Publisher's Synopsis
As you go through life, you'll encounter resistance and disappointment from the very world in which you started out so hopeful. Your precious gifts are sure to be challenged, buffeted and sometimes even badly beaten. But Don't Hold Back presents you with a life-affirming choice: you can allow the stress of this onslaught to bruise you to the point that you suppress your laughter and wide-open love. You can relegate your early dreams and any vestige of play to a dim corner of the attic of your memories. You can choose to believe others who see only trouble in God's world, and no delight in its beauty or miracles.
Or you can follow the examples set by the Saints-and "saints with a little 's'"-in Don't Hold Back, award-winning playwright, journalist and patient advocate Maureen Pratt's inspiring exploration of the ways these legendary heroes and heroines handled the very human crises, rejections and failures in their own lives.
As wearying as the world can be, and as easy as it may be to lose your early optimism, you do not have to continue down a dim, spirit-squelched path. The God-given gifts within you never go away. Yes, they may be bruised, beaten down and boxed up on all sides by strings of disappointments, fear and other obstacles-but the essence of who you are abides.
Whether you consider yourself a person of faith, or your faith is shaky and tested by the calamities of the world, this spirit-centered book will lift you up and fortify you. And with gentle attention, persistent courage, prayer and love, you can rediscover your gifts and bring them out to this very needy world. You can rekindle joy in yourself and others. You can reclaim the simplicity and awe of childhood, when you first got to know yourself and your precious life. You can dare to be who you were meant to be. You deserve it.
Or you can follow the examples set by the Saints-and "saints with a little 's'"-in Don't Hold Back, award-winning playwright, journalist and patient advocate Maureen Pratt's inspiring exploration of the ways these legendary heroes and heroines handled the very human crises, rejections and failures in their own lives.
As wearying as the world can be, and as easy as it may be to lose your early optimism, you do not have to continue down a dim, spirit-squelched path. The God-given gifts within you never go away. Yes, they may be bruised, beaten down and boxed up on all sides by strings of disappointments, fear and other obstacles-but the essence of who you are abides.
Whether you consider yourself a person of faith, or your faith is shaky and tested by the calamities of the world, this spirit-centered book will lift you up and fortify you. And with gentle attention, persistent courage, prayer and love, you can rediscover your gifts and bring them out to this very needy world. You can rekindle joy in yourself and others. You can reclaim the simplicity and awe of childhood, when you first got to know yourself and your precious life. You can dare to be who you were meant to be. You deserve it.
