{"product_id":"saving-face-finding-my-self-god-and-one-another-outside-a-defaced-church","title":"Saving Face: Finding My Self, God, and One Another Outside a Defaced Church by Aimee Byrd","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMay the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you...\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have received the blessing countless times, but what does it mean for the Lord to shine his face upon us in a time when many Christians are disillusioned with their faith, wrestling to reframe their relationship with God and with the church?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut another inner struggle often lurks unacknowledged, unconfronted--the struggle to rediscover one's own identity and relearn one's own story. Aimee Byrd finds this experience best described in the metaphor of finding one's face. Through this beautiful meditation, Byrd shows how the church has \"been defaced\" by its own spiritual abuses, by its loss of imagination and wonder, by empty words without actions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe author of \u003cem\u003eRecovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood\u003c\/em\u003e has often asked hard questions of the church. In \u003cem\u003eSaving Face\u003c\/em\u003e, she develops her reflections still further, daring to wonder: what if the crises in the church today are not because we don't have the right doctrine, but because we have lost sight of something much deeper?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat if we are spending all our time pointing fingers at those we consider \"wrong,\" when we should be looking in a mirror instead? What if God has something to reveal to us there? Perhaps we should be seeking the presence of Christ in our own reflections just as we look for him in the faces of the others.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCreatively weaving together stories, memories, journal entries, and Scripture meditations on the divine face, Aimee invites the church to seek the face of Christ by recovering the values of beauty, contemplation, and deep relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAimee Byrd is a treasure! In this age of spiritual disillusionment and abuse, she shows us how to fight through betrayal and hold on to Christ. But just as significantly, she gets vulnerable in this beautiful work, reminding us that we can never truly know God until we can face the truth about ourselves. And as we look Aimee full in the face, it's that much easier to see our own faces too--and long for the day when we all may see him, barefaced, unmasked, face-to-face.-- \u003cb\u003eSheila Wray Gregoire, founder of BareMarriage.com, and coauthor of The Great Sex Rescue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Aimee's beautiful and personal new book Saving Face, we're invited into the wrestling ring--Aimee wrestling with God and with a Savior she knows so personally and intimately, wrestling with her image in the mirror and the good self she projects out into the world, wrestling with many different ways of doing church and with challenging and often overlooked texts of Scripture, wrestling with every weary and worn out version of herself. But what we're honored to see is her deep longing: to know and be known by God, to know and be known authentically in her relationships, to live with faithfulness and integrity. This book is a profound gift that will invite you into this holy wrestling as well.-- \u003cb\u003eChuck DeGroat, professor of pastoral care, executive director of the clinical counseling program, Western Theological Seminary, Michigan, author of When Narcissism Goes to Church\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt takes a special kind of courage to face ourselves and see what truly is instead of what we've pretended to be or had to be or others believe us to be. Aimee Byrd has that courage, and Saving Face is the result of this deeply personal and spiritual work. One never gets the sense that this is a finished journey for her, but instead now, at midlife, she is truly making peace with the ongoing work of a storied life and the ways we are continually shaped and formed until we meet Christ face-to-face. A beautiful and tender book.-- \u003cb\u003eLore Ferguson Wilbert, author of The Understory, A Curious Faith, and more\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAimee Byrd \u003c\/b\u003eis author, speaker, blogger, podcaster, and former coffee shop owner. Aimee is the author of several books, including \u003cem\u003eThe Hope in Our Scars\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRecovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSexual Reformation\u003c\/em\u003e. Her articles have appeared in\u003cem\u003e First Things\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eTable Talk\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eModern Reformation\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBy Faith\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eNew Horizons\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eOrdained Servant\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eHarvest USA\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eand Credo Magazine \u003c\/em\u003eand she has been interviewed and quoted in\u003cem\u003e Christianity Today \u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e The Atlantic\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Christian","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45797459198138,"sku":"9780310167600","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0444\/2213\/5968\/files\/imageloader_ccd9b87c-4d10-4334-8b66-cbda2b8a1ee4.jpg?v=1776872729","url":"https:\/\/naturenurture.shop\/products\/saving-face-finding-my-self-god-and-one-another-outside-a-defaced-church","provider":"nature+nurture","version":"1.0","type":"link"}