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Book Review of Authentic Beauty: The Shaping of a Set-Apart Young Woman

Authentic Beauty: The Shaping of a Set-Apart Young Woman
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Part One of Authentic Beauty is titled The First StepUnderstanding the Crisis Facing Modern Day Femininity." Mrs. Ludy begins her book with heart-breaking stories of how her fairytale dreams of being a princess, finding a prince, and living happily ever after were trampled as a result of interaction with lusting, bullying young men and girls who sold themselves short in their pursuit of love and romantic attention. Leslie explains the threat to our hearts that is found in settling for the cheap substitutes for intimacy and true love that the world offers. In a beautiful description of how she first found her Prince, she awakens us to the fact that Jesus is the Prince we are all looking for. The inner yearning we all experience, whether we admit it or not, can be satisfied only in Jesus. Part Two: Lily Among Thorns The Essence of a Set-Apart Young Woman pulls no punches. Mrs. Ludy issues a passionate call to lily-whiteness. She declares that total abandonment and set-apartness to Christ is crucial to experiencing intimacy with Him and knowing His true love to the fullest. She gives practical advice for taking out the trash and kicking out other lovers from our hearts and lives. Mrs. Ludy slashes through the world erroneous assumptions that we require friends, success and romance in order to be happy and encourages us to trust Him to fulfill our every want and need. Part Three: Romantic Mystique-The Mystery of a Set-Apart Young Woman is a rousing call to protect the sacred sanctuary of our hearts. Part Four: Tender ReverenceThe Passion of a Set-Apart Young Woman is full to the brim of practical guidance and steps we can take to cultivate daily intimacy with our Prince and delight in Him with every breath. This section also includes the foundation of a love story built upon Christ. The Studying Manhood inserts written by Eric Ludy are encouragement for the envisioning of warrior poets and offers tips for inspiring the young men in your life to aspire to such a standard.
Authentic Beauty is a book I treasure for it puts into plain language my longings and lifts my eyes continually to Jesus, the only One who can fulfill them. This book is a declaration of the kind of disciples we should be as young women following Jesus Christ and a guidebook for how to become set-apart. Know that the Lord has set-apart the godly for himself. Psalm 4:3a