There is nothing surprising about the fact that life can be incredibly convoluted with relationships, careers and basic life decisions. It’s equally not surprising that life can also be incredibly simple if we allow it to be so. Knowing these things reminds me how interesting life can be. Many times those experiences bring pain, embarrassment, shock, rejection and failure just to name a few. Somehow we are learning from our mistakes, we are growing, we are maturing and still moving forward having survived.

 

I invite you take a journey with me into another part of my mom/wife/entrepreneur life where I actually have the time to sit and read. It was in the random moments I have that I chose to invest time in worthwhile encouragement and knowledge.

I just completed this book called “Scraped Knees,” by Ernst Cochy. Scraped Knees is an inspirational “How To” book written to remind you that no setback has the power to determine the rest of your life. It is a detailed guide with biblical insight on how to get up and to keep moving forward. First, you have to recognize the kind of fall/setback that you have experienced. The better able you are to identify the kind of fall, the more you’ll know about how to get up from it. Don’t fret, the book describes the types of falls and setbacks that are most common so you don’t have to figure it out on your own.

 

This book was written by a man of wisdom whose experience comes from being a teacher and a pastor. He also happens to be my pastor, but trust me there is no bias there. I can vouch that every word that comes out of this book, will bless your life. 

I call this book a personal counselor and therapist you can carry around on your phone. This shouldn’t be taken lightly for the following reasons:

 

• It feels like someone is sitting next to you giving you advice. It’s no different than sitting in a room with a trusted counselor. Many of us need that and thrive because of it – because some mentor or well seasoned individual guided us some how which positively shifted the way we approach things in life. You will feel like someone has heard your doubts and concerns and brought you the necessary wisdom.
• It is a 30 minute read just like it promises to be (even if as a mom, you may have to break that up into 5-10 minute increments over a span of days like me). It’s doable for the mom life, the professional life and the wife life not only because its short, but because there’s no difficult jargon.
• That said, you can always pick it up and re-read the parts that speak to you the most. The book is organized by the types of falls and set-backs people mostly experience. It gives real life and biblical accounts of what falling and getting back up looks like, especially when you feel like you have fallen flat on your face.

 

I had an empowering conversation with a friend as we talked about taking risks with people. We talked about the walls that we put up with new people because of past experiences and how it can be both beneficial and detrimental at the same time. How a way of being can be good an bad is intriguing but the important thing is to find balance. In that discovery of balance we remembered some how some way, we moved on, we got over it and we learned how to thrive. The scars remain but help us help others.

Unfortunately that may not be the case for some of you. Maybe you didn’t move on and maybe you are still in a broken place. I encourage you to pick up this book for that very reason.

So do I think you will appreciate and enjoy this book? Yes, very much so.

Have you ever felt embarrassment, pain or ever experienced a unexpected setback? Have you ever messed up and knew it was coming because you did something you knew you shouldn’t have done? Or, have you ever felt like you failed yourself (something no else knows about, but you)?

Well then, again I say, you will appreciate and enjoy this book. It will show and encourage you to get back up again rather than staying on the ground longer than you should. It encourages you to continue to believe in the best of God even in those inexplicable moments of despair.

When you decide to pick up this book and dig in, let’s have a conversation about what you related to the most. I guarantee there will be at least one.