Dale Hanson Bourke - Second Calling: Finding Passion and Purpose for the Rest of Your Life

Like all women, I have experienced the freefall of transition about whats nextbut also the fulfillment that Dale affirms throughout this book. In many ways, my second calling is the most meaningful thing I have ever done. I can change the world in a different way now. So can every woman.

GENERAL CLAUDIA KENNEDY
Retired Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Intelligence and the first woman
to achieve the rank of three-star general in the U.S. Army

I loved this book. It takes everything our culture tells us about a womans worth and turns it on its headright side up. When we are being told that our best days are over, Dale reminds us that in Gods kingdom the best is yet to be. If you are tired of running through your life, here is an invitation to be still and hear Gods second calling. It will change your life and, by Gods grace, change our world.

SHEILA WALSH
Women of Faith speaker and author of
Im Not Wonder Woman but God Made Me Wonderful

This is the book I have prayed for ten years God would lead someone to writean articulate, authentic Halftime book for women. Women are differentthank God! Different priorities. Different tensions. Living in a different time. Dale Hanson Bourke gets it just right in Second Calling.

BOB BUFORD
Author of Halftime and Finishing Well and founder
of Leadership Network

A serious but witty book full of hope for any woman with any doubt that God has a purpose and plan for the back half of her life.

PEGGY WEHMEYER
Host of World Vision Report

Second Calling is a wonderful book for women such as me who are navigating a life landscape filled with physical, emotional, familial, and spiritual change. For those of us in a season of shifting priorities and purposes, Dale Hanson Bourke affirms our desire for continued service and significanceand shares how we can discover anew that with God, the best truly is yet to come!

JANE JOHNSON STRUCK
Editor of Todays Christian Woman magazine

This book made me uncomfortable. Thats saying a lot. Usually I can tell where an author is headed and get there before they do, thus insulating myself from the surprise that results in having to consider change. But Dale wound me in with her honest, human confessions so much that by the time she rounded certain corners in her self examination and spiritual processing, I went with her.

Rats. Now I have to be different. Note that verb: not do something different. That would be somehow easier. Now I have to be different in the second half of my life... Thanks, Dale.

ELISA MORGAN
President and CEO of MOPS International

My heart resonates with Dale Bourkes heart as she shares midlife hunger for more of God. Whatever your season of life, you will be blessed and spurred on to seek Him with more of your heart.

DENALYN LUCADO
Pastors wife, mother of three, and author

Like a good friend, Dale peels back her personal-life layers to reveal a timely message of clarity. I loved how she wove Naomis story into relevant insights for me. [Second Calling is] an encouraging must-read for all of us who want to see what God has in store for the rest of our lives! Relevant. Real. Honest.

JOANI SCHULTZ
Chief Creative Officer of Group Publishing

I wholeheartedly recommend Second Calling. I love Dales insight that midlife offers women a holy break and the opportunity to forge a new identity that is grounded in prayer and is world-changing in scope. On every page of this wise and well-crafted book I found both affirmation and challenge. I sincerely hope that millions of midlife women will read Second Calling, become convinced that the best is yet to come, and make themselves fully available to a new work of God in and through them. As Dale says, together we can bring the Kingdom of God to earth in every imaginable way.

LYNNE HYBELS
Willow Creek Community Church
Author of Nice Girls Dont Change the World

In a culture that endlessly reminds women my age that we are past our prime, Dale shows us that Gods plans for us are just beginning. In giving us a new perspective of the life of Naomi, she also gives us courage to let go of those things that once defined us, and to embrace Gods second calling on our lives.

RENEE STEARNS
Former attorney, wife, mother of five, and speaker on
womens issues and the poor

Second Calling will serve as a wonderful resource to the thousands of individuals seeking to answer Gods call on their lives. At Bridgestar, we work every day with men and women, secular and faith-based, who are asking whats next? in looking for senior management jobs in the nonprofit sectormany after successful careers in business, government, or returning to work after raising a family. If you want to embrace the second half of your life with passion, power and purpose, Second Calling will help you take a big first step. Enjoy!

DAVID SIMMS
Managing Partner of Bridgestar, an initiative of The Bridgespan Group

Dales honest self-reflection encouraged me to do the same. I appreciated her invitation to pause and consider mid-course adjustments for the second half of life. The challenge to realign priorities around relationships and activities that will have lasting impact was communicated as one spiritual wrestler to another. I found Dales insights from the book of Ruth and stories from the lives of contemporary friends to be compelling examples of commitment to eternal significance.

LAURA CROSBY
Speaker and creator of Cross-training, a ministry of spiritual mentoring
at Christ Presbyterian Church, Edina, MN

YES! As a woman definitely in the second half of life, I found myself identifying deeply with Dales excitement about the possibilities. Not doing more, but going deeper, having more to give. The subtitle says it all: passion and purpose for the rest of my life. It doesnt get better than that! Sisters, we need to help one another discover our second calling.

NETA JACKSON
Author of The Yada Yada Prayer Group fiction series

To Peggy Wehmeyer Woods
and
Linda LeSourd Lader,
my friends and fellow travelers
on this journey of the soul.

2006 by Dale Hanson Bourke.

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Some names and details have been changed to respect the privacy of people whose personal stories are shared in this book.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Cover Design: Brand Navigation, LLCDeAnna Pierce, Bill Chiaravalle, www.brandnavigation.com