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Valuable

Why Your Worth Is Not Defined by How Useful You Feel

By Liz Carter, foreword by Paul Mallard
4.717948717948717948717948718 stars  from 20 reviews
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About this book

We all want to be useful to God, but often we feel that we're not, or, because of illness or other difficulties, that we can't be as active as we'd like to be. Liz Carter wants to rescue us from the spiral of feeling useless that we get caught in, and to show us that being useful isn't what Christianity is about. In fact, the Bible barely talks about God using people at all.

Weaving together insightful scriptural analysis and beautifully told stories, Liz takes us on a journey to see what the Bible really says about weakness, identity and God's purposes for us: helping us to see ourselves and our relationship with God in an entirely different and much more glorious way. Readers will discover that our purpose as ...

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Specifications

Contributors:
Liz Carter, Paul Mallard
ISBN:
9781784988661
Format:
Paperback
First published:
June 2023
Dimensions:
129mm x 198mm x 10mm
Weight:
0.16 kg
Print size:
11.0pt
Language:
English
Pages:
144
Publisher:
The Good Book Company

Contents

Introduction
1. We Are the Useless
2. Into the Upside-Down
3. God Is Not a User
4. A Church for Broken People
5. A New Kind of Wholeness
6. A New Hope Story
7. Into an Upside-Down Identity
8. Liberated into Utmost You
Scripture Reflections

Endorsements

Having benefitted hugely from Liz’s writing previously, I eagerly anticipated this latest book. She writes authentically, beautifully and with great depth—as well as a thorough knowledge of Scripture. I commend this book to you—let its rich treasures of hope, truth and freedom reach deep into your soul.

Claire Musters Author, Taking off the Mask

Liz Carter beautifully challenges our values and language, which in turn challenges our culture. We all have a choice around what culture we want to build in churches, families and communities. This book, with its personal stories and theological reflections, is a gem and will be so helpful for everyone. I thoroughly recommend it.

Patrick Regan OBE Co-Founder, Kintsugi Hope

A brave and important book. Liz Carter invites us to explore fresh ways to approach brokenness, and to see that God’s love comes through receiving, not through what we do. With its powerful and eloquent illustrations, Valuable is both beautiful and helpful.

Wendy Virgo Author of Influential Women and international speaker

Words can impact us deeply—which is why it’s so important we speak wisely and well. In this engaging book, there is encouragement to think about our language, run back to Scripture and reassess the vocabulary of God ‘using’ us. It is thought-provoking, heart-searching and conversation-starting—and a beautiful opportunity to see more of the God who gives us value, not just use.

Helen Thorne–Allenson Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK

If, like me, you’ve wanted to be useful to God, prayed that he might use your pain, or told others they can be used by God, then read this important book. With its clarity, beauty and fresh biblical reflection, Valuable is a potent remedy to a malady we may not even realise we have—of believing ourselves to be anything other than loved. What an important book this is.

Sheridan Voysey Writer, Broadcaster, and Author of Resurrection Year: Turning Broken Dreams into New Beginnings

I’ve used the phrase ‘used by God’ many times, never stopping to interrogate the meaning or connotations. But Valuable has changed that. It exposes Christian culture’s misplaced obsession with usefulness. Utterly convincing in its arguments, it presents an infinitely more wholesome vision of what God has created us to be. As Carter puts it: ‘We are recipients of God’s love, and that love comes through receiving, not through what we do’. What liberating truth!

Sam Hailes Editor, Premier Christianity magazine

Liz Carter offers a fresh and needed voice. To the one who feels useless, the pages of this book will remind you of where your true worth is found. To the one who’s exhausted from striving, these pages will free you from the tyranny of ‘being enough,’ all while growing in you a greater awareness and compassion for the least of these. A book I definitely needed to read!

Sarah Walton Author, Hope When It Hurts

For those of us who grew up believing we must be better, bigger and the best, Valuable is a reminder of the truth of the value we all have as God's beloved. A gorgeous, heart-breaking, hope-bringing, astounding book. Read it and exhale.

Rachael Newham Author, Learning to Breathe and And Yet

The belief that we are validated through what we do is endemic in our culture and also in the church. Many people fall off the end of that theological cliff, exhausted, burned out or feeling like they have failed. Liz speaks a better, godly story—of value through being, strength in weakness, extra-ordinary found in ordinary, and a God who accepts and loves us as we are, not as we do. This subversive, saving, Spirit-filled message is as radical as it is one of relief.

Kate Middleton Director, Mind and Soul Foundation

Carefully applying Scripture and peppering her writing with personal illustration, Liz Carter challenges the church to reconsider its preoccupation with ‘usefulness’ and helps us grasp our value in the light of God's transforming love in Christ. Valuable is paradigm-shifting—a challenging and freeing approach to our relationship with God.

Eric M. Schumacher Author; Pastoral Ministry Director, Baptist Convention of Iowa

A timely challenge and a profound rallying soul cry to pursue fruitfulness over usefulness. Biblical throughout, with poetic flourishes and raw, honest storytelling, Liz has done a majestic job of balancing poignant personal pain with deep teaching from the Bible. I'm so grateful to her for this message.

Phil Knox Evangelical Alliance

Stripping back the notion that ‘we are what we do’, Liz Carter takes us on a journey of discovery, guiding us to find—or re-find—our true identity. Affirming, empathetic, encouraging and real, Valuable will gently reveal to you just how much you mean to God.

Emily Owen Author and Speaker

A gentle and fierce call to eschew the falsehood that our worth depends on our usefulness. Liz writes with clarity, compassion and authenticity in words that will empower everyone, from those seen as ‘useful’ to those who feel broken, and anywhere in between. A wonderful book.

Amy Boucher Pye Author, Speaker and Retreat Leader

Customer Reviews

4.00 stars Needs time to ponder.

 

(Review written for 'Valuable (ebook)')

There seem to me, two influencing themes in this book, being "Valuable" and dealing with life's disappointments. They both have merit, and depending on the readers experience of these themes, the book either meets that need or doesn' quite match. However, it does depend on where the reader "is" at the time of reading. The book deserves further re-reading and study to glean nuggets from the writers experiences.

3.00 stars Much needed topic, but missed the mark for me.

  Reviewer Program Member

I think the undertone of her feeling useless because of her own struggles came through heavily in her hammering the idea of never using the word use. The title of the book is “Valuable” and she could’ve focused on our value being in Christ alone, but didn’t do that as much as I thought she ought to. There were snippets throughout the book, but that should’ve been the focus. The truth is that we all have struggles. We are imperfect sinners who attempt to fill voids or overcome struggles by finding our identity and value in various things instead of ...

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5.00 stars Invaluable

 

This book contains much treasure and Godly wisdom needed for this dark modern age we live in.
It is food for the soul and a balm for the anxious mind.
All my life I have lived the ‘useful’ lie – for this, read – good enough, done enough, could have, should have - but didn’t, not as good as …… comparing myself and my family to those ‘shiny, happy’ people Liz speaks of and believing the lie that as a Christian especially, I should be better, more together, and whole than I have been. Lies I have told myself. Lies ...

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