It comes down to a choice: we will either spend our lives making ourselves "more" or we will abandon ourselves to find God's more.

Kelly Balarie has a passion to connect to those that live in fear. It is very evident in her poetic writing. The book is taken in two parts - Coming to God Jumpy, Jittery and Just Needing Help and the last part - Spirit Arising: Demolishing the Eight Fear-Inducers.

I did have several concerns and I will list them as follows:

Several times in her writing she expressed her fear of her book not being liked or well received. To be honest, I am always put off by that in a Christian text because if you are writing truth then it should not be about you. We all our not the same. We connect in different ways. Our job is to find ways to connect others to the gospel. The good news only becomes the good news when we understand the bad the news.

The author also mentioned that theology does not matter. Her desire to connect to others and others to connect to God without good theology is dangerous. Here is why...and a good example is when my children do wrong or they are in some kind of trouble - when they come to me to put things right, I will go out of my way to help them redeem the situation. This is called repentance. This word was not uttered in this text. When we live in fear and I am one that does, I have not believed God, I have lacked faith.

Another draw back any good text is geared for both men and women. I am afraid any man reading this would not get the full picture of the work of Christ. He would be bored and would not be able to finish.

This might be the book for you to connect but with my concerns, I could not recommend when there are others that take you to the root. The writing style is wordy and I did appreciate her poetic style. When we start to look at His power-risen, ruling, and not refusing us. The power of people's opinions diminish. The strength of rejection crumbles. It can't stand under the weight of Jesus' resurrection. He rose above the cross-and brings us with Him. Knowing this, we rise from our chair and step up and out. We love.

If you want a poetic Christian text, you may appreciate this but I am a meat and potatoes type of girl that needs the full nourishment of God's good word.

A Special Thank You to Baker Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

Worry overtakes many of our daily lives and can be a clutch that we hold onto, one that is not productive or even good for us but holds onto so many people. Kelly Balarie has written on this subject well, and the added group study sections at the back of the book help put the learnt information into practice and help commit it to memory.

There are many aspects of the book that I do like, but i particularly like the little quotes at the beginning of each chapter. The first quote is by Bethany Hamilton and it is quite profound and sets the tone for the book "Being out there in the ocean, God's creation, it's like a gift He has given us to enjoy."

The other aspect of the book that is very now is the author wants to keep hearing from those that have read the book and how they are fighting their fear through the use of Twitter and the hashtat #FearFightingBook and Facebook. Kelly wants to know how the reader has won...that's right won! The positiveness of words such as won and others throughout the book are all part of the journey to fight the fear.

Thank you to Kelly Balarie for writing this book, fear has a hold on many and having the tools and encouragement that is outlined in this book is going to be such a support on the journey they are going through.

Fear Fighting
Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears

by Kelly Balarie
Baker Bookst

Christian

Pub Date 03 Jan 2017


I am voluntarily reviewing a copy of Fear Fighting through the publisher and Netgalley:
This book reminds us that fear is a normal part of life that even Christians endure, but as Christians we do not need to live in a constant state of fear.
The issue of Control is also brought up. As well as the issues of People pleasing.
I give Fear Fighting five out of five stars.
Happy Reading...

I know this book is a best seller on Amazon, however, I just could not connect with the author and her style. While she used examples in the Bible to back up her points, it seemed opinion based and very soft on theology. I feel like the whole thesis of the book could be summed with the advice from Chapter 6: Face God, Worship God, Pursue God. All the rest of the writing was personal accounts and fluff. Even the wording of some of the chapters bothered me, i.e. Discovering Super Spirit. The author used several acronyms like WELCOME or FIGHT to help remember her points. To me that seems condescending and who wants to have to remember all those letters and what they mean?? When I read Christian Living books, I am looking for either 1) a true account of someone who has been through a lot spiritually and has tangible advice to offer, or 2) a Biblical based study on a topic. I may be in the minority here, but that is my honest opinion on this book.