Saving Face

Aimee Byrd is a treasure! In this age of spiritual disillusionment and abuse, she shows us how to fight through betrayal and hold on to Christ. But just as significantly, she gets vulnerable in this beautiful work, reminding us that we can never truly know God until we can face the truth about ourselves. And as we look Aimee full in the face, it's that much easier to see our own faces too--and long for the day when we all may see him, barefaced, unmasked, face-to-face. * <b>Sheila Wray Gregoire, founder of BareMarriage.com, and coauthor of The Great Sex Rescue</b> * In Aimee's beautiful and personal new book Saving Face, we're invited into the wrestling ring--Aimee wrestling with God and with a Savior she knows so personally and intimately, wrestling with her image in the mirror and the good self she projects out into the world, wrestling with many different ways of doing church and with challenging and often overlooked texts of Scripture, wrestling with every weary and worn out version of herself. But what we're honored to see is her deep longing: to know and be known by God, to know and be known authentically in her relationships, to live with faithfulness and integrity. This book is a profound gift that will invite you into this holy wrestling as well. * <b>Chuck DeGroat, professor of pastoral care, executive director of the clinical counseling program, Western Theological Seminary, Michigan, author of When Narcissism Goes to Church</b> * It takes a special kind of courage to face ourselves and see what truly is instead of what we've pretended to be or had to be or others believe us to be. Aimee Byrd has that courage, and Saving Face is the result of this deeply personal and spiritual work. One never gets the sense that this is a finished journey for her, but instead now, at midlife, she is truly making peace with the ongoing work of a storied life and the ways we are continually shaped and formed until we meet Christ face-to-face. A beautiful and tender book. * <b>Lore Ferguson Wilbert, author of The Understory, A Curious Faith, and more</b> * No one has seen their face with innocence and wonder. We bear bias fueled by industries of shame, and we are told we need something other than what we see to be loved. Aimee uses words as a mirror to see ourselves as God sees us in the gaze of his delight. This brilliant, compelling, and transformative book is a vision of what it will be like to be fully captured by the face of God. * <b>Dan B. Allender, PhD, professor of counseling psychology and founding president, The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology</b> * What a gift this book is to those who have been hurt in and by the church, those who long for a place to be seen and known.Out of her own painful story, Aimee Byrd invites us to join her in seeing what was always there: our true face. Beckoning the broken, welcoming the wounded, Byrd vulnerably models the good, hard work necessary for our true face to be restored in face-to-face communion with our Redeemer and with one another. * <b>Chris Davis, senior pastor of Groveton Baptist Church, author of Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today</b> *