Jan Silvious - Big Girls Dont Whine: Getting On With the Great Life God Intends

Someone once said, God can turn water into wine, but he cant do anything with your whining! But they were wrong! Jan Silvious teaches us that God can turn that whining little girl into the beautiful woman He intended her to become in the first place. And theres even more good newsbeing a Big Girl doesnt mean you stop having fun!

CHONDA PIERCE,
Comedienne and Recording Artist,
M2O/INO Records

Can one be five-foot short (like me) and be a Big Girl? Jan tells us straight its not our height but our chutzpah; our willingness to make strenuous choices on a daily basis. With crisp candor and Christ-compassion Jan calls us to the liberty of maturity. I have dipped in her well of wisdom on a number of occasions and I can verify Jan knows what she speaks of; shes truly a Big Girl!

PATSY CLAIRMONT,
WOF speaker, Author of The Shoe Box & The Hat Box

If you want to become a mature Christian woman, be sure to read BigGirls Dont Whine! With her characteristic wisdom, wit, and down-home practicality, Jan Silvious has given us a book that is captivating and timely. Like a mirror, the author reveals the painful reality of our broken expectations and imperfect reactions. She weaves biblical truth into every chapter while providing hope-filled answers and realistic action steps.

CAROL KENT,
President, Speak Up Speaker Services,
International Speaker and Author

This book is a gift to those of us who want to move beyond the injustices of the past and live in the glorious present of all God has for us. If you feel that you are stuck in your circumstances and cant move forward, Jan provides a door out of your pain and into freedom.

SHEILA WALSH,
WOF Speaker, Author of The Heartache No One Sees

Jan Silviouss specialty is giving down-to-earth advice that is really heaven-sent.

BETH MOORE,
Best Selling Author and Speaker

Big Girls Dont Whine is a perfect fit for all of us who long for a spiritual mentor, that mature woman in Christ who isnt afraid to shine a bright light in the shadowy corners of our hearts. Girlfriends, here she is: Jan Silvious offers a Big Girls calming voice of reason and maturity in a world of me, me, me Little Girls. With common sense and uncommon honesty, Jan teaches us all how to become grown-up women of God. A wise and wonderful book!

LIZ CURTIS HIGGS,
best-selling author of Bad Girls of the Bible

When Jan Silvious speaks I always sit up and take note. Her words are always practical and filled with God-honoring truth. Big GirlsDont Whine reassures me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jan Silvious is the big sister every girl needs.

BABBIE MASON,
Award winning singer, song writer, speaker and author

With a skilled verbal paintbrush, full of emotional color and intellectual honesty, Jan Silvious creates a stunning portrait of what it looks like to be a Big Girl. And by the grace of God, with her accurate portrayal to guide us, the picture can one day become a mirror.

NICOLE JOHNSON,
Women of Faith Dramatist, Author of
Keeping a Princess Heart in a Not-So-Fairy-Tale World

After reading Jans book, Id call myself a Big Girl with age-regression tendencies (i.e: I have whiny, little girl moments but rarely a whole day!). I love how Jan calls it as she sees it, making me feel like shes the Big Sis I never had. Her words are often convicting, but easy to take because theyre softened with humor, respect and wisdom. This book will be a resource for me for years to comeone Ill return to often as I continue to mature in my understanding of myself, my purpose, my God and my world.

LISA TAWN BERGREN,
best-selling author and president of Good Books & Company

Big Girls Dont Whine

Getting on with the Great LifeGod Intends

JAN SILVIOUS

2003 Jan Silvious.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from The NewAmerican Standard Bible, 1960, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.

Other Scripture references are from the following sources:

The Amplified Bible (AMP), Old Testament 1958, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). 1973, 1978, 1874, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

The Message (MSG), 1993. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The New King James Version (NKJV), 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Names in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

ISBN 978-0-8499-4441-3

Printed in the United States of America
09 10 11 12 QW 21 20 19 18

For the Big Girls who have gone before and
have shown me the way, I thank you.
For the Big Girls in process who follow, I applaud you.
Sandi, Heather, Lauren, Rachel and Bekah,
you are my heart.

And for the men in my life who enjoy women
being Big Girls, I am grateful.
Charlie, David, Jon, Aaron, Luke and Ben, I love you!

While others may argue about whether the world ends with a
bang or a whimper, I just want to make sure mine doesnt endwith a whine.

BARBARA GORDON,
American TV producer and writer

Contents

W HEN YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL, did you ever dream of growing up to be a big girl?

Did you want to hang around with the girls who were a grade ahead of you because their lives seemed so much more interesting than yours? Did you want to do the things they did and go the places they went? If so, then you already get the Basic Big Girl Philosophy: Being a big girl beats being a little girl by a long shot. No doubt you proclaimed to yourself or whoever would listen, I am a big girl! And your desire to be a big girl was fanned by all the neat things big girls get to do, like take trips, date, have jobs, make money, get married, have babies, or stay single, and stay up as late as they want!

The only problem is, when you are a big girl it can look really appealing to be a little girl again. After all, someone takes care of you, you dont have to think about money, you can send the little boys home when you are tired of them, you can hold a baby but dont have to change the dirty diapers, andoh dear, oh dear you have to go to bed early!

When the adult world gets a little stressful, there is no doubt that on some days, being a little girl surely would be more fun. It would be just so much easier to sit down and whine until someone came along and tucked you in for a nap. Being a little girl would just be so much easier.