Broken into Beautiful: How God Restores the Wounded Heart

Smith, an evangelical singer and songwriter, offers Christian women her debut writing effort with both grace and candor. Smith winsomely challenges fellow Christians to be transparent in their admissions of failures, doubts, struggles and fears. To this end, she takes the lead by sharing her own emotional story of aborting her baby while in college. Years after the abortion, Smith was nudged by God to go public after hearing another Christian speaker tell a similar story. Still she battled against self-exposure because she was deeply ashamed and feared other people's judgment. Smith encourages women to seek God's grace and mercy for inner healing from past mistakes and for today's trials. Each chapter brims over with stories of women who've “been there” in the trenches of infidelity, abuse, widowhood and despair. Smith exhorts Christians to stop hiding behind their smiles and be brave enough to get real so that they—and others—can discover true freedom and God's extravagant restoration. (July)