No More Holding Back: Emboldening Women to Move Past Barriers, See Their Worth, and Serve God Everywhere

What?s holding you back from living out your identity as a woman of God? Many of us as women feel conflicted about Jesus?s calling on our lives because a woman trying to love God beyond her heart and soul, with her mind and strength, can be thought of as crossing some line or unspoken boundary. Bible teacher Kat Armstrong challenges us to ask, ?Why am I allowing limitations on my pursuit of Jesus?s calling?? In No More Holding Back, Armstrong debunks five common myths about women: Women Can?t Be Trusted to Learn and Lead I Don?t Have a Lot to Offer My Greatest Joy Is Marriage and Highest Calling Is Motherhood Chapter I Am Too Much to Handle Leading Ladies Don?t Fit in Supporting Roles No More Holding Back invites us to discover the joy and freedom of being all in for Jesus. Review Armstrong, cofounder of Christian networking organization Polished, explores how women can perform and thrive outside the confines of traditional roles in her convincing debut. Armstrong begins by describing how she believes the church upholds a patriarchal society that keeps women from leadership roles and relegates their influence to home and family life. Armstrong calls the Christian church's obsession with marriage and motherhood dangerous, as it places unnecessary pressure on women to concentrate on family: 'If we look closely again at Jesus's priorities, there is nothing that speaks to a particular role of wife or mother, husband or father, boss or subordinate.' In careful readings, Armstrong mines scripture to demonstrate how women were just as influential as men in receiving and preaching the word of Christ, including a novel portrait of what a 'Proverbs 31 woman' whose 'passion for her work, success on the job, or willingness to follow Jesus is not a negative' looks like. The final section includes a call to reject misogynistic ideologies by helping women take on the agency, authority, and entrepreneurship normally championed as the domain of men by Christians. Readers interested in considering and reforming how Christianity regards women will find great value in Armstrong's passionate work. ( PW) 'Kat is one of my favorite Bible teachers, and I've been supporting her work through Polished for years. She inspires me every time I hear her speak, and, finally, we have her grace-filled teaching in a book! Every woman needs her words.' --Catherine Giudici Lowe, reality TV personality, Founder/CEO of LoweCo. and LoweCo.ncierge 'Kat is a brilliant Bible teacher and a ferocious cheerleader for women. I underlined so much of my book and said out loud 'You go, girl' more times than I can count! This book will challenge you, encourage you, and inspire you to do all the great things that God has prepared in advance for you to do.' --Jamie Ivey, Bestselling author of If You Only Knew and host of The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey 'This will be my go-to resource for anyone looking to elevate women's voices in the church and to see women everywhere flourish in their gifts. No More Holding Back is a game changer!' --Jessica Honegger, Bestselling author of Imperfect Courage, Founder of Noonday Collection 'What a joy to read No More Holding Back. Its message is on target: women are gifted by God to love and serve him fully. Men and women are to honor God together. Read this book and let's cheer one another on to a deeper walk, better cooperation, and more effective ministry together with God.' --Darrell L. Bock, Senior research professor of New Testament studies, Dallas Theological Seminary About the Author Kat Armstrong has been encouraging professionals to love God and others with their all for almost 20 years as a Bible teacher. Kat holds a Master of Christian Education from Dallas Theological Seminary and is the co-founder of Polished, a network to gather young professional women to navigate career and explore faith together, and the host of the Polished Podcast.