#weread2016: Present Over Perfect Review

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am a HUGE fan of Shauna Niequist's writing. I've probably read her first book, Cold Tangerines no less than five times, and I am just so captivated by her beautiful words and her desire to be vulnerable and relatable with her audience. She lays it all out there- the good, the bad, and the ugly. And when you're done reading her writing, you are always left wanting more.

Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living is an incredible work of art. I have to say that I think it may be her best yet. It came out a couple months ago, and y'all, I've already read it twice. It's that good. Shauna tells stories, as she always does, in the most beautiful of ways. She lets us in to some deep places- she tells about her deepest desires, needs, dreams and juxtaposes those stories with her deepest insecurities, fears, and shames. So as I read, I couldn't help but be reminded of all of my desires, needs, dreams and confronted with my insecurities, fears, and shames. I found her stories so incredibly relatable that I often wept as I read, shared chapters with my husband, and journaled about them later.

Present Over Perfect is a call to anyone who longs to know themselves better by understanding their worth and value as a child of God who is made in His image. It is a collection of stories that will shape you and grab hold of you without letting go. It will challenge you and encourage you to live as your truest self and to unapologetically take hold of the identity that God has written on your heart and emblazoned on His. Run, don't walk to get it, friends.

I realized that the love I was looking for all along is never found in the hustle. You can't prove it or earn it or compete for it. You can just make space for it, listen for it, travel all the way down to the depth of your soul, into the rhythmic beating of your very own heart, where the very spirit of God has made his home, and that's where you'll find it.