By Shannon Popkin
Kregel, 2017
Summary
Tension, anger, fear, anxiety-it all begins with a heart that craves control.
Little fights with your husband and kids. Unhappiness when things don't match your version of perfect. When your perspective of how life should go replaces God's, you doom your quest for security, peace, and joy before it even starts.
Thankfully, there is a better way.
Join Shannon as she shares what she has discovered about her own control struggles and about God from studying seven Control Girls in the Bible. Whether it was Eve's desire to know instead of trust, Sarah's inability to wait for God to move, or Rebekah's controlling hand on her family's future, each of these women's stories contain warnings and lessons for us today.
Learn how you too can lay down this burden of trying to control everything and find rest in surrendering to the One who truly is in control.
Learn more and purchase a copy.
My thoughts
The only way any Control Girl of the Bible ever found the security, peace, and joy she was longing for was when she did the opposite of taking control – when she surrendered to God and made her story all about him. It’s the same for us today.
Before picking up Control Girl by Shannon Popkin, I would have said that “controlling” is the last word people would use to describe me – but then I began to see myself in the pages of this book. This study is all about control and its opposite, surrender – something that I struggle with daily. Reading for review purposes barely allowed me to scratch the surface of a Bible study that calls out for in-depth study.
I don’t usually pay much attention to endorsements, but Control Girl’s recommendation by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, one of my favorite Bible teachers, caught my attention initially. Control Girl is written in an easy-to-follow style that captured my attention from the first page. There’s a good blend of personal stories, lessons drawn from the Bible, and personal reflection. Studying the lives of these Control Girls – Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel and Miriam – opened my eyes to truths that I hadn’t seen in myself.
I read with a marker in my hand, highlighting many thoughts that drove home the message and linger in my mind. Here are just a few …
-- Faith is trusting that God is for us, even when he keeps things from us.
-- If I continually take control at home, my husband probably won’t fight me for the reins.
-- Even when I agonize at a distance while my child suffers on the brink of disaster, God is leaning close, hearing my child’s parched cry.
-- God gets the most glory, not when he rips control from our hands, but when we invite him, open-palmed, to have his way with us.
Control Girl is a Bible study of great quality and profound truths, perfect for either personal or group use. Group leaders can download a free discussion guide from www.shannonpopkin.com
Highly recommended.
I was provided a free copy of this book through Litfuse Publicity. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
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Find out more about Shannon at shannonpopkin.com.
http://litfusegroup.com/author/spopkin
On some level or nother we all deal with control and its many forms. Whether through manipulation, blackmail, or even withdrawl can be a form of control. I see this through examples of those around and pray that I reliquish control in all its forms to Jesus (except self-control).
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