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Overview
With wit and wisdom, Nicole Johnson leads readers in a journey of awakenings—first, to God as they respond to His tender, passionate love for them; second to readers as they embrace their identities as women, their gifts, and their dreams; and finally to others as readers learn to love and communicate in ways that bring joy and closeness.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781418515201 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nelson, Thomas, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 01/07/2001 |
| Sold by: | HarperCollins Publishing |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 208 |
| Sales rank: | 317,873 |
| File size: | 684 KB |
About the Author
Nicole Johnson, author of Fresh Brewed Life, has a uniquely creative voice. As an accomplished writer, speaker, and actor, Nicole has performed in thousands of churches and venues over the last twenty-five years, including more than a decade of touring with the national conference Women of Faith. Nicole lives in Santa Monica, CA with her husband and two children. Nicole writes regularly at www.nicolejohnson.org
Read an Excerpt
Fresh-Brewed Life
Student's GuideBy Nicole Johnson
Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2007 Nicole JohnsonAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7852-6704-1
Chapter One
Fresh-Brewed Life Cup Number One
Embrace Your Beauty
Video Notes
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Reflectíon and Díscussíon
Psalm 57:8 Awake, my soul!
John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Beauty Designed for One
What would it take for us to trust that the Lord has gently created each of us to be beautiful in our own way? Not one woman has been overlooked by his delicate gift.
Unfortunately for some women, beauty has become an enemy. Beauty, or the perceived lack of it, has been the cause of painful rejections, passed over promotions, struggles in marriage, or even self-hatred.
Where do most women you know get their images of beauty?
family friends peers magazines advertising scripture
What about you?
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"The most beautiful make-up of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy." Yves St. Laurent
"The mass media often trivialize our lives and our achievements, narrowing the litmus test of female worth to one question: Does she have dimpled thighs or crow's feet? If so, onto the trash heap of history." Susan Douglas
We're scared to try to uncover the beauty within us. Isn't it better, we reason, to dismiss beauty than to try to embrace something that we fear we don't have? Won't we look foolish if we think we are beautiful when we are not?
All of these were my thoughts as I began to think about how negative I had become toward beauty. I was so afraid that I didn't have "it" that I rejected it before "it" or anyone could reject me.
Think about occasions in your own life when you were at odds with the world's ideals of beauty. What false responses should we avoid?
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What I missed in this thinking was what a refusal to embrace beauty was doing to me and to my spirit, not to mention what it was doing to those around me.
The more I dismissed beauty as something that belonged to others, the more I rejected opportunities to nurture my own spirit. The more I held my physical appearance at arm's length and tried not to care about it, the more I died on the inside.
Do you agree that women are torn over how we see ourselves?
yes no maybe
if so, what does that do to us inside?
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But God is calling us to life! On the inside first, and then on the outside! We can't focus on the outside alone. Because, there is no beauty in make-up. Expensive clothes will not make you beautiful.
The secret of beauty lies in being an alive, awake woman with something to offer the world-namely, yourself.
What negative voices do you hear in your life about how you look? (E.g., from your past, your family, our culture)
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What happens to us when we listen to such voices rather than God?
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"I am beautiful to the one who loves me.' Or 'I will be Coved if I am beautiful.' In the gap between those two statements, thousands of women live in fear and sorrow." Karen Lee-Thorp and Cynthia Hicks Why Beauty Matters
"If thigh reducing creams really work, why don't they make your hand smaller?" Rita Rudner, Comedian
Beauty is:
* Less about your face, and more about your smile;
* Less about the shape of your eyebrows, and more about the light in your eyes;
* Less about the length of your legs, more about the bounce in your step.
As you participate in your life with a warm smile and a generous spirit, you can trust that you are beautiful.
What does it mean in practice to be "comfortable with who God made us to be?" To be God's "beloved"? To "embrace our beauty"?
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In what ways might our lives change if we pressed deeper into such truths?
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All my life I thought beauty was only what I looked like. Now I understand it's so much more than that.
True beauty cannot be separated into component parts. It is the total package that reveals someone's beauty, not one thing.
Living a fresh-brewed life brings out the beauty in us because it is revealing more of the authentic woman that God designed each of us to be.
How do we discover what Nicole calls "the secret of being an alive, passionate woman in this world"?
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Wake up and embrace your beauty!
Action Point: Are there women in your life-a daughter, a sister, a friend, a colleague-who need encouragement to discover the beauty God has given them? If so, list their names below.
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How will you share with them what you have learned here about real beauty?
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"May you live of the days of your life."
Jonathan Swift
Percolations
Books
* Why Beauty Matters, Karen Lee-Thorp and Cynthia Hicks
* The Good Life, Ruth McGinnis
* Fresh-Brewed Life: A Stirring Invitation to Wake Up Your Soul (chapter 4)
Movies
* Babette's Feast
* My Fair Lady
* Beauty and the Beast
Music
* Storms, Nancy Griffith
* Carry Us Through, Sarah Masen
Fresh-Brewed Adventures
* Write a letter to your mother about her beauty.
* If you've never spent a day at a spa, go for it. Get a massage and a facial, maybe a manicure or a pedicure. Treat yourself to a kindness day.
* If you've done the spa day before, try a listening retreat, for your soul. Find a spiritual director, and spend half a day with God.
Directed, Journaling
* Make two columns on your journal page. Write the names of your family members who communicated to you that you had worth and value. Underneath their names write some of the things they said that stand out in your mind. Was there anyone who told you that you were beautiful? Any special aunts or uncles or grandparents? Write their words in your journal.
* Now think through some of the negative messages you received. Who in your family caused you to question your worth? Was there a sibling or parent that constantly criticized your appearance? Was your father able to express his love to you? Write out prayers of forgiveness.
* For most of us, the second side of the page will be a lot easier to fill in. Not only do we remember the negative far more than we do the positive, chances are good that there wasn't as much positive.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Fresh-Brewed Life by Nicole Johnson Copyright © 2007 by Nicole Johnson. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Cup #1 Embrace Your Beauty....................1Cup #2 Listen to Your Longings....................13
Cup #3 Interview Your Anger....................25
Cup #4 Change Your World....................37