Natalie Grant - The Real Me: Being the Girl God Sees

Praise for The Real Me

With a soulful intensity, Grant succeeds both in retelling her painful path to freedom and in challenging women to stay healthy, be strong, and live joyously, unfettered by societys unrealistic definitions of beauty and value.

Publishers Weekly

Christian women spend a great deal of time discussing how the world negatively impacts the way we see and value ourselves. We are pros in discussing the epidemic of plastic surgery, the frightening trend in extreme dieting, and the alarming increase of women with eating disorders. This is how our culture chases beauty and perfection. And we speak about these issues with the naive and smug assumption that they would never... could never... find their way into our Bible believing, Christian homes. This is why Natalie Grant deserves a giant high five from a lot of us. In The Real Me, she basically takes a deep breath and tells the hard truth, shining the light on some very real and very dark ways that we believe lie upon lie about what makes us beautiful... and the countless ways we sabotage our roles as precious daughters of God. And get this: she was raised in a Christian home with all the blessings of a strong foundation... and she was still a fair target. Can I get an amen? You will find yourself nodding repeatedly as you identify with so many of her brave admissions. Ideally, this book should be read by every teenage girl whos ever stood too long in front of a mirror and wished for something much more than God, who with great care and purpose, granted her. And then, even more ideally, each of those girls should hand the book to her mother. Bravo, Natalie. And thank you.

Nichole Nordeman
Dove Award Winning Singer/Songwriter, Brave

In this compelling and captivating story, Natalie Grant unfolds her personal struggle with self-image issues, which eventually led to bulimia. Natalies honesty and transparency is sure to connect with the heart of any girl, regardless of her age. I commend Natalie for having the courage to boldly share what will undoubtedly set countless girls on the path to freedom.

Nancy Alcorn
President and Founder, Mercy Ministries

This book is like a song that pierces your soul. So real. Surprisingly honest. Natalie has the guts to say what so many only dare to think and feel. Every girl will find herself somewhere in the pages of this book and then... begin to see the girl God sees and get real.

Lisa Ryan
Feature Host, 700 Club

I am moved by Natalies honesty and poignancy. This book will speak volumes to both the secure and those that think theyre secure. Great job Natalie!

Lisa Kimmey
Dove Award Winning Artist/Songwriter/Producer

In The Real Me, Natalie Grant exposes her struggles in a desire to help encourage teens in a society pressured by perfection. As a teen, I desperately relate to her insecurities and battles with self image in the war to be genuinely confident in the girl Im created to be.

Joy Ladd
Co-author, The Power of a Positive Teen

Natalie related to so many of the feelings I have had and continue to have as a teen girl and as someone in the media. After reading The Real Me I felt like someone finally understood what it was like to be tested, not only in my faith in God, but in what I think about myself, how I push myself for acceptance. Natalie, thank you for sharing your story and for caring about the struggles of self-image in girls. God Bless!

Austin-Nichole Zachrich
Host/Creator, Austin-Nichole & Co. Teen Television Program

In The Real Me, Natalie Grant not only referred to her own life struggles and situations, but she used other peoples unique stories so that anyone could find themselves in this book. Personally I dont understand what its like to have an eating disorder, but there are other places in my life that I could compare the principles to. The words that God used through her were good and helped me a lot.

Allie
16 years old

A truly inspirational book, Natalie helps girls understand how God sees them and how to view themselves through Gods lens and not the worlds. Both encouraging and motivating, The Real Me inspires females to overcome the lies the world is constantly feeding themimages of unrealistic beauty, ridiculous expectations, and false hope.

Tamara
19 years old

The Real Me is the song of Natalie Grants heart. On each page she sings to us of her most precious lesson, how she learned to live in Gods love. Hers is a melody we all long to sing: we are loved. Indeed, we are loved.

Nika
29 years old

the REAL ME

theREAL ME

Being the Girl God Sees

Natalie Grant

2005 Natalie Grant. 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, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior 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, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75234. Used by permission. Other Scripture passages are from the following versions: The King James Version (KJV). THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV). 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The Message (MSG), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. The New King James Version (NKJV). 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLV), 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Personal profiles in this volume are true; however, in some instances names and details have been changed to protect identities. Appreciation goes to each individual whose profile has been used with permission.

Portions of lyrics reprinted throughout this volume are taken from the song The Real Me, Natalie Grant, 2004 NatInTheHat Music. Admin. by The Loving Company. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grant, Natalie, 1971
The real me : being the girl God sees / by Natalie Grant.
p. cm.
Summary: Contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Natalie Grant offers help and hope for women struggling with the issues of self-imageProvided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-8499-0882-8 (tradepaper)
1. Self-perception Religious aspectsChristianity. 2. Christian women
Religious life. I. Title.
BV4598.25.G73 2005
248.8'43dc22 2005015537

Printed in the United States of America
09 10 11 12 13 WC 12 11 10 9 8

For Jenna and Savannah

Contents

T his book is my story. However, I cannot accept all the credit for getting it onto these pages. So many wonderful and talented people helped me on this journey, and I would not have been able to add author to my resume without them.

First, I give honor to Jesus, the true Author of my life. I am so grateful to be a child of God.

Debbie Wickwire: you are a gem! Thank you for believing in my ability to write this book. I said, I cannot. But you said, Yes, you can. Thank you for your faith in me.