Courageously Soft is filled with hope and encouragement. Charaia does an amazing job in pointing the reader back to the Giver of hope, God. She shares through personal life stories and examples how suffering and loss can be met with a heart that does not harden and grow cold, but a heart that seeks to stay soft, gentle, and loving, even in the most difficult circumstances. Weaving many bible stories throughout her book, she shows historically how many others have been shown not only the love and grace of God in their adversity, but how we can gain strength and resolve to walk in this courageously soft way, too. Charaia says, "It's in solitude that we are caught by the hands of God. That chanting of the shutting doors is interrupted by the melody of being called His beloved." I love how the author has woven in many other well-known authors comments into her encouraging guidebook on how to not get bitter or live in resentment after pain, loss, and suffering. Grab yourself a copy and a hot cup of coffee/tea, and enjoy the edifying words from Courageously Soft.
Thank you to NetGalley and Baker books for the review copy of this wonderful book. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the concepts of this book, but for some reason it didn't "click" with me the way I thought and hoped it would.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I, like the author, have always been known for having a soft heart. I was known for being very emotional and compassionate to a fault as a kid. I was “too sensitive,” and was also encouraged to grow thicker skin. When I saw the subtitle for this book, I knew it would be a good fit for me.

There was a wonderful mixture of personal stories, lengthy and thorough Bible examples, and life lessons. The author shares her struggles and hang ups with her story and with God while beautifully adjusting her perspective and her readers’ to see that God is still good and works best to transform his people when they are soft and open before him. Rush’s insistence that we cannot be defined by our pain was important, but equally important, she does not discourage the recognition that our pain changes us. Instead of glossing over it, she encourages readers to invite God into it.

Because I have spent a decent amount of time reading and studying the topics within, I didn’t find a lot of the information revolutionary nor did I feel particularly transformed by the book (two areas I use to determine my experience/rating of nonfiction books). However, I would highly recommend this book to many audiences and personally loved several chapters. I particularly liked the one about not letting suffering keep us from Christian community. And I was very challenged by the chapter on cynicism where the author makes the point that we cannot mask cynicism as being a “realist” when in truth, cynicism can lead us to sin and hardened hearts.

Overall, I was glad to read this title and will keep it in mind as a recommendation for friends in the future.

This was an amazing book. It is very inspirational and I could not put it down. It brought up so many great points and I really appreciate what this book talked about. I think it is not talked about enough.

In the Bible Pharaoh is described as hardening his heart multiple times, which resulted in his demise because he defied the Living God. A hardened heart is described as a bad thing, something that the believer in Christ should not desire. In her book Courageously Soft, Charaia Rush describes ways to soften our hearts, the importance of having. a soft heart, and the impact on our walks with God when we have a soft heart. Rush uses the lives of the people in the Bible and memories in her own life to explain having a soft heart and how God is working in our hearts and lives even if we do not have a soft heart at the moment. Rush writes about her divorce, single motherhood, childhood, and other memories with a vulnerability to show the difficulty of the fight to keep a soft heart can be. Rush backs all of it up with Scripture and points readers to Christ's presence in the hard parts of life. This book is a good read for Christian women who are struggling to keep a soft heart during their trials and difficulties in life. I give this book five out of five stars.

Eloquently written and inspiring. Rush put to words thoughts and feelings I’ve had after going through some difficult trials about remaining soft through difficulties and letting those things bring you closer to the Lord. Highly recommend!

I don't read too many books traditionally accepted within the Christian living genre anymore, but Charaia Rush's writing has been a comfort and conviction over the years of my spiritual questions, doubts, and deconstruction. I don't think I've hit the preorder link for a book so quickly than when she announced this was coming.

With gentleness and truth, Charaia walks the reader through her own journey of discovering the power of maintaining a tender heart in the midst of real suffering, loss, and pain. This is not a book that spiritually bypasses pain with "God is good, all the time" platitudes and "you need to have faith" lectures; rather, this is probably one of the most honest books I've read from a Christian perspective that accepts the range of human emotions and questions in the midst of pain, while pointing to the power that is found in fighting to remain soft in the midst of hard things.

This book removes the pretense often found within church culture that we must perform through our pain in order to be called "faithful". By calling out the tendencies to avoid hard questions, relapse into cynicism, and hold out for a resolution to the hurting rather than staying present in the journey, Charaia draws the reader's attention to the unchanging character of God - "there's no heart too hard when touched by His hand."

Additionally, I'm so grateful the author addresses what a soft heart is not - it is not staying in a harmful situation to prove that "God works all things together for good". It is not becoming lax about personal boundaries. "Staying soft is not staying silent. It's having the courage to speak the truth with the tenderness to speak it with grace." It isn't people pleasing.

This book is a fount of wisdom, humanity, grace, and truth, and one I will be returning to often. If you were raised with a spiritually transactional understanding of the purpose of suffering ("we suffer to give God glory and in turn, He gives us good things" and the like), this book will challenge those misconceptions and call you into a deeper understanding of enduring pain that doesn't just revolve around a desired outcome. Whether or not your are in a painful season currently, I hope you pick up this book. The power of Charaia's story and the conviction of her message point to a God who is who He says He is even when everything else is less than what man promised.

If you have been left feeling disappointed, exhausted and beaten down by suffering then this is a book for you - it speaks throughout about how life gives us so many reasons to want to give up but God wants more for us than this. A very encouraging read that is sensitive and gave me lots to think about. A book I will come back to time and time again I think!