Disciplines Of The Beautiful Woman

Here is a book for women that is personal, convincing, practical; a guidebook without tricks or gimmicks for women who want to live their lives more efficiently and more fully. With charm and humor the author helps women see how they can eliminate the unessential from their everyday lives and have more time and energy for what is really important.

For the woman who wants to be truly beautiful, inside and out, Anne Ortlund's trio of bestselling handbooks offers all the practical "how-to's" and thoughtful encouragement she needs. Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman, Ortlund's first bestseller, challenges women to reshape their lives, their households, and their schedules according to God's liberating priorities. Disciplines of the Heart focuses on the "heart life" and shows readers how to move from preoccupation with "things" to a satisfying intimacy with God. The finale, Disciplines of the Home, offers inspiration and practical guidance on creating and enjoying a family home that restores, nourishes, and blesses all who enter. Women who long for inner peace will cherish this warm, personal guide to godly, beautiful living.

Hughes helps women to scrutinize their lives and tells their poignant stories with faithful reminders to develop the godly character they desire. (Women's Issues)

Sarah Banet-Weiser complicates the standard feminist take on beauty pageants in this intriguing look at a hotly contested but enduringly popular American ritual. She focuses on the Miss America pageant in particular, considering its claim to be an accurate representation of the diversity of contemporary American women. Exploring the cultural constructions and legitimations that go on during the long process of the pageant, Banet-Weiser depicts the beauty pageant stage as a place where concerns about national identity, cultural hopes and desires, and anxieties about race and gender are crystallized and condensed. The beauty pageant, she convincingly demonstrates, is a profoundly political arena deserving of serious study. Drawing on cultural criticism, ethnographic research, and interviews with pageant participants and officials, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World illustrates how contestants invent and reinvent themselves while articulating the female body as a national body. Banet-Weiser finds that most pageants are characterized by the ambivalence of contemporary "liberal" feminism, which encourages individual achievement, self-determination, and civic responsibility, while simultaneously promoting very conventional notions of beauty. The book explores the many different aspects of the Miss America pageant, including the swimsuit, the interview, and the talent competitions. It also takes a closer look at some extraordinary Miss Americas, such as Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America; Vanessa Williams, the first African American Miss America; and Heather Whitestone, the first Miss America with a disability.

Is motherhood only about self-sacrifice? Or will it bless your life, too? You know that motherhood makes high demands. Yet you know it’s worth the cost because it benefits your child. On some grand level, it’s also good for civilization. And of course, it’s a calling from God. So is that what you’re doing here—pouring out your life for God and others while getting little in return except the consolation that you’ve done the right thing? Laura Booz wants you to expect something more out of motherhood—something truly beautiful. You might be asking: Will I lose myself in motherhood? Compromise my career? Squander my potential? What’s the point of all that unseen (and uncelebrated) serving, cleaning, caring, snuggling, discipling, and praying? Laura wants to help you see that behind all the giving that mothers do is the receiving of something special—a profound growth in God that is cultivated through motherhood’s everyday ups and downs. Let this book give you a renewed vision of motherhood: to see God’s good purpose for you as a mother, a woman, and a follower of Christ.