Sometimes a book starts a journey that you hadn’t quite expected. And sometimes those journeys take longer than you think they should. I’m STILL in the process of reading just such a book, A Confident Heart: How to Stop Doubting Yourself & Live in the Security of God’s Promises, and have found the journey taking longer than I expected.

About A Confident Heart: How to Stop Doubting Yourself & Live in the Security of God’s Promises

Step out of the shadows of self-doubt to live with a confident heart.

Ever feel like you’re not good enough, smart enough, or valuable enough? Renee Swope understands. Even with a great family, a successful career, and a thriving ministry, she still struggled with self-doubt. Sharing her own personal story, Renee shows you how to rely on the power of God’s promises to find the security you need and the confidence you long for!

• Exchange fear-filled thinking with faith-filled believing
• Fail forward when life or sin sets you back
• Embrace your God-given purpose, passion, and personality
• See beyond who you are to who you are becoming in Christ

Powerful Scripture-based prayers are at the end of each chapter, along with Bible study questions and a chart with thirty-one promises to replace our most common self-doubts.

My Review

I’m not really what all to say, yet, since I’m still reading the A Confident Heart. I’ve needed to take time and munch on and mull over the things I’m reading, so it hasn’t been a ‘sit down and read it through’ kind of book. It’s been more of a ‘read a bit, think and pray some, then read some more’ kind of book!

Renee Swope really does touch on the issues so close to women’s hearts. She has a gentle and genuine way of addressing the fundamental doubts that we all seem to have as women.

I cried as I read the first chapter, “Discovering the Shadow of My Doubts” because it was like Renee was telling my story. And apparently, my story is not so very different from most other women’s stories.  Renee asks, “Have you ever agreed with the whispers of doubt and found yourself living with a sense of discouragement and defeat?” Yes, yes, I’ve been there! In fact, when I read those words, that’s exactly where I was! I knew this book had chosen me.  You know how a book does that sometimes, or rather, how it’s pretty clear that God has chosen this book for you at this time in your life?

I think maybe because I’ve been dealing with my own depression, that’s why it’s taking me so long to get through the book. It’s like the truths are having to soak deep through the cloud of depression before really getting to my heart. So I’m taking the needed time to soak in those truths.

I am looking forward to finishing this book. Perhaps I’ll have some more to share about it at that point, but some of it already feels too personal to share, because it’s hard to admit that I’ve had doubts about THAT or about some other thing. I am a pastor’s wife, after all…. I shouldn’t doubt at all, right? WRONG! I’m glad to have this book to work through, slow though it may be, to address these things and to be more confident and settled with each page I read. It seems to be a process of shaking things up a bit and then letting them fall back into their proper places, in line with the Word of God and his loving Spirit.

I do want a confident heart! I do want to stop doubting myself and to live in the security of God’s promises. Yup, this book picked me! 🙂

For more information visit A Confident Heart: How to Stop Doubting Yourself & Live in the Security of God’s Promises by Renee Swope.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.