I just finished reading the book, Nice Girls Don’t Change the World by Lynne Hybels.  It’s a small book and an easy read, but wow, what an impact it had on me!  In the book, Hybels (wife to Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago) tells how she lived most of her life believing that being a ‘nice girl’ (good, hard-working, socially acceptable, and generally pleasing to everyone) was the way to earn God’s favor.  In fact, she was so determined to earn God’s love (and everyone else’s), that she stifled her own gifts and desires so she could appear to be what she thought God and others really wanted.

Until one day, she utterly ran out of all energy…physically, emotionally and spiritually.  She tells in the book that she called out to God and said, “I can’t do it anymore…maybe there is a God who doesn’t drain the life out of His people, but I don’t know who that God is…”  Then she spent a decade digging out of that hole and renewing her mind and her view of God.

Lynne describes that her new goal in life is not to be a nice girl, who lives to please others, but a good woman, a dangerous woman, who lives to discern and live out the will of God.  She explains how a dangerous woman serves from her true self, the person God created, not like a cookie-cutter woman but one that shows up with everything she is and does not let fear hold her back.  Through her trials, Hybels discovered that a dangerous woman knows her unique life matters to God and is grounded in His love.

Lynne is now using her God-given gifts and desires as the Advocate for Global Engagement at Willow Creek Community Church.  She blogs at http://blog.sojo.net/author/lynne_hybels/

As a Children’s Minister, have you ever felt this way?  Do you feel that you must live up to everyone’s expectations or they will question you and your abilities?  Or have you had a desire to try something new in your ministry, but fear is holding you back?  If so, I urge you to read this book, pray, and give all that is holding you back from your calling to God.  If you need an understanding ear and some accountability, check out our Coaching Packages.

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