Book Report: You Are the Girl for the Job

You Are the Girl for the Job: Daring to Believe the God Who Calls You by Jess Connolly

The tricky part about dreaming big for a Christian is avoiding the “hype of self” that dominates our culture. We need a good dose of the gospel. If you’ve ever questioned your ability to step fully into the wild life God has planned for you with solid footing, Jess will be your new best friend. This girl loves the Bible; you could pretty easily guess that since she helped found the She Reads Truth movement. Her writing is saturated with stories and passages from Scripture and delivered with the voice of a cool big sister. She helps readers demolish mindsets that hinder progress so that the path is cleared for positive action.

A few of my favorite quotes:

What will be accomplished in your life has everything to do with God’s capacity and nothing to do with yours.

The Giver has given you an intentional set of strengths, and to shirk them, to hide them, to let them atrophy is the opposite of worship.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner … and nobody tells the Jesus-loving daughters of the King that their Father is holding out on them. He doesn’t have a scarcity mentality when it comes to you, so please don’t adopt one.

Not once has God put pressure on me to produce something worthy of His affection.

Knowing exactly what God wants us to do is not the aim of our life; worship is.

Let’s be women defined by action and activated faith, trusting God and His Word over how things look, how we feel, or what we fear.

Running on mission is better for my life. It’s not what He needs from me; it’s what He wants for me.

My biggest takeaway from this book is that the things I’ve always thought hold me back are actually gifts of God’s grace. Jess emphasizes “how important it is that we know our weaknesses and hold them like weapons against the darkness.” (Read that again.) I’d considered my strengths to be the best weapons against the darkness, but nope. As a broken person trying to love broken people in a broken world, the things I struggle with are an invitation to let God’s healing power rush in. No more shameful hiding, blaming, or defending. “We can be freedom fighters for other women around us when we go first [and] open up.” This process is what turns a mess into a message—one that the world desperately needs.

Ten questions based on the text I’ll need to journal through:

• What does my ideal self look like in this season? How has she been holding me back?
• Where do I need vision that God is the Hero and I am the rescue plan?
• Who am I broken for?
• Who is already listening to me?
• What strengths have been hiding in my weaknesses?
• Where have I been living small?
• What do I need to quit in order to find freedom from the comparison game?
• Which is my biggest struggle: that people will see me fail, that God will see me fail, or that I’ll see me fail?
• Is this something God has asked me to do on my own, or would a partner be a blessing to me and the kingdom?
• What does my stage look like? What’s in the shadows?