When I heard about the book and its title, and having read other books by Emily, I knew I was going to enjoy this one. Understanding who we are in Christ is something which is close to my own heart. We live in a world where so often our identity is based on the wrong things, such as our work, our education, our position in society, all the things that society says is important. Sometimes our identity is based on the words which have been spoken over us by others, such as “You’re a mistake, a failure, unloveable.” These things have a huge impact on the way we live our lives.
In my opinion, Emily’s book is one which is much needed by all of us today. We need to know what God thinks about us, and we need to hear the truths He speaks over us. We need to have our identity founded in Him. We need to know we are loved by Him, that He has chosen us, that we are known, accepted, forgiven and so much more. These things and more are what we learn as we read “You Say”,
Each devotion begins with a one or two word title, such as ‘Special Possession’, ‘Beloved’ or ‘Seen’. Followed by a verse from the Bible which relates to the word. Emily shares stories from her own life experience and from Scripture. What I particularly like is when she writes using God’s voice, because it’s as though God is speaking directly into my heart.
Each devotion ends with a prayer, but just before that, with the words:
“Look with my eyes. What do you see?”
And then with a reminder of the word for that particular day’s devotion, such as ‘Beloved’.
Something I would recommend you do when reading this book, is to remind yourself of the one word (such as ‘Beloved’) as you go through your day, meditate on it, ruminate on it, talk to God about it and ask Him to reveal more to you about how He sees you and ask Him to help you to also see yourself in the same way.
I believe Emily’s beautiful words and reflections in “You Say” are life-giving and healing. They will be just what our hearts and minds need to hear and know. When we understand and grasp these things, we will live with far more confidence, not in ourselves, but who we are in Christ and we will be able to live out these truths. This is why we need this book. I recommend this book to everyone. At one time or another we have probably all found that our identity has been in something other than in Christ. Maybe for some of us, our identity is still found in the wrong things and we will never be fully at peace and confident in who we are until we find our identity in Christ. I believe this book will be especially good for those who may have been wounded in the past by what others have said about them.