For the Tyndale Blogging for Books, I chose to read Perfect Lies by Jennifer Crow. In exchange for reading the book in its entirety and posting my honest review about the book, I was provided a free copy of the book.
Ms. Crow and her husband, Mark, founded Victory Church in Oklahoma back in 1994. She is a talented singer and is involved in worship ministry, leading the worship team at various times in her life. Several years before, overwhelmed with raising five children, being involved in ministry, as well as all the other things expected as a wife and mother, she experienced a break down of sorts where she was not able to do much or even leave the house for an extended period of time, experiencing fatigue, muscle pains, etc. Doctors did not have much answers for her or hope. She started really thinking and praying to God for healing and came up with lies she had believed about herself and how she functioned in the world based on the six basic human emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. Some of these perfect lies she came to know and identify include "I Am Unlovable", "I Am Bad", "I Am Not Angry" as well as six other lies.
She worked through each lie she had believed and identified through a process she called meditative prayer in which she focused on scripture, thoughts about God and Jesus and mental pictures she made in her head, dealing with each and every emotion and pain associated with the lies she had believed for many years. Changing her thought process and brain waves from negative lies to true statements of God and his word, she saw a difference in her physical health in six weeks and continued to make improvement in it over the years. Her book is sharing her journey of healing, clarifying the lies she believed, breaking them down and replacing them with the truth of God and the process that she did. This included statements to think about to replace the lie as well as scripture that would go against the lie she had believed. There was a chapter devoted to each lie as well as a chapter of questions and answers on how to start with meditative prayer, the benefits of it, etc. Also included in the book is a study guide in case one wants to read the book as part of a study with a small group.
My thought about the book; I could relate to the majority of the lies she identified as issues I have struggled with in my own life. I appreciated the fact she gave useful information to work through the lies and to replace negative thinking with positive thinking using the truth of God and his scripture. Some of her mental pictures she used to help herself I thought were a bit odd or different, but that was something that worked for her and her healing and I didn't have to incorporate them into my own meditative prayer if I wanted to do such a thing.
I like the idea of meditative prayer, thinking about God and taking one of his scriptures and really dwelling on it, thinking about it. I can see how it could change one's way of thinking and help them deal with issues they are struggling with in their lives. I appreciate her honesty in dealing with such sensitive issues in her life and her willingness to be vulnerable about her life in sharing how she was healed by God.
If someone is really struggling with something and needs to have an approach to deal with it using scripture and is not sure where to start, I would recommend this book. Otherwise, it is an easy read, there are good scriptures in it and I did pick up some useful information from it to use with issues I'm struggling with myself. I'd give it 3 on a scale of 1-5 for being a book that benefited me.
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