Stronger Than You Think: Becoming Whole Without Having to Be Perfect. A Woman's Guide

by Kim Gaines Eckert

Overview

If you've known broken relationships . . .If you've ever felt like you don't measure up . . .If you've suspected something inside you might be missing or flawed . . .This book is for you.Kim Gaines Eckert, psychologist and counselor, has spent years helping women with a variety of life issues, from self-esteem and body image to developing healthy relationships and healing from the past. At the heart of their struggle, she believes, is not the desire to be perfect, but the desire to be whole. And wholeness, she is convinced, ultimately comes only from God.In this book Kim invites you into her conversations with women. You'll discover you are not alone in your struggles, and you'll learn from her practical and proven guidance for growth and change. And because growth is always more powerful in community, each chapter includes questions for you to explore in a small group.Let Kim Gaines Eckert show how God can mend your brokenness and help you become a whole, healthy person—the woman he created you to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830833733
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	01/19/2007
Pages:	241
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Kim Gaines Eckert (Psy.D.) is assistant professor of psychology and counseling at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. She is also clinical director of Kids' Talk, the Lee University play therapy center.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Part 1: longing for wholeness
1. Searching for Wholeness in Romance, Motherhood or Career
Why a Broken World Leaves Us Disappointed
2. Finding Wholeness in Our True Identity
Relational Beings Made in God's Image

Part 2: Growing Inward
3. Learning to Use Your Voice
Recovering from the Negative Messages of Girlhood
4. Negative Self-Talk
How the Way We Think Affects the Way We Feel
5. When Your Emotions Get the Best of You
Growing Through Anger, Anxiety and Depression
6. Never Good Enough
Building Healthy Self-Esteem
7. Doing Battle with Your Body
Developing a Healthy Body Image in a Toxic Body Culture

Part 3: Growing Outward
8. Rethinking Female Sexuality
Sexual Intimacy, Single Sexuality and Sexual Wounds
9. The Search for Connection
Growing Healthy Intimate Relationships
10. Restoring Your Broken Heart
Healing from Loss, Abuse and Other Relational Wounds
11. Wholly Broken. . . Yet Still Whole
Reaching Out to a Hurting World

Part 4: Growing in Community
Questions for Discussion and Reflection

Further Reading
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index

What People are Saying About This

Jan Silvious

"Solid, thought-provoking, healing, challenging. These four words describe my reaction to Stronger Than You Think. With the mix of the straightforward teacher and the insightful therapist, Kim Eckert gives women a book that speaks to our heads and our hearts. If it is time for you to take a positive, life-altering journey, this woman's guide is for you. I loved it."
— Jan Silvious, author of Foolproofing Your Life and Big Girls Don't Whine

Judith Balswick

"This excellent woman's guide, Stronger Than You Think: Becoming Whole Without Having to Be Perfect, offers a much-needed message to the women I know. Regardless of age, relational brokenness leads to internal pain and a profound longing for wholeness. Kim Eckert uses sound psychological insight and biblical truth to provide tools for the journey of growing inward and outward. It's an amazing experience to accept and love the you God created through healing relationships."
— Judith Balswick, marriage and family therapist, and coauthor of A Model for Marriage

Stephen Arterburn

"Every woman who worships the god of perfection can come to know the God of the universe while discovering the wonder of who God has made you to be."
— Stephen Arterburn, author of Healing Is a Choice

Cara Davis

"The battleground for women's souls is in the mind. Stronger Than You Think equips women with the armor they need to combat society's messages, Satan's deceptions and our own internal misgivings."
— Cara Davis, editor, Radiant magazine, and editorial director, RELEVANT Media Group

Mark R. McMinn

"This book will make you think and feel and grow. Kim Gaines Eckert draws on her extensive knowledge in Christian theology, spiritual formation and psychology, and yet makes it practical for everyday life. This is not just a helpful book for women, but also for the men who walk alongside women as friends, colleagues and lifelong partners."
— Mark R. McMinn, Ph.D., professor and author of Finding Our Way Home: Turning Back to What Matters Most

Virginia Todd Holeman

"Stronger Than You Think offers to women and men sound theology and practical psychology on managing many of the perplexing dilemmas of being human. If you struggle with self-esteem, body image or relationship matters, then this book will help you to grow into the whole person that God created you to be."
— Virginia Todd Holeman, Ph.D., professor of counseling, Asbury Theological Seminary

Editorial Reviews

"The battleground for women's souls is in the mind. Stronger Than You Think equips women with the armor they need to combat society's messages, Satan's deceptions and our own internal misgivings."

Cara Davis

"Honest and hopeful, Stronger Than You Thing is a guide that will partner well with any woman—no mater where she is along life's journey."

What's New on the Bookshelf with Shirley Updyke

"This excellent woman's guide, Stronger Than You Think: Becoming Whole Without Having to Be Perfect, offers a much-needed message to the women I know. Regardless of age, relational brokenness leads to internal pain and a profound longing for wholeness. Kim Eckert uses sound psychological insight and biblical truth to provide tools for the journey of growing inward and outward. It's an amazing experience to accept and love the you God created through healing relationships."

Judith Balswick

"A timely book in an era when women are pressured to be and do more than ever before . . . A beneficial starting place for group discussions and growth."

Dawn Gentry

"This book will make you think and feel and grow. Kim Gaines Eckert draws on her extensive knowledge in Christian theology, spiritual formation and psychology, and yet makes it practical for everyday life. This is not just a helpful book for women, but also for the men who walk alongside women as friends, colleagues and lifelong partners."

Mark R. McMinn

"Solid, thought-provoking, healing, challenging. These four words describe my reaction to Stronger Than You Think. With the mix of the straightforward teacher and the insightful therapist, Kim Eckert gives women a book that speaks to our heads and our hearts. If it is time for you to take a positive, life-altering journey, this woman's guide is for you. I loved it."

Jan Silvious

"Stronger Than You Think offers to women and men sound theology and practical psychology on managing many of the perplexing dilemmas of being human. If you struggle with self-esteem, body image or relationship matters, then this book will help you to grow into the whole person that God created you to be."

Virginia Todd Holeman

"Women, this book is for us! You will walk away with insight about wholeness and it's relation to brokenness and how incorporating the broken parts of us can be used by God to effectively respond to the pain and brokenness in this world we live in."

Five Star Book Reviews More by The Reading Mom

"Every woman who worships the god of perfection can come to know the God of the universe while discovering the wonder of who God has made you to be."

Stephen Arterburn

"Solid, thought-provoking, healing, challenging. These four words describe my reaction to Stronger Than You Think. With the mix of the straightforward teacher and the insightful therapist, Kim Eckert gives women a book that speaks to our heads and our hearts. If it is time for you to take a positive, life-altering journey, this woman's guide is for you. I loved it."

--Jan Silvious, author of Foolproofing Your Life and Big Girls Don't Whine

"Stronger Than You Think offers to women and men sound theology and practical psychology on managing many of the perplexing dilemmas of being human. If you struggle with self-esteem, body image or relationship matters, then this book will help you to grow into the whole person that God created you to be."

--Virginia Todd Holeman, Ph.D., professor of counseling, Asbury Theological Seminary

"A timely book in an era when women are pressured to be and do more than ever before . . . A beneficial starting place for group discussions and growth."

--Dawn Gentry, SCJ, Spring 2009

"Honest and hopeful, Stronger Than You Thing is a guide that will partner well with any woman--no mater where she is along life's journey."

--What's New on the Bookshelf with Shirley Updyke, WRGN, March 5, 2007

"The battleground for women's souls is in the mind. Stronger Than You Think equips women with the armor they need to combat society's messages, Satan's deceptions and our own internal misgivings."

--Cara Davis, editor, Radiant magazine, and editorial director, RELEVANT Media Group

"This excellent woman's guide, Stronger Than You Think: Becoming Whole Without Having to Be Perfect, offers a much-needed message to the women I know. Regardless of age, relational brokenness leads to internal pain and a profound longing for wholeness. Kim Eckert uses sound psychological insight and biblical truth to provide tools for the journey of growing inward and outward. It's an amazing experience to accept and love the you God created through healing relationships."

--Judith Balswick, marriage and family therapist, and coauthor of A Model for Marriage

"Women, this book is for us! You will walk away with insight about wholeness and it's relation to brokenness and how incorporating the broken parts of us can be used by God to effectively respond to the pain and brokenness in this world we live in."

--Five Star Book Reviews More by The Reading Mom, September 2007

From the Publisher

"Women, this book is for us! You will walk away with insight about wholeness and it's relation to brokenness and how incorporating the broken parts of us can be used by God to effectively respond to the pain and brokenness in this world we live in."

Five Star Book Reviews & More by The Reading Mom