No More Faking Fine by Esther Fleece

Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko

Book Description

If you’ve ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it can feel to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. Far too often, it seems the response we get to our hurt and disappointment is to suck it up, or pray it away.

But Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be.

No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get gut-level honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. Lament, a practice woven throughout Scripture, is a prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. As author Esther Fleece says, “Lament is the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God, and with those around us.”

No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament—to give voice to the hurt, frustration, and disappointment you’ve kept inside and silenced for too long. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God’s own language to draw closer to Him as He leads us through any darkness into His marvelous light.

My Review:

If I had to list one book that touched me more than any other book this year, it would be this one hands down. In this book, Ms. Fleece does not pull any punches. She does not tell you that life is going to go well and God has you in the palm of His hand, which means things will be easy.

Instead, she walks you through the bible and gives you permission to grieve and lament, in a biblical fashion. She shows how God, instead of as many in the church seem to believe, loves to hear our laments and sorrows spoken aloud.

This book will bring you to a place of being able to embrace the trials a bit more as you suffer through them, but also not be as afraid to share with others your struggles.

I found as I read this, I was absorbing, living and loving the permission to be real, but not just in a complaining way, but that living in reality is not complaining. I learned that Christianity does not always mean being positive. It often means that life is full of hardship. She goes into what joy is and what joy is not. This is not another book that tells you to keep it inside and don’t let others know. She encourages you in the godly art of mourning.

As I read it, it felt as though something was released in me, the ability to be okay with not being as fake as I feel others often expect you to be. This review, even feels lame in my effort to explain, but just get it and read it! You will not be sorry!

You can order it from Amazon, “No More Faking Fine”. The Kindle version is only $1.99 right now. You can eve add audio for only $3.99.