True You by Micelle DeRusha

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True You: Letting Go of Your False Self to Uncover the Person God Created

Letting Go Of Your False Self to Uncover the Person God Created

Pruning open? Do you know what that means? I didn't before I started this book and I'm not sure if I have a good grasp on it yet, but I have a little understanding. It's a gardening term of opening up the tree or the shrub from the center, the process of subtracting to make it more beautiful, stopping and looking and evaluating how best to trim and prune to produce the best and most beautiful results.

Now take that "pruning open" concept and apply it to your life and what do you get? My first thought is pain, pruning is cutting and that sounds painful, but it is also the secret to a fulfilled life. The first thing, for me at least, is to recognize my true identity, in Christ, and get rid of the rest. Michelle takes you on the journey of finding identity in God, not in accomplishments, of sitting and resting without having to produce something and then to the deeper pruning of getting rid of the idols that distract and finally to the greater whole of community and recognizing we are part of a bigger whole as Paul says in his illustration of the body.

Now Michelle says it all so much better than I could. I really appreciated the book for its concepts, for her honesty about her struggles. This book represents who I want to be, a person sold out for God, secure in God, idol-free and living in community.

"The journey to wholeness and healing, it turns out, does not begin with surgery or even with diagnosis. The journey to wholeness begins with admitting you are broken."

"We want the quick fix, the magic formula. But in spiritual transformation as in gardening, there is not fast and easy remedy. There is only patience, perseverance, and faith in the process."

"Your identity comes not from what you do, but from who you are in God."

I received this book from Baker Books and was not required to write a positive review.


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