Catholic missionary and speaker Colleen Mitchell covers twelve women´s encounter with Jesus in the gospel and connects their experiences with the very lives of females today. Because ancient or modern, we all question our identity.

How well-meditated upon and very loving book this is! It is stunningly personal, relatable and touching my heart at the very spot that is painstakingly waiting to connect with Jesus, but the the poor thing does not know how!
I was not touched this deeply by a Christian devotional since a long time ago.

This tiny book has helped me in my time of need.

Deeply recommended - and I am not saying it lightly. I think every Christian female (or a female of a good will, even, open to the religious writing) can gain tremendously from this devotional.

A brilliant read seeing oneself as God sees you through the eyes of different women in the Bible. This book is both inspiring and challenging. It shouldn't leave you unchanged after reading.

I was really excited to read this book because Colleen is a blogging friend of mine, and a constant source of inspiration. She is a devout Catholic who isn’t afraid to speak out for what she thinks is right regardless of popular opinion.

This book sucked me in from the first page. It begins with a familiar theme that has been woven throughout my July reads, redemption in the midst of heartbreak. In the middle of the shattering pain of losing a child, and several subsequent miscarriages, a ministry was born.

This book focuses on the women in the Bible – how God transformed them, and what their stories mean to us as women of God. Colleen unpacks the stories of familiar characters like Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, as well as lesser-known names like Anna the prophet. I am not all the way through this book yet, but I can barely put it down. I have highlighted so many passages that seem so simple, yet why didn’t I ever see that before?

One of my favorite parts is in the first chapter, which is about Mary. Colleen says:

God could have chosen to break upon the scene of human history to save us from our very selves in any way he wanted. It could have been in a way that was overtly grand and glorious and terrifying. He could have shaken the foundations of the earth with his coming and darkened the universe only to light it up again. He could have put on a fantastic show.

But he chose instead to create a vessel that could cradle his greatness – he chose to be borne by and born of a woman.

Wow, right?

Colleen Mitchell is one of those writers who most readers would love to have coffee and a long discussion about … everything. In her first book, Who Does He Say You Are? Women Transformed by Christ in the Gospels, she shares the story of her family’s journey from infant and prenatal loss to, improbably, mission service to some of the poorest populations in Costa Rica. A book could be written about her life’s pilgrimage so far, and how she has been open to growing in her Catholic faith through challenges. But Who Does He Say You Are? is not that book.

While Mitchell does cover some of her story in Who Does He Say You Are? the book is an excellent stand-along Scripture study of women, and what women today can learn from these women.

Each chapter “profiles” a New Testament woman, and how her encounter with Jesus shows the myriad ways our brokenness can be restored through encounters with Jesus and his healing love.

The first chapter addresses Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and is titled, “You are a Dwelling Place of the Most High God.” Other chapters do the same with women both prominent in Scripture, and those nameless women barely mentioned, yet whose influence on the Church’s theology is outsized. So, for instance, “You are Restored” is the chapter on The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8); “You are Made for Contentment” for Mary and Martha and Bethany (Luke 10), and “You Can Pray Boldly” about the Syrophoenician Woman (Mark 7).

I loved reading about some of my favorite women in Scripture from a new perspective and with profound meditations from this gifted writer.

You can read more of my review at the link below: