A Woman after God's own Heart by Elizabeth George

Wow. What an amazing book. I had read this book back in 2008 before I was married, or was even thinking about raising children, and it was an amazing read then. Now, I'm married and expecting a little one and it's even more amazing! I seriously took 13 pages of notes on it in my journal!!!! I know, a bit overboard, but it's one of those books that you gain so much wisdom and little tidbits from you just want to have them in one place where you can check often. This book has helped me rethink my priorities as a woman (I always feel old when I refer to myself as a woman, anyone else? no just me? ok...), using the Bible as a guide (which it should be for all things) and highlighting things I can do daily to live a fuller life in every area. I don't want to go into SOO much detail because I know people don't read long posts--but just come along with me for a bit...she relates our fullness in life to that of the Seven Sacred Pools in Hawaii (like a waterfall). This describes the huge impact we can have for our own life, but also in the lives of countless others when we get these things right. Let me try to explain the picture to you. There's a pool way at the top of the mountain, which no one can see, and that is like your relationship with God, your prayer life, your deep connection with Him and His Word. He fills us and replenishes us when we seek him first in our life and are filled with his Holy Spirit. 

When we are full from that pool we are overflowing into our next pool, our husbands. God gives us the ability to tend to nurture and grow in servitude to our most important human relationship. Soon this pool overflows to that of our children. Children are gifts to us from God and He entrusts them to our care to love them, to train them and teach them about his ways. Soon that pool too will overflow and flow abundantly into our homes and filling it with God's love. Whether it be by the spiritual life of your family, the feeding, and the love that you give to them to make a home a retreat and a beautiful place until it soon overflows into our dreams and plans and how God wants us to serve others. "Having been filled from the pools higher up the mountain, we now plunge in. WE submerge ourselves in this fresh pool of knowledge, discipline , and training" and soon that too overflows pouring into an ocean of ministry and service that God will use to build His people up--you never know where that pool may end or who it may reach because it has not limits. But you see the key is, that each pool can only be filled if the one above it is overflowing. Do we make is so that our hearts of overflowing for God, our husband, and our children, our home, and then into other areas of ministry? Do we take the time to nurture each of those priorities first and let God fill us to overflowing? I find that sometimes I think that the top pools don't need to be filled and I busy myself with the maybe not most important areas, even if it is a church event, or a ministry-but it doesn't prove to be helpful because the other pools aren't full. It's hard to serve my husband and have a good relationship with him when I don't have a good relationship with the Lord. There is a quote she uses often in the book and it this: "Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better and your better best." You can apply that little childhood quote to soo many areas in your life, especially when making decisions, choosing your attitude, how you schedule your time etc. If you aren't married or don't have children you might not have these pools yet, but it's still crucial to understand your priories and fill up the time in your life from the top pool down. 

There were so many amazing quotes and so many references to the Bible and other great books by numerous authors have really just made me LOVE this book. The book isn't just about the imagery of the pools,  in fact thats only one section in a chapter! But I feel that it describes what she focuses on in the other chapters--devoting most of it to a woman after God's heart. It's one of those "back to the Bible basics" for woman, and can be applied to a woman anywhere in life--from young and single, to newly weds to wives of many years, to single moms, to working moms, to say at home moms, from biblical scholars to new in the faith. I hope you woman will pick it up and not just read it, but see how you can use it to grow  and become a woman after God's own heart.