James Bryan Smith - The Good and Beautiful You: Discovering the Person Jesus Created You to Be

A few years after the first three books in the Good and Beautiful Series (The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life, and The Good and Beautiful Community) were published, I was in England speaking on the book series. My friend Joe Davis and I had dinner one evening. Joe said to me, The book series has been one of the most helpful tools I have used in ministry. Thank you for your work.

I thanked him for saying this. Then he said, But you are missing one book.

What book is missing? I asked.

The Good and Beautiful You, Joe said.

Why do you say this, Joe?

Because I have used the books with many groups, and while they have helped heal peoples false God narrativeswhich is crucialI have found that many Christians have very toxic self-narratives, which makes it difficulteven impossibleto progress in their lives.

I sat in silence for a while. In that moment I knew, intuitively, that Joe was right. I had assumed the trilogy was complete, but when he uttered those words, the good and beautiful you, I knew there would come a day when I would need to write this book. But at the time Joe said this to me, I was not ready to write this book. There is an old saying I like: When you are ready, the right book will find you. I think it is also true in writing: When you are ready, the right book will emerge from you.

Over the next few years in my own journey, I would discover new, wonderful truths about my identity. Some of these truths were things I had known but had forgotten and suddenly they came to life again in my soul. David Brooks said that he writes, in part, to remind myself of the kind of life I want to live. I suppose that is true of many of us who write. But in this case, it really happened. I was able, in writing this book, to rediscover the beauty and goodness of my own soul, and how my soul longs for things only God can provide. And I would learn that God, in Christ, has provided all of those thingsfor me, and for you. Writing this book has helped me to live the kind of life my soul has longed to live.

During the writing of this book, my mother and father-in-law, Penny and Emil Johnson, gave me a wonderful present. It is a framed print of one of my favorite sayings, It is well with my soul. They gave it to me just as this book was coming together, and it gave me great joy to have something on the wall that reminded me of the importance of wellness for our souls. Now when I see it every day, I am grateful for the journey this book took me on, and what a joy it is to say each day, It is well with my soul. Not because of anything I have done, but because God, who is good and beautiful, has provided everything our souls need.