I had every intention of reading this book and writing an honest review but it expired before I had the chance. My apologies, If you like to resend it to me I would be happy to get it reviewed,

I so enjoyed this book by Esther Fleece. I wish that Christians would spend more time being real and less time acting like their lives are perfect. I hope that with this book, more people will let their guards down with each other.

I absolutely loved this book and will eternally be grateful for the wisdom it put upon my life. I've struggled with this often, the idea of faking fine, and recently went through the worst heartbreak of my life, from a Christian organization. This book put words to exactly how I felt in that time, and anyone interested in helping people through grief that isn't filled with platitudes NEEDS to read this.

Copied from Amazon:  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.”

Esther learned this the hard way, by believing she could shut down painful emotions that haunted her from a broken past she tried to forget on her fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you’ve done the same.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.

No More Faking Fine is a book on the importance of letting God into your struggles.  It talks about the need to get honest with God about the things that are troubling you.

    "God meets us where we are, and not where we pretend to be"

Esther Fleece talks about how we need to stop just pushing through the pain and instead take the time to grieve it with God.

I loved this quote by D.A. Carson "There is no attempt in scripture to whitewash the anguish of God's people when they undergo suffering. They argue with God, they complain to God, they weep before God. Theirs is not a faith that leads to dry-eyed stoicism, but to a faith so robust it wrestles with God."

I have been "Fine" forever, even when I wasn't.  Even in the midst of suicidal thoughts, I felt like I had to maintain the appearance of being "Fine".  Lately, friends tease me because I question God so often.  I found this book to be a much-needed breath of fresh air as it gives us permission to get honest with God however that may look.  In that honesty, we invite God into the pain so that He can heal it completely and totally.

*Received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

There is so so much about this book that kept me saying to myself Yes! Yes! So true! I love the author's honesty and vulnerability and she shares so much wisdom. Having been wrestling with the idea of lament, and how to do that corporately well, this was a very timely book for me. I will certainly be recommending it - in fact I already have in the book I am currently writing myself ;)

I voluntarily read an advanced reading copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley. It was more memoir and less life application than I anticipated. I would recommend it for those who live in denial that past trauma is still affecting their lives today and for anyone who lives behind a mask and denies that bad things happened to them or are still happening.