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Grace Secures What Striving Cannot In this hustling, image-forward age of opportunity, we feel more anxious than ever. Despite all the affirming memes and self-reflections that dominate social media feeds, approval and worth often seem assigned to what we do rather than who we are. And we end up constantly feeling like we’re behind, lacking, and failing—at home, at work, with friends, with God. Ruth Chou Simons knows something about feeling measured by achievement, performance, and the approval of others. As a Taiwanese immigrant growing up between two cultures, Ruth was always on a mission to prove her worth, until she came to truly understand the one thing that changes everything: the extravagant, undeserved gift of grace from a merciful God. In When Strivings Cease, Ruth guides you on a journey to find freedom from the never-ending quest for self-improvement. She shows you how to confront the ways you look to superficial means of acceptance and belonging; find relief in realizing self-help isn’t the answer because you can’t be so amazing that you won’t need grace; stop seeing God as someone to perform for and start finding delight in responding to his welcome; and let go of trying to rely on your own strength, your own abilities, and your own savvy by truly understanding the freedom Jesus purchased for you. With personal stories, biblical insights, practical applications, and touches of original artwork by Ruth, this transformational book helps you see the beautiful truth that God’s favor is the only currency you need—because in Christ you are enough.
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I've read other books about not being enough, hustling for your worth, etc. and where those books fall flat at parts, I did not experience that when reading When Strivings Cease. Ruth Chou Simons navigates what it means to let go of striving for your value, for perfection, for whatever it is we hope to fill the gaps and spaces inside us with. To let go and redirect your gaze toward God, His character, His provision, and His truth. She reminds us how we are equipped to fight lies and how we are to view our insufficiency as a means of celebrating all the more God's sufficiency. She shares vulnerable and honest stories and anecdotes as helpful illustrations and is so relatable because she does not claim to have it all figured out. I also appreciated how she handled Scripture with a respect for context and its authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency.