Nicole Unice - The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

The disconnect between what we believe and how we actthis changes everything. The Struggle Is Real is a practical guidebook to help us take God at His word and live lives of freedom and power.

JENNIE ALLEN

Author of Nothing to Prove; founder and visionary of the IF:Gathering

Max De Pree used to say that the first task of a leader is to define reality. That is what Nicole Unice has done in The Struggle Is Real. But she doesnt just define it, she gives us the hope to cope.

JOHN ORTBERG

Senior pastor of Menlo Church, Menlo Park, California; author of Id Like You More If You Were More like Me

Ive known Nicole Unice for nearly a decade, and I can honestly say that if shes anything, Nicole is real and she has a real passion for others to embrace how real God can be in their real lives. In The Struggle Is Real, Nicole pours out this passion in an accessible read. Turning these pages is like sitting with a safe friend in a sunny spot and coming away with a refreshed perspective on the real difference God can make in our lives.

ELISA MORGAN

Speaker; author of The Beauty of Broken and The Prayer Coin; cohost of Discover the Word; president emerita of MOPS International

Youre going to love Nicole Unice. Shes bright, funny, observant, honest, and fearless about speaking the truth in love. Her advice in The Struggle Is Real is practical and doable, full of common sense and uncommon wisdom, and her true-to-life stories give each lesson a solid landing place in our hearts. This isnt a book you simply read; its a book you do, with remarkable results.

LIZ CURTIS HIGGS

Bestselling author of Bad Girls of the Bible

Many of us have grown weary of books that offer simplistic steps promising easy transformation. This is not that kind of book. Nicole Unice writes from a deep place of reflection and personal experience about how real is the struggle... and how real is the process of true growth and change. I urge you to join her on the journey.

NANCY BEACH

Leadership coach with Slingshot Group; author of Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading as a Woman in the Church

We live in a day when we Instagram our lives to be perceived as more than mundane. We Pinterest our meals and homes to present a perception of the fabulous life. Im grateful for Nicoles book The Struggle Is Real because of the way she uses honesty, humor, and the Word of God to liberate us from the pretense of presenting the perfect life.

DAVID M. BAILEY

Founder and executive director of Arrabon; coauthor of the Race, Class, and the Kingdom of God study series

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The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

Copyright 2018 by Nicole Unice. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of ice cream copyright Yuji Kotani/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jennifer Phelps

The author is represented by Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary, Inc.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. (Some quotations may be from the earlier NIV edition, copyright 1984.) Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture quotations marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version, copyright 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The names and identifying details of some of the individuals whose stories appear in this book have been changed to protect their privacy.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at , or call 1-800-323-9400.

ISBN 978-1-4964-2746-5 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4964-2747-2 (sc)

Build: 2021-04-21 22:36:06 EPUB 3.0

To all the people whove shared their stories with me over the last twenty yearsI am so grateful.

Your words have shaped my life.

Youve helped me find a passion for the redeemed story that is available to us all.

There are days when we feel we are close to overcoming those daily struggles and habits that hold us back. There are other days when we feel well never get out of our stuck place. And much of the time, no one knows what we are going through.

Nicole Unice understands that most of our struggles will never make the daily news. Nobody knows about our feelings of low self-esteem or our sense of being surrounded by friends but feeling lonely in marriage. Very few people dig deep enough to understand how our childhood experiences have shaped us as adults. Nicole will help you do this and more. The Struggle Is Real feels like a crack in the door filled with light. Maybe there is hope for us. Maybe there is a way out.

I have known Nicole for over twenty years. She draws from a deep well of experience and compassion for people. She is a gifted writer and Bible teacher, but most of all, she is a woman of deep faith who loves the Word of God and tells stories that help people feel understood.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17, the apostle Paul writes that our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Nicole Unice gets this. She understands that there is purpose and meaning in our struggles. Through her writing, Nicole not only touches the deepest part of us, she offers us tools to get us out of the stuck place and find life again. As a fellow struggler and a pastor for over thirty years, I found myself both laughing and brought to tears as I read, but most of all, this book has given me hope. I think you will find hope too.

Peace,

Pete Bowell

Hope Church

Richmond, Virginia

Before we begin, I need to ask you a question:

How are you?

If youre like me, when asked this at the grocery store or by a friend you havent seen in a while, your response is usually: Fine! After all, we can tick off our big blessingsa roof over our heads, shoes on our feet, dinner on the table. Fine almost feels like a required answer, especially for the Christian. After all, since God has done so much for us, shouldnt our leading perspective be gratitude and