What Keeps Us from Flourishing?

We all long to live out our faith with daily joy, but so often that joy eludes us. Why is that? More often than we realize, it’s because we’ve absorbed messages that curve us in on ourselves. These messages have even crept into the church, disguised as truth. It’s time we learn to discern teaching that’s toxic from that which is true and pure.

Flourish equips us with tools to identify the lies that come at us about where to find real life. As we dig deep into what God says in his Word, we will learn to discern the worldly influences that threaten to warp our understanding of what it really means to be a Christian, and emerge with a faith that flourishes—full of the abundant life Jesus promises.

Read Chapter 1

Contents

Author

Lydia Brownback (MAR, Westminster Theological Seminary) is the author of several books and a speaker at women’s conferences around the world. Her books include the On-the-Go Devotionals for women; Finding God in My Loneliness; and Sing a New Song.

Endorsements

“The siren call of self sings loudly in our current cultural moment. Even as Christians, we easily fall prey to the false promises of self-focus, self-care, and self-love. With a refreshing dose of biblical truth, wisdom, and insight, Lydia Brownback invites us to consider our ways with fruitful reflection. Flourish is a book every woman should read. I highly recommend it!”  -Melissa B. Kruger, Director of Women’s Content, The Gospel Coalition; author, In All Things: A Nine-Week Devotional Bible Study on Unshakeable Joy

“As someone who deals in words all day and every day, I’m always fascinated to see how they come and go, how they ebb and flow. Recent years have brought us countless articles, books, podcasts, and conferences based on the word flourish. ‘Follow this program,’ they say, or ‘switch to this diet,’ or ‘become more mindful,’ and ‘you’ll finally flourish in your life and in your relationships. Guaranteed!’ In this book, Lydia Brownback looks for and finds what I’m convinced is the true key to human flourishing. Her solution is infinitely better because it is based on an infinitely better source—the enduring, infallible Word of God.”  -Tim Challies, blogger, Challies.com

“Lydia Brownback is an author to be trusted. She writes with lucid insight and biblical discernment. The result is a book that is truly helpful—a book that avoids contemporary fads and points the reader repeatedly to the sufficiency of Christ. She takes on common destructive states of mind that often hinder Christians from walking in the freedom that is theirs by grace. I suppose the highest recommendation I can give to this book is that it is one I will be encouraging the congregation I serve to read.”  -Todd Pruitt, Lead Pastor, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia; Cohost, Mortification of Spin