Not that I
would like to admit that I’m controlling, but when I saw Shannon Popkin’s new book Control Girl – Lessons on Surrendering Your
Burden of Control from Seven Women in the Bible, I knew I wanted to
read it. Perhaps the Lord had something He
wanted to me learn about being controlling.
How come it’s
always easier to see a behavior, attitude or action as sinful and wrong in
someone else’s life but be oblivious to it in my own life? I guess in some respects I let my sin blind
me to the reality that being a control freak is not good and may be downright
sinful. God used Control Girl to make me more aware of my sinful propensity
to be controlling.
In this book,
Shannon does an excellent job unveiling the tendency in some women to be
controlling. She does this by being open
and transparent with her own life and shares the negative and hurtful
consequences of being controlling. More
importantly, she takes the reader to examples from the Bible of real women, that
lived in a different day and age, who also had inner control girl issues. Through Scripture she shows examples from the
lives of Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebakah, Leah, Rachel and Miriam on why and how our
control girl may spring into action and how it effects our relationships. Being a control freak may not be conducive to
our own happiness and reflects and impacts our relationship with God.
This is an
excellent book to help people who struggle with control issues to see it for
what it is. Being a controlling person
is sinful and not something we should leave unexamined and unfettered. But we can have victory when we repent, trust
God and surrender control to Him.
I found this
book to be painful as I recalled examples from my own life of being a control girl. Things that as I look back on, make me want
to cringe. How in the world did I not
see that as wrong back in the day?
Warning…you may
find this book to be painful and direct in confronting sinful controlling tendencies. But Shannon manages to it with tenderness and
grace and from the vantage point of someone who has addressed the issue in her
own life. This is also an encouraging
book to help us walk in a manner that honors and glorifies God, trust Him and help
us to treat people with loving respect.
I highly
recommend Control Girl. If you
think you have control issues, read this book.
If you have a loved one who struggles with control, you may want to read
this book to better understand what may be going on beneath the surface that
rears its ugly head as being controlling.
This book is a keeper, you may want to reread it and make notes as you
go along.
I would like to
thank the people at Litfuse and Kregel Publications for the opportunity
to read Shannon Popkin’s new book Control Girl. I was under no obligation to give a favorable
review.