Rebecca Smith - A Better Life: Slowing Down to Get Ahead

Rebecca has written the anthem for a slow and rich life that we all need to hear! Refreshing and poignant, A Better Life illuminates a different path forward for usone of intentionality and reliance on Gods leading. Thank you, Rebecca, for championing little by little steps forward and helping us see how they add up in such beautiful ways. A must-read!

LARA CASEY, CEO of Cultivate What Matters, author of Cultivate and Make It Happen

Rebecca is the kind of friend you want to have coffee with every day. Shes a soft place to landfull of empathy. But her words always stir me to moreshe speaks truth. This book is like the worlds best coffee date: a story full of redemption and mission and the grace of God but also a call to slow down so we can follow him more clearly to what hes prepared for us.

JESS CONNOLLY, author of You Are the Girl for the Job and Take It Too Far

There is a magic in slowing down that Rebecca illustrates so beautifully in A Better Life. This is the permission slip you need to lean inlean in to small signs and quiet beginnings, to moments when you feel a tug at your heart, to hard times, and to failure. Youll catch yourself in a new pace in life after reading this book, and youll never look back.

JESSICA HONEGGER, founder of Noonday Collection, author of Imperfect Courage

A Better Life is not about stopping your ambition but channeling your ambition for something much bigger than you. God is in every detail of your calling, not just the end result. Inside these pages, Rebecca will show you how to slow down, trust God for every step, and see him do more than you could ever aspire to do on your own.

MICHELLE MYERS, founder of she works HIS way

Rebecca lives the kind of life thats rich in hope and vision and step-by-step obedience. Ive had a front-row seat, and Im glad to have her words now to encourage and inspire us all to live our own better life.

HAYLEY MORGAN, author of Preach to Yourself, coauthor of Wild and Free

If youve ever worried that your life is too ordinary to make a difference in the world or that a passion for social justice requires a passport and a plane ticket, then this is the book for you. Rebecca invites us into her Detroit neighborhood and shows us that all you really need is to open your front door and meet your neighbors. Its not always comfortable or convenient, but it is completely ordinary and totally game changing. Trust me, youll look at your life and the people in it differently after this.

LlSA-JO BAKER, bestselling author, cohost of the Out of the Ordinary podcast

This book is for the person who needs the comforting reassurance that they dont have to have it all figured out to make a difference. Rebecca has such a gift for being fully honest, transparent, and relatable. This message resonates with anyone who has a desire in their soul to change the world by starting small.

MOLLY STILLMAN, writer, stillbeingmolly.com, host of the Business with Purpose podcast

Rebecca spots God in the details of her life and makes readers excited to do the same for themselves. I loved every chapter more than the one before. This book ended too soon!

EMILY THOMAS, host of the Mom Struggling Well podcast

Rebecca drew me in from page one with her engaging storytelling, and I gained a newfound desire to have her as my next-door neighbor. But it was seeing Scripture come alive through her eyes that made this book a page-turner for me. As her powerful story unfolded, it reminded me once again that simple steps of obedience to a kingdom purpose truly do walk us toward not just a better life but the best life.

JEN SCHMIDT, author of Just Open the Door, host of the Becoming Conference, blogger at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Have you ever wanted to know what it would look like if you said yes to Godrepeatedly? That is what Rebecca shares in A Better Life. Her life of obedience is both the inspiration and the challenge for readers to follow God, no matter where he leads or what he asks.

MALINDA FULLER, author of Obedience Over Hustle

ZONDERVAN BOOKS

A Better Life

Copyright 2020 by Rebecca Smith

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Zondervan titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@Zondervan.com.

ISBN 978-0-310-35759-9 (audio)

Epub Edition March 2020 9780310357582

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Smith, Rebecca, 1983- author.

Title: A better life : slowing down to get ahead / Rebecca Smith.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2020. | Summary: In her down-to-earth and helpful debut book, A Better Life: Slowing Down to Get Ahead, Rebecca Smith the founder of Better Life Bags shares her story of how God can use even the smallest decisions in our lives to lead us into big adventures as we love others right where we are Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019034874 (print) | LCCN 2019034875 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310357575 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780310357582 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Christian womenReligious life. | Christian life.

Classification: LCC BV4527 .S63355 2020 (print) | LCC BV4527 (ebook) | DDC 248.4dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019034874

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019034875

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The author is represented by the literary agency of Alive Literary Agency, www.aliveliterary.com.

Cover design: Connie Gabbert | Design + Illustration
Black fabric on cover: Better Life Bags
Blue fabric on cover: Emilie Fosnocht / patternbank
Interior design: Denise Froehlich

Printed in the United States of America

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For Neil. Im so grateful to get to walk these days

with you by my side. You are my best friend.

To my precious kids, who remind me every

day that this life is big and beautiful

and funny and worth living.

To my parents, who started this little life

of mine back in 1983. Thank you for always

being my biggest cheerleaders