Book Review: "Set Apart Femininity" (Reviewed January 2009)

Set Apart Femininity by Leslie Ludy is an excellent book about embracing femininity and choosing to walk a higher path as a set-apart young woman.

This book offers a fresh approach in becoming a young woman who strives to build her life around Christ. I was especially challenged in two areas, prayer and missions.

I was challenged to find new ways to implement prayer into my life. The author exhorts to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and while this phrase taken literally seems like a difficult feat to accomplish, I was encouraged that through Christ's strength in me, as well as the practice of thanking God for the little blessings He gives me throughout each day (even as small as folding a load of laundry quicker than I expected or a smaller than usual amount of dirty jars returned from our milk customers), I can have frequent communication with God throughout the day. The thought of "praying without ceasing" brings to my mind the idea of sitting still in my room and praying all day, but that doesn't have to be the case!

The other area in which I was challenged was missions. I tend to adopt the mindset that as long as I am striving to serve my family than I am doing everything that is expected of me in the realm of "reaching out". However, through this book, I was reminded of the greater scope of things and the need for me to be willing (and eager) to serve others I may come in contact with.

I highly recommend this book, especially for girls in their late teen years and early twenties.