"Let's All Be Brave" Book Review

I'm sure that other bloggers are much more together than I am. That they take a book, receive an entire media promotion kit online and are savvy at all that beautiful photography that I admire.

Instead, this is an arm's length shot from my cell phone that I took to tell others I had received the book! :D

I'll be sincere and tell you that I did not get paid to read this book (which made the experience all the more of a pleasure!), but I did receive the book for free. I am a part of the Brave Girl Community and we were given the opportunity to receive this book electronically or in paperback if we'd be kind enough to read and review it.

Anytime I can hold a book in my hands and turn the pages, I make a deeper connection. Something about that ink on the paper that is permanent is more easily seared in my mind than simple pixels on a screen.

Enough about paper books and on to the contents!

If you are wondering why a book on being brave would appeal to you, just keep reading. You see, Annie, in her memoir-style writing, invites you into an intimate setting. She speaks so easily from her own experiences that afterward, you feel as though you were there for each of them.

Each chapter deals with a different aspect of bravery, whether it's the courage to say yes or the exact opposite, the courage to say no. Although each chapter left me with a great thought and a stirring in my heart, it was her chapter on "the why" that really spoke to me most.

She speaks about our purpose in our exact position.
"You know why we have to be brave? Because courage changes lives. And eternity."
I have never felt that staying-at-home with our three daughters was an act of bravery. Surely my mission field of junior high and high school teens was a greater cause?! Yet, she spoke to me from this book and said,
"You, my friend, married or single, female or male, you are blazing a trail with your life for the younger women and men behind you. They will have their own overgrowth to challenge them, and they will lead the way for others.
Because you are making a way for them, saving them some pain that your bloodied arms prove is real, and honoring their footsteps by providing a clear path.
Never forget as you step forward with your life that you are a trailblazer.
Someone is watching...

...seeing you be brave may be all they need to be brave. That may be all it takes."

So, this is just a taste of the many chapters of encouragement and life that will stir your Spirit and cause you to break free from the dullness and drudgery and dissatisfaction that you have been currently struggling against.

By the time you finish this book, those dreams that were once your greatest passion will no longer be distant regrets and memories, but the fires will once again be lit. You will again feel stirrings of greatness within you, for God has numbered your days and has set you in this exact time and place and town for a reason.

If I ever have the pleasure of meeting her in person, I hope only that I am as transparent and sincere as she has been and that I'll have the depth of friendship I've already experienced in reading this book.

I hope you will take the time to read this book. It is so easy to read that you could take it chapter-by-chapter, or read it in its entirety as I did.

~Tammy