Recently I was gifted a copy of Freedom to Flourish by Elizabeth Garn in exchange for a review (honest of course). Elizabeth and I became friends through a group that connects women who have been to seminary. Our backgrounds and work are somewhat different but it is a joy to fellowship and especially to read her work. There were also some surprises in store for me.
A lot of women I know are emotionally trapped in Evangelical expectations about women: to live under the headship of men and to function as mothers and perfect Proverbs 31 women. I have lived in this culture and have personally experienced the wrenching sense of failure and devaluation, especially because I have never conceived my own child.
A great amount of counseling and a move into a different church circle were helpful, but I still was surprised at how much I identified with Elizabeth Garn’s honest and at times witty writing about her experiences in this culture. What did a woman really have to do to be good enough?
Elizabeth has children and writes beautifully from the heart of her mother’s love to illustrate the things that helped her to begin to come away from the toxic expectations of evangelicalism. She turns to Genes 1-3, one of the passages that is most often used to put women in their hierarchical place, to offer hope and healing.
Elizabeth calls us to think hard about difficult passages, to reinterpret them in ways that bring hope instead of hurt. I must confess that it is not easy. I am a Hebrew teacher and she still called me to dig in painful places of my heart and argue and cry out to God for hope and healing!
Freedom to Flourish is a “women’s book.” It will bring healing to women of all ages. But it is also a book that will push men to think, and I have recommended that my husband read it, because he too is called to flourish and to think about his reading of Genesis.
Freedom to Flourish is a book that I will read over more than once, because the healing process won’t be finished in one reading.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for the honor of reviewing your book. I pray it is a blessing to many.
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