Have you read Rachel Hollis’ new book yet, “Girl, Wash Your Face.”? This book has hit my girlfriends and many of the women I follow on social media and has given us all the superwoman feels of empowerment, self-acceptance, goal setting, goal getting, and was just an overall feel-good read.
I had never heard of Rachel Hollis before her book came out, but soon her pretty face kept popping up all over my Instagram news feed. Then my friends kept asking, have you read this book yet? No? Well, you need to!
So I read it…it made me laugh, made me think, made me cry, and made me feel. I really did like it, but I sort of felt off about it and didn’t know why.
Rachel clearly loves Jesus and gave some great advice, but I still felt stuck in her words unable to implement her mantras into my own self pep talks.
And then I read this article from The Gospel Coalition https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/girl-wash-face/
It smacked me upside the head. Have you seen my daughter do this? She goes for it, palm to face, and that’s exactly what this article did to me. Now I get it.
See right now in this season of my life I’ve been searching for identity, purpose, and happiness. Who am I? Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be doing? Who do I want to be? What makes me happy? What do I love doing? And I’ve been trying to find my identity, my purpose, and my happiness through motherhood, my relationships, my job, my social activities, and through being a broken down sinner saved by grace. And I’m failing! I can’t find my place!
So when Rachel Hollis says…
“You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for who you become and how happy you are,”
…I had to go back to God’s word because that just didn’t feel right to me. Because no matter how hard I’ve ever worked for anything, or how happy things have made me, I have never been enough in my own strength, and never has my own happiness kept me filled and satisfied.
So after reading the book and then reading that article, I went to God’s word. In Proverbs 19:21 it says “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” So I can do all the things necessary to achieve all the hopes and dreams and goals I could ever imagine. I can plan and make lists and check all of my boxes. I can do all the hopin’ and the wishin’, but if it doesn’t align with God’s will, it’s just never going to work. God’s will is always going to take over.
And then I read Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I can do hard things. Just like Rachel said. We are strong men and women built and created to weather storms and come out stronger with each blow. But it does not say I can do hard things because I just can. The Bible says I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me. We need him. We cannot do ANYTHING without him.
We are not ultimately responsible for who we become or how happy we are, and praise God that it’s not all on our shoulders. Because I just can’t do it! I can’t! I have no idea who I am supposed to be, and sometimes true happiness is just not going to be within my own reach. But God knows exactly who I am and who I am going to be, and guess what? When I trust him to help me do all the things…then the happiness will come THROUGH HIM.
Please don’t get me wrong, I really did like this book, and have so much respect for Rachel’s honesty and vulnerability in her writing. But, I just needed to go one more step. And maybe that was God’s plan all along, to bring me to his word to check her book, and to ultimately bring me closer to him.
So girl, keep washing your face, but please remember it’s only through Christ that you really get clean.
Fit Grit & Grace 