INTRODUCTION

Me, Myself And I
A few days after I started at secondary school, our class had to vote for a form captain. We wrote down the name of the person we thought would be suitable. And it turned out that I was the choice!  (Before you imagine that I was always the kind of girl who got chosen for things, I can truly say that I absolutely was not).

I remember being completely shocked. I couldn’t think of a single thing that would have made anyone notice me. I wasn’t classed as particularly pretty, I wasn’t especially popular, I didn’t have any obvious exceptional talent. A handful of people loved me and thought I was special.  But in the eyes of the big wide world, as far as I knew, there was nothing that marked me out.  I thought of myself as a very ordinary girl.

One girl even told me she was pleased I’d been chosen because I was ‘so normal’. She obviously saw ‘normal’ as a good thing, desirable even. But although it was better than her thinking I was some kind of weird freak, I didn’t find it wonderfully flattering. 

Deep down I didn’t want to be ordinary.  I wanted to be exceptional!  I wanted to be significant and I wanted my life to matter.

We’re in this together…
Circumstances, age, nationality and experiences may separate us. But from the woman wrapped up in newspaper huddled in a shop doorway, to the one who moves in a private jet between her luxury homes, wherever we live, and whatever our title, the status and address of you, me and everybody else is actually the same:

The number of years we spend here varies but no woman is given unlimited time. And buried somewhere inside us, like in the 10 year old me, hides a desire to find a way to make our stay count for something, to feel that there’s been some point in us being alive.

We don’t want to be plain ‘ordinary’ women. But unsure of ourselves and where we’re going, we’ve allowed our identity to be defined by what others think and say about us; what we can do, have and achieve; and in our past and present relationships. We’ve become labelled over the years and got further away from who we really are and our dreams of who we could be. 

'JUST BE YOURSELF’ could be the title of so many films and novels.  Their heroine faces a variety of challenges that teach her that the way to be happy, and for people to like and respect her, is to lose some of the props she’s relied on to create her identity and just be the woman she really is. Like that she’s far more interesting and fulfilled than as any of the other women she tried to be. 

“Just be yourself” is favourite advice of counsellors, agony aunts, relationship experts, parents and friends.  Somehow we know it’s good advice too but actually following it isn’t as straightforward as it looks in the pages of a book or on the big screen. You aren’t alone if you don’t really know who you are – apart from your job description, the role you fulfil in your home or the school you once went to – or how to find out.   

Mostly we don’t know where to begin to discover who we are and what’s more, we’re not sure we want to.  We doubt that we’d unearth anything worth finding.  And we don’t necessarily want to be ourselves anyway – we don’t suppose we’d be admired for it.  We may dream, if we allow ourselves to dream at all, of being beautiful, confident, popular, fulfilled women but we can’t imagine becoming like that if we ‘just be yourself’.

…but there’s only one of each of us…
200 of your cells could fit on this full stop →  .  ← .  And each one of those miniscule cells carries your unique DNA.  Your identity is etched on every single tiniest part of your body – your iris could serve as your ID card and so could your fingerprints. 

…and YOU are no ‘ordinary’ woman!
We know we’re unique and don’t pay very much attention to it.  But if you do pause for a moment and give it some thought, you begin to see that it is actually completely mind blowing. Of all the zillions of people who have ever lived, and will ever live, not one could be mistaken for you. You have a unique personality, a unique mind and a unique potential to bring a unique style and creativity to everything you put your hand to.  As an original, there must be some things for you to express that no one else can. 

You may believe you just happened – by some accident of the universe – but what a happening!  Have you ever stopped to wonder that if your design is so precise, then surely it must mean that great care and intent went into it?  Or have you looked to find your place in the world without considering that – without much thought for whoever made this beautiful Earth your address? 

Few of us have given any consideration to the someone who made us unique. We haven’t paused to see that to ‘just be yourself’ implies that someone somewhere must have made a self for us to be.  We haven’t considered that if they went to all that trouble then perhaps it was with some purpose in mind – perhaps the answer to the question of our identity lies with them. We haven’t asked what it could mean if that someone was God. 

Becoming You
I believe that you were made by God, designed with so much care and intent. I believe that He had a plan when He made you unique, personalised your DNA, made you a woman, breathed life into you and put you on Planet Earth. And I believe that you can discover His plan and find fulfilment when you live it.

Whatever circumstances and stage of life you find yourself in today:

• It is never too late or too difficult, whatever you have gone through in your life, however many times you have failed at things, or however ancient you feel, to become the person you were designed to be. Yes, designed to be! 
• You are worth it. Whatever you may believe about your lack of value, you are worthy of discovering and becoming the woman God envisaged when He envisaged you.  And you will not be disappointed by the treasure and potential you find within yourself.
• It is worth it. How do I know?  I have experienced highs and lows.  I have felt as if I have been to the ends of the earth to find some point for being alive.  But all any of that has shown me is that no one and nothing, not one single earthly thing – not even me myself – can give my life lasting meaning. 
• It was only in turning to God that I began to see that He had created me with worthwhile and significant purpose and He alone could show me how to become the woman I had been designed to be, and to live the life that had been waiting for me to live.
• So it can actually happen!
  Whether you believe in God – or not, if you don’t know the wonder and truth of who you really are, and of all you’ve been created to achieve, then:

This Book Is For YOU
This book has been written to tell you how to go about  BECOMING (insert your name here) It’s  easy to follow. You can use it at  your  own speed and in your own way. It doesn’t just paint lots of lovely pictures of what life could look like; it takes you step by step through how to get there.

This really can be your opportunity to find out who you’ve been designed to be and how to gain the confidence to be that woman, living in the fullness of your created purpose. 

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!  So grab a pen, write your name into the title and make this world wait no longer for the emergence of the unique and amazing woman you truly are!