Carolyn Mahaney

Mother-Daughter Team Provides Insights from Ecclesiastes for When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned Life doesn’t always turn out the way we expect. It is often out of our control and beyond our comprehension. Where do we turn in those times? The book of Ecclesiastes offers a guide for life—in the good and the bad. In True Life: Practical Wisdom from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre lay out 14 lessons that can be learned from Ecclesiastes, helping women see what it looks like to fear God and obey him in the day-to-day. By examining the way life truly is, readers can find the wisdom to endure life’s hardships and enjoy life’s pleasures. Written for Christian Women: Advice and encouragement applicable for women in every season of life Includes Space for Reflection: Insightful questions spread throughout each chapter give opportunities for prayer and deeper reflection Practical: Examines what it looks like to fear God in day-to-day life, offering helpful tips and examples from real life Written by Mother and Daughter: Coauthors of Girl Talk; True Beauty; and True Feelings

Finding Joy and Fulfillment in All God Has Called You To Do Overwhelmed. Miserable. Exhausted. These are the words that women often use to describe their busy lifestyles. How can you keep up with all the demands of work, family, and ministry? Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters offer biblical hope to women who truly desire to glorify God with their time. These authors present five key practices to help you see that you really can do all that God has called you to do— finding joy, peace, and rest in the One who has designed every season of your life.

What am I feeling? Emotions can be confusing. One moment we’re happy, content, and hopeful, and the next we’re anxious, hurt, and overwhelmed. But we don’t have to live at the mercy of our emotions. In True Feelings, a mother-daughter team clears away common misconceptions and mixed messages about our feelings to offer us a biblical perspective on emotions—helping us understand how they work, why we feel what we feel, and how to develop good emotional habits. We will see that we don’t have to ignore, excuse, or follow our feelings, but can instead learn to honor God with our emotions as an integral part of who he made us to be.

The Allure of Beauty Ours is a culture that unfairly holds women to an ideal standard of physical beauty. It often says that beauty equals happiness, fulfillment, and success. As a result, many women struggle with physical attributes and fashion, low self-esteem or vanity, and place too much concern on being beautiful. Yet the message is a lie. Physical beauty does not deliver as advertised. It does not ensure the satisfaction and success that the beguiling voices in our society have promised. It may fulfill a temporary desire, but it will leave you seeking more in the end. It may bring attention, but not happiness; confidence, but not true worth. We all long for a standard of beauty we can actually attain--true beauty. The Source of Beauty To find true beauty, we have to look at the source: the "foundation and fountain" of all that is beautiful. The Bible reveals God as the beautiful One. He is the ultimate, unchanging, eternal standard of beauty and its Author, Creator, and Bestower. His beauty transcends time and culture. God's loveliness is seen in creation, though only a dim reflection of his indescribable, stunning glory (Revelation 1:16). God's beauty is eternal. While earthly beauty fades away, God's beauty is forever ( James 1:17). Every blessing flows straight from the beautiful goodness of our God, most clearly seen in his plan of salvation (Psalm 119:68). We have been created in God's beautiful image, and it is for this reason alone that we are truly beautiful (Genesis 1:27, 31). We are not beautiful because we fit the popular ideal of beauty, nor ugly or unattractive because we don't measure up. Our beauty as human beings is not derived from ourselves. It comes from our beautiful God. Beauty Corrupted Not only did God create us in the image of his beauty, he implanted in us a desire for beauty and put us in a beautiful garden to enjoy that beauty. But the first man, Adam, sinned, and in him, so did we all (Romans 5:12). Sin blinded us to the beauty of God, and when we lost sight of his beauty, we lost interest. Instead of delighting in God, we put our hope in physical beauty and sought pleasure in that which was ugly and sinful. No more could we savor true beauty (Romans 1:18-23). Beauty Restored Then, in the most stunning act of beauty, God displayed his love by sending his Son to bear his wrath on the cross for our sin. And through his death and resurrection, he made it possible for us to see and savor true beauty once again. In the person of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary sacrifice, we most clearly see the beauty of God here on earth (Romans 5:8). If we have repented and believed in Jesus, part of God's saving power is to restore our vision and reawaken an appreciation for true beauty. Even now, the Holy Spirit is at work inside of us, refashioning our taste for beauty, reshaping our opinions about beauty, and reviving our desires for true beauty (2 Corinthians 3:18). Beauty Realigned If we realize that our taste for beauty needs realignment, what do we do? Scripture provides a simple paradigm for change: Do not be conformed. Ask: "Who or what influences my sense of style and perception of beauty?" (Romans 12:2) Remember we are to glorify God with our bodies and not wield them as tools for our own self-glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). We were created to worship, delight in, and bring glory to our beautiful God (Psalm 95:6). Be transformed. Spend time in your daily Bible reading studying God's beautiful attributes: his holiness, loveliness, and power, all revealed most clearly in Jesus Christ. Ask yourself how these qualities should shape your taste for beauty. Pray that God would open your eyes to see his beauty and to reflect it in your style. True beauty is to behold and reflect the beauty of God. Trust God. Our appearance is so intertwined with who we are that any critique pierces the most tender part of us. God calls us to trust him even as we experience unjust suffering because of our appearance. God is the true judge. The more we trust him, the more attractive we become. The lack of anxiety, restlessness, and neediness, the carefree confidence in God's goodness makes a woman more lovely with time. Even though our physical beauty will inevitably fade, we have the hope of the resurrection, where he will change our lowly body to be like his glorious one (Philippians 3:21). IMPERISHABLE BEAUTY Only God's Word can promise a beauty as supernatural as it is satisfying, as attainable as it is lasting; a beauty that blesses and does not curse; a beauty that is precious, not worthless, that leads to happiness instead of heartache; a beauty that grows more becoming even as you become more beautiful. All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades . . . but the word of our God will stand forever (Isaiah 40:6-8). For the Christian woman, each day brings us one step closer to true beauty. As earthly beauty fades away, imperishable beauty grows stronger and lovelier, and the most beautiful vision we will ever see draws nearer--the day when we will "behold the king in his beauty," when we will see our beautiful Savior face to face (Isaiah 33:17).

What Is True Beauty? Whether it’s age-defying makeup or the latest diet fad, our culture continually tells women that beauty consists of flawless skin and a supermodel figure. In True Beauty, Carolyn Mahaney and her daughter Nicole Whitacre direct us to the truth of God’s Word, where we encounter an entirely different—and refreshingly liberating—standard of beauty. Offering a path to freedom from the false idols that society, the Devil, and our sinful hearts so often create, this encouraging book will help you to exchange the temporary glamour of pop culture for the unfading beauty of godliness.

God has a purpose for every mother-daughter relationship. Without vital conversation between mothers and daughters, a godless society will have the loudest voice in girls’ lives. Designed to be read together or separately, this book will stimulate conversation as mothers seek to pass along the legacy of godly womanhood to their daughters. Carolyn Mahaney and her daughter Nicole Whitacre share from personal experience as they explore the joy and freedom that comes from a relationship rooted in God’s unique design for mothers and daughters—pointing the world to the truth of the gospel from one generation to the next.

You hold in your hands a guide to spiritual maturity and an opportunity to embrace God’s plan for you as a woman, a wife, a mentor, and a mother. In this book of instruction for women of all ages, Carolyn Mahaney explores seven virtues from Titus 2 that have transformed her life and the lives of countless other women. Learn how to live with true feminine appeal and become a woman who lives for God and helps others to do the same.

Marriage is a profound and marvelous mystery established by God for his glory-and that is for our good. So many marital relationships never reach their greatest potential because they have the fatal limitation of being focused on one another. When our focus is solely on God, our marriages have the potential to thrive and not merely survive.