern an ending instead of devise an escape." (p134, Begin Again)

"When you are in the midst of an unexpected beginning or a mess middle in life, it can be tempting to want to just push ahead to the other side, the ending, where we assume resolution and peace are waiting for us.  I've learned, though, that we rarely get to this perceived "other side." Instead, the peace comes when we can sit right where we are." (p170, Begin Again)

Do you see it?  Do you?  This book is full of grace and hope and light... it is full of encouragement and me too's and a bit of brave rises up as you read it! It is overflowing with permission and invitation -to slow, to savor, to embrace change and to --yes, begin again (...and again and again!)

In fact, I read it slowly once but I got to the last page and felt the need to start all over again! (Because, of course! And why not?)

*I was sent a copy of this book via Revell Readers and the timing, 
Y'all - Perfect!

This review is honest and as I mentioned, I'm re-reading it again already myself! I highly recommend reading (and re-reading!) it yourself!

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, THE LORD SPOKE TO ME AND THROUGH ME REGARDING SABBATH REST AND I TURNED MY 31 DAYS SERIES INTO AN EBOOK ON AMAZON.  IF YOU ARE FINDING YOURSELF IN NEED OF REST (WHICH --WHO ISN'T, REALLY?) CHECK OUT THIS SHORT, DAILY DEVOTIONAL  31 DAYS OF RESTING IN GOD ...IT'S EASIER/HARDER THAN YOU THINK!  

YOU CAN PURCHASE IT BY CLICKING HERE OR GRABBING IT FROM THE SIDEBAR TO THE RIGHT IF REST IS SOMETHING YOU KNOW YOU NEED, BUT JUST KEEP PUTTING OFF!