Grace Valentine - What Will They Think?: Nine Women in the Bible Who Can Help You Live Your Life Boldly

What Will They Think?

2022 Grace Valentine

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations 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.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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ISBN 978-0-7852-9306-4 (audiobook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9305-7 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9304-0 (TP)

Epub Edition April 2022 9780785293057

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022002732

Printed in the United States of America

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To Debbie Wickwire: Thank you for believing in twenty-year-old me. I was so sad you retired but happy that this book could be one of our last projects together. I am better for knowing you. I pray that one day I can help raise up more women in their calling in the way you raised me. Thank you for being bold and teaching me to be bold. You will always be my book mom and a cheerleader in my life!

And to the women in the Bible whom I hope to meet in heaven one day: Thank you for reminding me that women were never afterthoughts for God. Thank you for teaching me to be bold. I pray to have your strength.

BOOK INTRODUCTIONS ARE WEIRD, ESPECIALLY WHEN youre the one writing them. There is so much I want to say, but I dont want to scare you off. I want you to be intrigued. I want you to be reading the introduction while drinking your coffee and thinking, Yep! This is going to be a good one. I can feel it.

Introductions feel weird because Im worried what you will think about me. And there are a lot of things I want to result from this two-thousand-word introduction:

• I want to convince you that this book is relatable.
• I want to convince you that Im not a weird or boring Christian. I want you to think Im a fun girl who would watch your favorite reality TV show with you.
• I want you to flip to the back of the book, see the picture of me, and think it looks good. I know its silly, but I got my roots touched up before I took that shot, so I want you to think Im decently cute.
• I want you to believe that Scripture can help you work through the problem you are struggling with.
• Oh, and I really want you to like me. I cant help but wonder, What will she think about me after she reads this introduction?

I hate to admit that last part. I wish I could say I was this chill girl who never cared about what you, a stranger I may never meet, thought about me. But the truth is Im sitting here typing worried about whether you will like me or truly understand that I have your back. I really want you to think, Dang, I would love to hang out with that girl and just talk about life. And I wish I could say that whenever someone talks about me behind my back, I pray for reconciliation and shrug it off. But Im not a shrug it off type of girl. Im more of an obsess over every word someone says and overanalyze my actions to the point where it makes me socially awkward type of girl.

I get anxious around people I want to impress, even strangers. I get in my head and come up with lies about how I think others perceive me. Unfortunately, this anxiety and desire to be liked has often stopped me from being bold.

Anyone else feel like this?

What will they think? is a question that has stopped me from doing what I feel called to do more times than I can count. Let me start by saying that the word called can be overused and confusing. You may be thinking, Great, another Christian writer is talking about knowing that God has called her to do something when I dont know if I even picked the right major.

It can be confusing to know what youre called to do. Being called isnt necessarily hearing a deep voice yell at you or getting the chills, and theres rarely a burning bush. Being called is feeling a tug on your heart to do something that would glorify God and align with Scripture. Its that prompting to text an old friend and ask how she is doing. Its that urge you feel to lead a Bible study for high schoolers. Its that desire to make a difference in your hometown or the nudge you feel to ask someone if they need a helping hand. We have all been called by God to do something, and you, too, might feel a calling on your heart right now. But I think we can all admit that we have neglected a call before because we were too busy thinking, What will they think?

One thing Ive learned is that being bold is a verb, not a destination. You cant just bibbidi-bobbidi-boo yourself into being bold; you must choose boldness daily and learn how to stop caring about what others will think of you. Even as the author of this book, I have to remind myself not to care what you will think about me as you read it. I care about your struggles and your burdens, and I care for your heart and your purpose, so I constantly have to remind myself to focus on all those things instead of wasting my energy worrying about whether you think Im cool.

When I wrote my first book, there was one chapter I felt nudged to redo before it was published. Originally, I cared too much about what my mom and grandma would think when they read a specific personal story, but I finally realized the book wasnt for them. So after months of ignoring the nudge, I emailed my amazing publisher at the last minute, and they let me change it to include that personal story. How sad would it have been if I had missed out on what God was saying to me because I was worried about my grandma knowing I made mistakes? How sad would it be for you to miss out on a career, service opportunity, relationship, conversation, or Gods best for you because you were too worried about what people might think?