Blog Tour: Holy As You Are by Christie Gardiner

Book Description:

When referenced in the scriptures, the word holy means to "set apart for a sacred purpose." It is a description all women who seek to follow Christ want to embody—but the struggle between the ideal of a holy life and reality can seem far apart. In Holy as You Are, best-selling author Christie Gardiner seeks to close the gap, reminding women of the holy attributes they already possess and how they can accomplish extraordinary ordinary things that will forever change the landscape and heart-scape of their worlds.
With a wealth of spiritual guidance and upbeat wisdom that doesn't shy away from difficult topics, this inspired volume challenges readers to look at their tragedies and triumphs and everything in between as sacred opportunities to choose holiness. What if ordinary is extraordinary? What if you are Holy as You Are?

Review:

I will admit, I had a hard time starting and getting into this book. I usually prefer to read fiction, and just wasn't in the mood for a non-fiction book. Plus, every time I would sit down to read it, it was nearly bedtime and I wouldn't last too long before falling asleep. Once I really sat down and paid attention to the messages the author was giving me though, I enjoyed the book.

With "self-help" type books like this one, I typically mark passages when they stand out to me, but I was hesitant to do that with this book because it's so pretty! I know, that's a silly reason, but still. I do regret not doing it though, because there were a lot of things that jumped out at me and no matter how great something is, if I don't write it down, I will soon forget it.

The chapter on ministering made me feel about as guilty as a girl can get. I'm sure that wasn't the author's intention, but I am absolutely horrible at ministering, and every time it is brought up, I feel guilt. This chapter did get me seriously thinking about how to be a better minister...er (seriously, I have no idea what to call myself in that role now. Ministering sister? Ministerer? I'm pretty sure that's not a word.) Anyway, it got me thinking and I have come up with a plan to act and actually do. So I guess in this case, that guilt was a good thing.

I enjoyed the part where she said to take time to find quiet. I found it especially fitting because that very morning I had just listened to a podcast that was focused on something very similar. The part on gratitude and finding joy also came at a great time, because I recently decided to focus on finding joy in even the mundane tasks - something I am NOT very good at. Late last night when I really wanted to go to bed and ended up having to plunge a nasty clogged toilet yet again, I started to grumble (as usual) about all these messes that always fall on me to clean up, and then was reminded about finding joy. Now, I don't think there's all that much joy in a clogged toilet, but even just chanting "find joy, find joy, find joy" helped me stop grumbling and switch gears so that I wasn't cranky and resentful. Baby steps. But it worked.

I could go on and on about all of the good nuggets of wisdom that I found in this book, but I'll just recommend that you go and read it and find out what speaks to you instead.

Tour Dates:

*March 25^th: http://mybookaday.com/

*March 26^th: http://empowermoms.net/

*March 27^th: https://rachellechristensen.com/blog/, http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com/

*March 28^th: https://www.singinglibrarianbooks.com/, http://katiescleanbookcollection.blogspot.com/, https://ldsandlovinit.blogspot.com/  

*March 29^th: https://brightlystreet.com/, http://literarytimeout.blogspot.com/

Giveaway:
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Title: Holy As You Are

Author: Christie Gardiner
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: March 2019
ISBN:1524409618
Source: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase:  Amazon Deseret Book