True You
Act like a lady. Land a career. Find a man. Learn how to cook. Rear amazing kids. Oh! And be sure you stay thin. Pressure to perform and conform starts early in a woman's life and never stops. In attempts to compensate and keep up appearances, we lose our ability to keep in touch with the truest parts of ourselves. We put on masks and hide the painful parts of our stories. If we get a quiet moment, we are ambushed with doubts: Who am I? This book serves as a companion as we find ourselves, our sense of community and our identity in God. Designed to take you deeper with God on your own or with a group of sisters, journey alongside experienced ministers Adele Ahlberg Calhoun and Tracey Bianchi into some of the places where women struggle—no matter what their age or life-stage. Personal resources like journaling questions and a small group guide help women support each other on the way. These pages offer a reminder that there is a beloved, "true you" waiting to be known in each of us and that a world in need awaits the unique stories that each of us were made to tell.
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Tracey D. Bianchi
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun (MA, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) has worked in Christian ministry for over forty years. She and her husband, Doug, currently work with Highrock Church in Arlington, Massachusetts, and work with retreats, the Enneagram, and leader resourcing nationally and internationally. Adele is the author of Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Invitations from God and the coauthor of True You and Women Identity. Previously, Adele and her husband copastored Redeemer Community Church in Needham, Massachusetts, and she was formerly pastor of spiritual formation at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois. A retreat speaker and trained spiritual director, she has taught courses at Wheaton College and Northern Seminary. In the early 1970s she helped pioneer student work with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. She has also worked with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in New England and Canada and with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in the West Indies and South Africa.
