Debbye Turner Bell

Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Courageous Faith by Dr. Debbye Turner Bell is a Christian self-help book by a beauty pageant winner. The author is famous for being Miss America 1990, but her entire life wasn't crowns and sashes. She has experienced her own share of ups and downs. She's experienced feeling not good enough. She's faced her inner demons and survives. Thanks to her life experiences, she has plenty of advice for Christians who are going through a rough patch. She wants to help all of her readers to experienced victory and faith in God.

Here is an excerpt from the Prologue:

"As Miss America, I especially enjoyed speaking with young
people. I could be me—just Debbye—the girl who had a dream
come true. I encouraged young people to dream big, to work
hard, and to never give up. I used my own journey to the
Miss America crown as an example of how they could succeed
against the odds.
My goal for this book is the same. I want you to dream
big, work hard, never give up—and succeed. Succeed in being
and doing all that God has for you in this life. Nothing less!"

Overall, Courageous Faith is an interesting self-help book for Christians. I've never read a book written by a beauty pageant winner before, so that made this book interesting to me. (Side note: One of my favorite reality TV shows was Lifetime's Kim of Queens, but that is literally the extent of my knowledge of beauty pageants.) The author also does a good job of balancing general life advice with faith-based advice from a Christian perspective. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you enjoy reading Christian self-help books, I recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!… (altro)

Thank you in advance to the publisher, Our Daily Bread Publishing, for providing a complimentary review copy through BookishFirst. A positive review was not required and all words are my own.

With a tagline referring to FAITH OVER FEAR, it is a good bet this is written by a Christian person for Christian readers.

If you're Atheist, Agnostic, or not Christian in your faith - this book simply will not appeal to you.

This is not a NOVEL as in "fiction". This is definitely a "self-help" type read. And, it comes from a former Miss America title holder. What makes this interesting is that at a moment of low self-esteem she questioned God about her losses in certain pageants. That alone is reaching out to girls and women who struggle with self-esteem by showing them anyone can suffer it.

Turner-Bell recounts certain events in her life from miscarriages and other events and relied on faith to push forward. She uses that as a tool to guide others. It also shaped her mindset, personality, and drive forward. She also shows us that our events do not define us - how we handle them does.

Definitely enjoyed this read and didn't even know about her until I got this book.… (altro)

Inspiring and personal

Sometimes a book comes into my life unexpectedly and ends up being something I truly needed to read at that exact moment of my life. This inspirational and honest book became that for me.

This author's faith in God was never perfect; she shared her journey along God's path for her with personal details of her successes and failures in trusting that God has everything in control. I felt her pain of losing her mom to cancer and the deep grief she allowed herself to get lost in. I also felt the joy of pulling herself up and deepening her faith because of this hole in her life. She shared both her brokenness and healing and this was my favorite part of her writing.

Throughout the book, the author also coaches her readers and encourages them to take honest looks into themselves to find their own unique God-given strengths and talents and not compare themselves to others, depend on others for sense of worth, and to not judge the actions of other people. She shows her readers through so many personal examples that God hears every prayer and even if he doesn't answer right away (her teenage prayer about marriage wasn't answered until her late 30s!), God does answer every prayer. God may not answer in a way you want, but it is part of His plan. This faith kept the author going and taught her to persevere in all times. She reminded me that "Prayer should be a lifestyle....it is as elemental to our life, faith, and survival as air, food, and water." p.45… (altro)

Thanks to Our Daily Bread & NetGalley for a digital advance reader copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I didn't know who Debbye Turner Bell was before reading this memoir, but now she feels like a friend. She honestly and authentically tells her own story of how she depended on God throughout her life, highlighting her odyssey in becoming Miss America, her broadcast career, her marathon running, her search for a husband, their determination to build their family, and above all her spiritual growth and her "pursuit of faith over fear."

Throughout the book Debbye describes how she listens to and trusts God, and quotes scripture as evidence of the foundation of her faith. Each of the book's ten chapters explains another stage in her life as she grows stronger: from "Failure" to "Faith," "Determination" to "Excellence," all the way to "Overcoming" and finally to "Perseverance." Debbye returns again and again to the qualities of the title and how she couldn't have achieved the successes without the "Courageous Faith" from God.

Debbye's story is an encouragement any reader will appreciate. The book includes a short series of questions in each chapter that can be used as discussion questions for a group, or a way to pause and think about how God may be working in the reader's life.

This book would make a nice gift for anyone who wants to pursue a life of "faith over fear."… (altro)