Phylicia Masonheimer - Stop Calling Me Beautiful: Finding Soul-Deep Strength in a Skin-Deep World

Table of Contents

Stop Calling Me Beautiful is a book every Christian woman needs to read. Phylicia breaks down pink fluff womens theology that has infiltrated the church and then builds a firm foundation on the true gospel that sets us free. If youre tired of surface-level teaching and shallow faith, this book will ignite a fire in your soul for a deeper walk with Jesus and draw you into the depths of the Word.

Gretchen Saffles, founder of Well-Watered Women

In a culture of so many vaporous words, Stop Calling Me Beautiful fed me on the substance of Gods nature and His Words over my life. I closed the pages of this rich book and wanted more of Him and His Word.

Sara Hagerty, bestselling author of Unseen and Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet

Stop Calling Me Beautiful is a strong, clear call for Christian women who long for a deeper, richer life and yet find themselves caught up in a feel-good, self-help, image-obsessed culture. Get ready to powerfully experience the thriving, transforming faith God intends for you.

Lisa Jacobson, author, cohost of the Faithful Life podcast, founder of Club31Women.com

Stop Calling Me Beautiful reveals how surface-level desires can keep us from soul-deep satisfaction. With honesty, clarity, kindness, and wisdom, Phylicia Masonheimer beckons us toward the greater depthand true beautyof biblical thinking, believing, and living.

Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well and Fierce Convictions

Our generation of women needs this book. Stop Calling Me Beautiful will not only take you deeper in your faith but will also motivate, challenge, and empower you to keep going deeper after the last page.

Valerie Metrejean Woerner, author of Grumpy Mom Takes a Holiday

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE , OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

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Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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Published in association with Books & Such Literary Management, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370, www.booksandsuch.com.

Stop Calling Me Beautiful

Copyright 2020 by Phylicia Masonheimer

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97408

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-7800-2 (pbk)

ISBN 978-0-7369-7801-9 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

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To all the women of strength, depth, and holy curiosity
who have gathered in my life and in my home:

You inspired this.

You anchored this.

You live this.

And to Adeline and Geneva:

May you become women
capable, confident, and complete in Christ.

CONTENTS

I attended my first Bible study when I was 16 years old. I came into the house clutching my copy of Beth Moores Believing God and spent the next 16 weeknights glued to my pastors TV screen. I still remember the homework from that study and how I diligently filled in the blanks and sat spellbound watching the videotaped lectures.

The study was my first taste of a deeper spiritual life. Though raised in a Christian home, I had little interest in or desire for Christianity until I turned 15. By that point Id been captive to a secret struggle for three years (more to come about this in chapter 8). I was desperate for a Christianity that was real. I wanted something that made a difference in my life.

Like most Christian girls, I knew I should read my Bible, pray, attend church, and have Christian friends, and I did all these things. But something was missing. Jesus was a theory more than a person. I read my Bible, but it was like I closed it on Him when I got up to go. I could defend Christianity intellectually, rationally, even emotionally, but God wasnt real to me spiritually . I floated on the surface of my faith and no one noticed, because most Christian women and girls were just like me.

Everything changed in college. I attended a Christian college in Virginia, and during my time there I met women who knew Jesus like Beth Moore did. They loved Him deeply. They served Him passionately. Their lives were so different from the cyclical patterns of defeat, guilt, and fear I knew. How do I get that? I wondered.

What I wanted was a life of victory. I wanted a spiritual life that was more than cute mugs emblazoned with the words Beautiful Woman of God. I saw the promises Jesus made in Scripture and was puzzled by the disconnect. If Jesus promised overcoming, victorious, abundant life, why wasnt I experiencing it? Why was my own life riddled with anger, criticism, sexual struggles, and insecurity? How could women like Beth and my college friends talk about God as if He were right there, speaking to them through the Bible, while I opened it and only felt bored, the words dry?

I asked a lot of questions in this journey. I began digging into Scripture, reading my Bible not just to memorize Christian behaviors but to know God Himself . I figured if other women could know Jesus in a personal way, I could too. So I started with what I had: the Word of God.

As my eyes were opened to Gods character in the Bible, my entire outlook was transformed. I saw that Christianity wasnt just about me my faith, my study, my growth, my self but was ultimately about God. It seems like such a basic conclusion, but it was profound in the moment.

Until then Id been seeking Jesus to learn more about myself. I sought Him to find peace or to get away from the effects of my sin. I followed Him, but mainly as a means to an end, and my spiritual life reflected that. When I began searching for God for Gods sake, I discovered the kind of spiritual walk Jesus came to initiate. I discovered what He meant by His promise that He had come to give us abundant life (John 10:10).