Secure in Heart by Robin Weidner
Reviewed by Winter Johnson
There is nothing like opening the pages of a new book. The binding is unbroken, the pages are crisp and without dog ears, there are no highlights or underlines. Best of all, there is the smell of untouched book pages, that hopeful smell that signifies a new journey begun between you and the book itself. Some books take you through the mystical world of Middle Earth or the spell-binding hallways of Hogwarts. Others give juicy tidbits and salacious scenarios--the classic “I’m sleeping with my sister’s ex-boyfriend-who-is-dating-my-best-friend-blah-blah-blah.” However, I was surprised at the journey I was able to take with Robin Weidner’s Secure in Heart. As an avid book junkie, I often have said certain books have changed my life. This one actually turned out to be true.
I remember the day I got it in the mail. After about the gazillionth cry from a recent breakup, I looked at the white cover as a welcome friend. I opened it immediately, grabbed my favorite soy-no-water-Tazo Chai Latte (not to mention a box of Kleenex) and sat down. What resulted was the beginning of a journey that changed my life.
None of us likes to admit that we’re insecure. The word itself carries a shameful connotation, like those nightmares when you’re standing on the street with no clothes on. We feel it when we look in the mirror, when we see cellulite instead of the firm, luminescent skin we would like to see. We feel it in breakups, job losses, marital troubles and miscarriages. And when you admit your insecurities and silent fears, you feel as if you’re naked for the world to see.
Before I terrify you, Weidner’s book is a voice of hope, the towel you desperately want when you feel like you’re standing in a crowded room in your birthday suit.
“I think many of us are asking the question, ‘Do I matter?’ And the funny thing is, many of us are not even aware that we are asking it. We pose the question unconsciously to the men in our lives—whether father, boyfriend, husband, brothers in Christ, or if we get desperate enough, to men who don’t know us at all,” Robin Weidner, Secure in Heart
Ouch.
Brutal honesty is one of my favorite aspects of the book, along with the personal vignettes Weidner shares from her life. Every time she takes the risky move of sharing her personal stories, she gives one more stepping stone to silencing the voices that ring in our heads.
Now, I’m not one who believes in taking a magic pill to overcome the wounds from lost childhoods and the woes of “I didn’t think my life would turn out this way.” I’m into processes and digging, tons of journaling, and a good piece of Godiva chocolate when nothing else will make me feel better. But this book, with all of its Biblical principles, gave me a great running start to answering that cursed question, “Do I matter?” I now try to answer that question with responses that aren’t the three-digit number on the scale, the amount of attention that I receive when I feel like I am looking good or whether my career is where I want it. Most of all, I have tried to get comfy with the dirty word “insecure.”
“The first step is refusing to be ashamed of our insecurities. It’s not only admitting them to ourselves and to God, but then taking the brave step of letting other women in on our battles,” Weidner says. “As you do just that, I think you’ll find what I’ve found—hope, encouragement, faith and the sure knowledge that you’re never alone in your battles. But most of all, as a woman, you’ll learn how to carry out your call of loving others through life and even through death, equipped by your knowledge of God’s unfailing love.”
Finishing the book is not an easy task; there will be times that you want to throw it against the wall because it is irritatingly truthful. But I guarantee that having a secure heart is well-worth the effort.
