How Can We Be Significant? Read on...

Friends! Don’t you love it when someone you really respect recommends a book? You think, “Well, if they think a lot about the book, surely it’s worth reading…

Bingo! This scenario recently transpired and I quickly ordered this book: Significant: Becoming a Woman of Unique Purpose, True Identity, and Irrepressible Hope by Carol McLeod

The title grabbed me while the subtitle gobsmacked me…who wouldn’t want “irrepressible hope?”

Another cool God-incident about the book was discovered after reading the eighteen glowing endorsements. I about flipped when I read the dedication page. Carol “lovingly dedicates” the book to Ellen deKroon Stamps.

A few years ago, my friend, Sherry, and I had the incredible privilege of meeting and having lunch with Ellen when she and her husband were serving at Asbury, just down the road from us in Wilmore, Kentucky. Ellen was Corrie Ten Boom’s personal assistant for nine years. Can you fathom?

To learn more about our meet-up, click here.

Sherry and I learned about Significant from Ellen’s daughter, Johanna Stamps, who posted a recommendation of it on Facebook, not to mention a beautiful Mother’s Day tribute to Ellen. Johanna had no idea of the chain reaction she started!!!

So, let’s chat about Significant a little bit. The set up of the book is easy to follow. It’s divided into five parts:

1 - You are…a Woman!

2 - You are…a Woman of Unmatched Purpose

3 - You are…a Woman of Glorious Identity

4 - You are…Never Alone

5 - You are…a Woman of Grace and Peace

Among these five parts, there are twenty-eight chapters. Sounds like a lot, but they are short, each one packing a punch. I didn’t read one per day, but you could easily digest the book in one month if you did so.

I enjoyed the book so much, I plan on starting it all over again. I found the chapters to be inspirational, many times like a pep talk to tackle a new day, reminding us we never go it alone. Our Lord is always with us and more importantly, He’s for us.

I’m prone to take guilt trips, shame and blame retreats (!!!), and stay stuck in the “shoulda/coulda/woulda” warped world. Carol’s book brought me back to reality—strengthening and boosting my faith each and every time I dove in.

Carol begins by sharing how impacted she was by a book she read years ago by Elisabeth Elliot called, Let Me Be a Woman. She says, “Elisabeth knew that the only way a woman could exert any lasting influence on her culture was to embrace the truths found in the Word of God.” Elisabeth added, “Anything, if offered to God, can and will become your GATEWAY TO JOY.”

My guess is most of you have seen the Disney movie, Frozen, more than once—especially if you have little ones in your life. I’ll never forget my friend, Mary, and I borrowing the video from my cousin as we decided we were the only ones on the planet who hadn’t seen it. We watched it in her basement one summer afternoon. (Yes, this was pre-grand angels…)

Carol shares her awe and wonder over the film with special attention to the song lyrics from “For the First Time in Forever.” After her granddaughter, Olivia, had gone to bed, Carol listened to the song over and over again. She said it was as if “the voice of the eternal Holy Spirit sang a duet with this song from the early twenty-first century…The Holy Spirit whispered to my discouraged heart, ‘Carol, you are God’s first-time-in-forever!’”

Next she tells us readers that we, too, are God’s “first-time-in-forever creations.” She adds,

“Dear friend, you are here so that Jesus can be present in the flesh through you.”

Look at how Mark Twain puts it:

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Chapter Eight is one of my favorites. The title of it is “I Didn’t Sign Up for the Battles!” Bet we can all say “Amen” to that…

Carol reveals she’s had five miscarriages. I cannot even imagine. Years later, Carol did have three more babies, carrying them full term, but not without the battle of depression to fight along the way. God is most gracious, as we know, and because of her miscarriages, she’s now been able to minister to countless women in regard to infertility.

Carol’s a beautiful vision of 2 Corinthians 1:4 that says,

Chapter Nine is also a much-needed chapter with loads of spiritual truths, Scripture, and phrases we need to stand up and take note of…It’s title is “When the Hard Stuff Becomes the Good Stuff.”

This chapter reminds us of the necessity of putting on the full armor of God. (See Ephesians 6:10-18) Verse 11 says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand against the SCHEMES of the devil.” We learn that, “the Greek word translated ‘schemes’ “refers to an orderly or technical plan that has been established by cunning arts, deceit, or trickery.” That’ll stop and make you think!

Then we’re giving a huge warning: “Make no mistake about it, dear friend, the devil does have a plan for your life!”

Friends, if we can remember to put on our “undergarments” every day, surely we can remember to put on the full armor of God for our protection every day. Think of the clothing company Under Armor, and armor up every morning! Carol calls the armor “divine camouflage.” I love that!

She suggests, “Choose to be a resplendent woman who refuses to whine and resists worry…make a commitment to partner with the Holy Spirit to reveal the glory of God—no matter how fierce the battle may become….Choose to worship as the flames are whipping around you!”

Note to ourselves: Don’t forget one of the pieces of armor is “the shield of faith to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Also please don’t miss the ten spiritual truths given to us near the end of Chapter Nine. They are a perfect example of the equipping, empowering information we readers receive all throughout the book…

Finally, two more snippets from favorite chapters: Learn from Chapter Eighteen (“Your Name Is…”) why we should ask the Lord to equip us to be an agent of salt. This of course makes me think of Becky Pippert in her books Out of the Saltshaker and Stay Salt.

The very essence of Carol’s book enables us readers to mimic a quote I heard John Piper say, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Let’s pray in that direction!

And in the final chapter, Chapter Twenty-eight, “There is a Place,” let’s close with these beautiful verses from Psalm 37:3-7 which includes twelve points along with three promises:

1 - “Trust in the Lord and

2 - Do good;

3 - Dwell in the land and

4 - Cultivate faithfulness.

5 - Delight yourself in the Lord; and

6 - He WILL give you the desires of your heart.

7 - Commit your ways to the Lord,

8 - Trust also in Him and

9 - He WILL do it.

10 - He WILL bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.

11 - Rest in the Lord and

12 - Wait patiently for Him.”

Now you know how I love to close, “Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore and treat yourself and your friends to this book that will bless your socks off!~”. Significant: Becoming a Woman of Unique Purpose, True Identity, and Irrepressible Hope by Carol McLeod.

‘Til next time!

P.S. Don’t miss Carol’s newest book which released this past April: Rooms of a Mother’s Heart: A Sacred Call and an Eternal Purpose.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”