Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You by Jen Hatmaker


Synopsis
 No more hiding or people-pleasing up in here, sisters. No more being sidelined in your own life. It is time for us to be brave, to claim our gifts and quirks and emotions. You are set free and set up and set on fire. NOW you can get busy doing what you were placed on this planet to do. NOW you can be honest, honest, honest about all of it, even the hard stuff, even the humiliating stuff, even the secret stuff. NOW you can walk in your convictions of faith and ask new questions unafraid. NOW you can be so free, because you are not searching for value from any source other than your own beautiful soul made piece by piece by God who adores you and is ready to get on with the business of unleashing you into this world.

 In this book, I break it down into five self-reflective categories—who I am, what I need, what I want, what I believe, and how I connect—and by working your way through them, you will learn to own your space, ground, and gifts (they are YOURS, sister); be strong in your relationships and lay down passive aggression, resentment, drama, and compliance; say GUILT-FREE what you want and what you need; and welcome spiritual curiosity and all the fantastic change that doing so creates. You with me, beloveds? If we do this work on our own selves now, not only will we discover a life truly worth living, but we will free our daughters to rise up behind us, with spines straight, heads up, and coated in our strength.

 About the Author
 Jen Hatmaker is the author of the New York Times bestseller Of Mess and Moxie (plus twelve other books) and the host of the For the Love! with Jen Hatmaker podcast. She and her husband, Brandon, founded the Legacy Collective and also starred in the popular series My Big Family Renovation on HGTV. Jen is a mom to five, a sought-after speaker, and a delighted resident of Austin, Texas, where she and her family are helping keep Austin weird.

My Review

As a part of a huge launch team for this book, I have seen support for Jen Hatmaker from a variety of women - all ages, stages, personalities, sexualities, affirming, allies - you get the idea.

So many of these launch team members and JHat fans are finding life and affirmation in every page of this book. For me, however, it has been a different journey. Pandemic aside, this is not an easy read. While I felt very seen and affirmed by some of the chapters in this book, other chapters were too much for me. And yes, one of her main messages is that women should feel free and fierce and take up all their space. During the time in which I read this book, though, I watched one of my daughters have to deal with some friends of hers who take up so much of their space that they inadvertently took up some of hers as well, invading her margins and causing her pain in their criticism. I was taken backward in time almost twenty years ago, when I dealt with similar issues within a church setting, and it has been an emotional few weeks. And while I want to say yes to all things Jen, that would not be an honest response. My experience and personality says otherwise.

More than any of her other books to date, this book is not just for the church-going Christian woman. It is for all women. I would hand this book to any friend who says she is struggling to find where she fits in the world, or if she even does. To that question I offer this from the last page of the book:

“Let us know the real, whole you. Own it, embrace it, declare it all. Step up and out in truth; we are waiting. We need you. Every molecule of who you are, every experience you have ever had, ever dream you were made to chase, every place you were designed to serve--we are all out here waiting for you with open arms. Without question:
You are fierce.
You are free.
You are full of fire” (218).

All that to say, I do recommend this book. It is honest, well-organized, well-researched, and truthful. I would recommend it for many of my friends, but not all of them. My most conservative friends will probably not touch this book with the proverbial ten-foot pole, and there would also be some pearl-clutching at the decidedly PG language that occasionally crops up. That is okay; we are free to choose our own reading material.

As for me, I will continue to, as Jen says, “do the work.” I may not ever describe myself with the words of the title, but I will continue to find my place of service, and I will continue to do the work that God has given to me to do. I may not agree with everything in this book, but that is okay. I’m still here.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Thomas Nelson books, for the opportunity to read this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.