Book Review: Girl Defined: God's Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity by Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird

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Title: Girl Defined: God's Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity

Author: Kristen Clark & Bethany Baird

Series: Standalone

Genre: Christian Living

Audience: Teen - Adult

ABOUT THE BOOK

In a Culture of Distortions, Discover God-Defined Womanhood and Beauty

In a culture where airbrushed models and career-driven women define beauty and success, it's no wonder we have a distorted view of femininity. Our impossible standards place an incredible burden of stress on the backs of women and girls of all ages, resulting in anxiety, eating disorders, and depression. One question we often forget to ask is this: What is God's design for womanhood?

In Girl Defined, sisters and popular bloggers Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird offer women a countercultural view of beauty, femininity, and self-worth. Based firmly in God's design for their lives, this book helps women rethink what true success and beauty look like. It invites them on a liberating journey toward a radically better vision for femininity that ends with the discovery of the kind of hope, purpose, and fulfillment they've been yearning for.

Girl Defined helps readers 

- discover God's design for femininity and his definition of a successful woman 

- uncover the secrets of lasting worth, purpose, and fulfillment

- be equipped and empowered to live out a radically better vision for womanhood 

- gain personal insight through the chapter-by-chapter study guide

~ MY REVIEW ~

**5 stars**

Girl Defined: God's Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity by Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird is a book I think every woman (teen+) can benefit from reading! For one, it's very easy and enjoyable to read - I continually wanted to return to its pages. And it truly speaks to the heart! Girl Defined explores issues we as women are facing everyday, and gives Biblical advice, eye-opening truths, and encouraging/challenging stories.

It speaks to younger girls (around teen years) as well as married women, or even middle-age/older woman. There are stories about teens, young moms, 30-year-old singles, and older widows. I can't wait to share this book with my younger sisters (14 and 16)! I loved it! Girl Defined speaks to WOMEN and calls for us to find our identity in Christ and embrace God's plan for womanhood.

As with every Christian Living/Self-Help book I read, I didn't agree with absolutely everything said in Girl Defined ... word for word. Some things I thought, "Well, I wouldn't exactly say it that way."

But this book really hits the nail on the head when talking about Biblical womanhood. Sisters Kristen and Bethany have the Word of God, life experience, statistics, and well-known Christian speakers/writers (such as Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth, Dannah Gresh, and Mary A. Kassian) to back up what they're teaching.

So many things clicked for me when reading this book. It just makes sense, what they're saying. Even if it is TOTALLY against the cultural norm, totally against what the world tells us to do/be ... when you read about femininity, beauty, and identity the way Kristen and Bethany see it, it makes sense when you think about how God designed us. Men and women were created to be equal, but different, for specific purposes. This book embraces that, and I LOVE it! Ladies, we are going to be so much happier and fulfilled if we embrace GOD'S DESIGN! If we embrace femininity. If we embrace womanhood and the "nurturing", "helping", and "life-giving" that comes with that role.

Girl Defined also talks about living purposefully, with eternity in mind, which is a message for ALL Christians, no matter where you are in life. It was both challenging and encouraging! Exciting, even! ^_^ Let's live, my friends! Let's live a life that we can look back on and not regret. A life of fulfillment. A life of honoring God.

I really liked how Kristen and Bethany quote authors like Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth in this book. They have such powerful things to say! One of my favorites from Mrs. Wolgemuth is: "Being created "for someone" indicates that God created the female to be a highly relational creature. In contrast to the male, her identity isn't based on work nearly as much as on how well she connects and relates to others. Forming deep relational bonds is at the core of what it means to be a woman." (pg. 91)

And from Mary A. Kassian: "A wimpy woman gives up on biblical femininity when life gets hard. A wimpy woman quits when she has to stand alone. A wimpy woman caves in when the culture pressures her." (pg. 169)

They also share thoughts from some of the past top models in the industry, such as Kylie Bisutti. She say that models are some of the most insecure women she's ever met! Have you ever thought about that? We simply cannot place our identity in our outward appearance, because we'll never measure up.

Yes. Overall, I feel Girl Defined is full of Biblical truth and has the potential to make a big impact on women today. I want to share this book with all the women I know - young and old! It reminds us of our beautiful identity, purpose, and femininity. This is so much more freeing than what the culture is telling us! So priceless! I would strongly encourage you to read Girl Defined: God's Radical Design for Beauty, Femininity, and Identity, women! *smiles*

Find Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird on their Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/girldefined 

And their website: https://www.girldefined.com/