Balancing Act: How Women Can Lose Their Roles and Find Their Calling

by Mary Ellen Ashcroft

Mary Ellen Ashcroft explores the core issues of identity and calling. She invites us to learn who God has created us to be and what he has called us to do with our lives--offering us a unifying vision... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830819576
• ISBN13: 9780830819577
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Transforming

Unlike much Christian culture which thrives on creating a forced dichotomy between the career women and the stay-at-home mom, Ashcroft's enlightening book transcends the traditional arguments by re-focusing on the Word of God and what it tells us about God's plans and expectations of women. Finally, we have a book that acknowledges that a single women is a valuable assett to God, regardless of whether marriage is ever in her future; that God's ultimate calling for mothers is not to be their children's personal assistant and a craft guru; that women are created different but equal; that women have different callings at different stages of our lives; and that none of these calling will look the same for any two women. This book doesn't challenge the roles - it challenges us as women to seek and follow the call of God, above the call of Man. We've been guilted into feeling that it's more important to please Man than God, and Ashcroft shows us that to deny our calling is a horrible desertion of God's plan. She shows how God's call for women is freeing, exciting, and full of growth. I've grown up seeing so many women waste their "calling," doing damage to their lives and the lives of their families, all the while defending themselves as though they were model Christian women, and often criticizeing their peers who followed God's calling. What's different about this book is that it turns the table. It doesn't defend some "liberal" cause - it defends God and his Word. It convicts us as women, if we try to pretend that God doesn't have a calling for us. If you have any interest in this topic, please do not hesitate to read this book. It not only helped me in terms of career direction, but it helped me to clarify my understanding of God's great love for women, his grace and his expectations of us in all aspects of our lives.Interestingly, Ashcroft's principles for relationships parrallel the popular Boundaries books that are put out by New Life Ministries (Steve Arterburn, Henry Cloud, etc.) Just goes to show that when we dig into the Word, we find that God has given us a wealth of principles to become healthy, growing people. But we must be in the Word to find this out. We can't rely on what other on the radio, in the Church, etc. are telling us.

Coming Home

This is by far the most liberating book that I have read as a Christian woman, especially being as I was the kind of woman of whom Mary Ellen Ashcroft made reference to when she talked of women who come to Christianity only to walk away from it believing it to be a tool of manipulation. I usually find that too many words sometimes cloud over without shedding adequate light over some subjects. This is especially so of truly remarkable works - or literature or otherwise. So all I can say to any Christian woman who is not satisfied with the status quo as it has been taught by the world is, get a copy of Balancing Act. Your only regret will be that you didn't read it sooner.

Best work on women's roles and biblical teaching in years

I found this book both enlightening and empowering. I applaud Ashcroft for taking seriously the Bible's admonition to shun conformity to the dominant culture, with its gender-stereotypes, and to allow our minds to be renewed and transformed. While the egalitarian position she espouses may not bode-well in highly conservative Christian circles, Ashcroft carefully demonstrates that this position is clearly a biblical one, and so deserves the church's serious consideration. It is a must-read for all women look to find their place in the world according to God's plan.

A must-read book for all Christian women

This book is a real eye opener to the Christian - both male and female. Ashcroft's careful analysis of the female role in the church and society today, and how we came to acquire it - is startling. Those caught in 'roles' designated by culture may feel threatened but her thesis is scriptural - equality before God - and is a real liberator for male and female. Get ready, men and women to be moved out of cultural conformity into godly equality - and an exciting future with limitless possibilities.