Book Review: "A Woman After God's Own Heart"

A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars






Great book on sorting through our priorities as Christian women.

#1 God
#2 Husband
#3 Kids
#4 Home
#5 My Spiritual Growth
#6 My Ministry Activities
#7 Other Activities

The only thing I found a little disheartening about the book is that it definitely assumes stay-at-home mom. I'm sort of a hybrid work-at-home, work-outside-the-home mom in my life and career, so I did find some parts a little hard to reconcile. But, to be fair, she does address this in the updated version and comments that when she wrote it less than half of Christian mothers worked outside the home, and now over 70% do. My biggest failure in this area (I feel) is taking care of the home. I don't have fresh-cut flowers, perfectly clean rooms, or a home-cooked meal every night, though I would love to, it's probably just not too realistic this stage of our lives. Plus, Eli's not coming home for dinner every night (he's coming home for breakfast after 24-hour shifts!).

That being said, the basics are so timeless! Time with God helps us grow and impact others exponentially.

One of my personal favorite takeaways from this book is Elizabeth's advise to create "Five Fat Files" - to pick 5 areas that I want to grow in and fill it with articles, notes, etc. to help me learn that topic with the goal of becoming an EXPERT. Examples she gave include hospitality, health, child-raising, home-making, Bible-study methods, attributes of God, fruits of the Spirit, biblical counseling, teaching, heroes of the faith, parenting, organization, holiness, etc.

I think I am going to modernize the concept with either Pinterest boards or an Evernote notebook for my "Five Fat Files."

1. Raising Kids to Love Jesus
2. Intimacy in Marriage
3. Christian Leadership in the Workplace
4. Slow Food (http://www.slowfoodusa.org/) also inspired by another awesome book I'm reading - Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World - more on that later!
5. Time Management!

This is a read, but my favorite Elizbeth George book (so far) is still Life Management for Busy Women: Living Out God's Plan with Passion & Purpose!

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