I remember a song in the 90s with a line "Unity is the cry of the church" and that's what this book made me think of the whole time. It's a powerful tool for unity in the church and particularly in the hearts of her people when we remove the painful presence of shame that has for too long characterized her teachings and followers.

The writing is without fault and easily readable. This was a very well done book. I especially recommend the audio version of the book, although I wish it had been read by the author.

This is definitely a book for Christians, as it orients the concept of shame around the ethos of the gospel. It could particularly be helpful if you struggle with having grown up in the 90s purity culture and experienced shame as a "tool" for purity. Holmes articulates gospel truths, guilt vs. shame, and the exploration of shame in the authors own life. I appreciate the stories she told of her own life. Though at times the book does feel repetitive due to the nature of a singular topic, I believe it was to drive home one point with many illustrations. Thank you NetGalley and B&H for the advanced copy to review.

Love Jasmine Holmes and have learned so much from her - this being no exception. I appreciate her perspective and care that went into all that she created here, and I’d definitely recommend it to friends. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This book is a comforting chat with a friend about the reasons for and struggles we have as women with shame. That feeling and belief creeps in easily and if we’re not careful it slithers alongside us, then around us, suffocating and squeezing the life out. She points us to the gospel and how the fall poured in shame but how the life death and resurrection of Christ vanquishes it.

If you’ve never thought about how you experience shame, or if you have and are looking for a biblical perspective, here’s your book.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Late…again. As the minutes ticked by over the 9 o’clock hour, that familiar tightness in my chest has taken hold. “I can’t believe I hopped out of the shower 3 minutes late. It’s all my fault the kids are late and I know everyone is talking about me. If only I could get it together and then they wouldn’t roll their eyes or say something under their breaths to each other.” Shame. We’ve all felt it and it comes for different reasons and in different ways.



Never Cast Out by Jasmine Holmes is just the book I needed to open up and read today. As the shame sat heavy on my mind and body for much longer than it should have, I read the words, “shame is a feeling, not fact” and I felt the tightness lifting. A simple yet profound reminder that shame need not be the boss of me. Holmes explores shame and how it manifests itself in our lives. How did Adam and Eve cover their shame? As we know, with fig leaves. She highlights this concept of a better covering. What are you covering your shame with? Are you pretending it doesn’t exist? Are you working harder to get rid of it? Are you thankful at least you’re not as bad as XYZ? Each of these are leaving us wanting.



She says, “ And so we’re left with a bit of a problem, aren’t we? This is the third big problem with shame. As we’ve seen in past chapters, shame leaves us needing a better covering (those fig leaves just aren’t holding up!) and a better image to be conformed into (the Cool Girl isn’t real!). Added on top of that, now we see it leaves us needing a better message than the various “gospels” swirling all around us (none of them actually remove shame the right way). In every way, we need a better solution for the problem of shame than what the world can offer us.”



She goes on to encourage us, “No matter your heritage—no matter your past—no matter your failings—no matter your victories—no matter your shortcomings—no matter your triumphs—no matter your status— no matter your sex—God extends the hand of fellowship to you through Jesus. Instead of quaking before him in fig leaves, he offers us the opportunity to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ and welcomed into the family of faith.”



I highly encourage every woman in any stage of life to read this and truly drink the words into your soul. May it be a refreshing reminder of the better covering that Jesus offers and the knowledge that with Him you are never cast out.

There are messages coming at us from all directions -- even from inside ourselves. They can make us feel "less than" and like we don't measure up. We feel shame. To get rid of our shame we might try to Shake It Off, Work It Off, or Pass It Off. All of these are false gospels. Using wise words laced with scripture, Jasmine L. Holmes reminds us to look to the Word and the example of Jesus using the Spirit as our guide. This is a book I did not know I needed. I did and in God's providence I am better equipped for the days ahead.

Thank you to B&H Publishing and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to B&H for the free book.
This is a book about Holmes experience with shame and how she finds freedom in the gospel. I think this book would be good for those that have felt like the expectations to be a good wife, mother, or Christian woman. Those are the topics that she delves deeply and honestly into in this book. I will add, I just read a different book on shame recently and should've waited a bit longer to read this one because it was hard to not compare. However, the repetition in this one worked well for me. I think being reminded about Adam and Eve throughout helped keep me focused on the message of this book.

Oh, I wanted so badly to like this more! It's such an important topic and a much-needed conversation. However, Never Cast Out was very repetitive and, as the writing didn't hold my attention, I found myself wanting to put it down every few pages.

This is my 4th book by Jasmine since the start of the pandemic and it was such a great read. I appreciated how much of herself she brought to the book and her vulnerability in being so open with her audience.

This is definitely a book for Christians, particularly Christian women. It’s also very helpful if you grew up in the era of 90s purity culture and are still grappling with the shame out working from that.

The biggest strength of the book is that Jasmine is constantly confronting shame with the gospel and she is ultimately working to make Jesus the one we can turn to when we are experiencing shame.

I especially appreciate that Jasmine also doesn’t fall into the binary thinking of “all shame is bad,” but rather discusses how shame can be a tool that God used to lovingly bring us back into him. Knowing that we don’t have to wallow in our shame and that God meets us there is a great encouragement to be reminded of. I highly recommend this book.

[I received a free digital copy of this book from B&H through NetGalley.]

I am not the target audience for this book. I knew that going in. I picked this one out because I so enjoyed another book by Holmes earlier this year, and because I was curious what she had to say. It seems like shame is a big topic right now!

What I appreciated about this book is Holmes' nuance. She seems to be great for that. She acknowledges that shame is not inherently evil, but that it's disordered and that it only exists (in both good and bad forms) because of sin.

The book is also substantive. There's no fluff here. She takes three chapters to define the problems(s) of shame, three more chapters to show how the gospel answers all three problems, and then three more chapters to give practical guidance from Scripture on coping with shame. This book is biblical through-and-through, with meaty meditations on Genesis, Revelation, Romans, Isaiah, Leviticus, 2 Thessalonians, and more. It's also Redemptive-Historical in perspective; Holmes spends a good deal of time discussing the already-and-not-yet dimension of the whole issue.

The book is also deeply personal. It's full of illustrations from Holmes' own life that not only flesh out the concepts but also demonstrate her own sincerity. The book is highly relatable.

That's not to say it's perfect, by any means. But any complaints I have are nitpicks. The biggest issue I had was one Christological statement that I think needed a bit more clarification. Something along the lines of Jesus experiencing shame the same way we do (the point being drawn from Hebrews).

I also found the writing to get a bot repetitive and redundant toward the end of each chapter. This isn't exactly a flaw, though; it's my own personal stylistic preference. Holmes writes each chapter like one might write a speech, with abundant illustrations, pop-culture references, and so on. That's not a problem -- just not my cup of tea.

Overall, this is a solid book on the subject. And even though it's explicitly written to and for women, I would still recommend it even to a man who struggles with shame.

I don't perfectly align theologically with Jasmine takes in general, but this book had a way of transcending dividing lines and speaking to the heart of issues most (if not all) women face. She writes beautifully and honestly and with much wisdom. I'm grateful for the message she shares here. It is much needed.

"How do we go from standing before a holy God in fig leaves to standing in the throne room completely justified, our shame totally covered with glory? Jesus is how." So writes Jasmine L. Holmes in <i>Never Cast Out.</i>

This book is a breath of fresh air. Which of us have not cringed with the feeling of shame hanging over our heads, whether shame due to our own misdeeds, or unjust shame that has been put on us by others? There's good news. Jasmine L. Holmes shares, through stories from her own experience and also from Scripture, that Jesus can take away our shame. Jesus provides a better covering than the fig leaves Adam and Eve tried to hide behind or the ways we try to hide ourselves. Jesus provides a better image than us trying to be cool and perfect on our own. And Jesus provides a better message—he has fully paid the price to wash away our sins, but he has also borne our shame.

Holmes reminds us that Jesus is the one who can take away our shame whether it is justified or unjustified, deserved or undeserved. We can go to Jesus, in prayer, without fear. He is ready to listen to us, help us, make us new, and take away our shame. (See Hebrews 4:6 and Hebrews 10:12-14.)

<i>Never Cast Out</i> is written in a conversational style that's like having coffee with a friend. Jasmine L. Holmes's book will inspire and encourage you. Easily 5 stars.

<i>A complimentary copy of this book was provided by B&H Books through NetGalley. The opinions I have expressed are my own.</i>

Originally reviewed at: https://www.powerwordsediting.com/never-cast-out

Jasmine Holmes offers straight-talk about the elephant that sits in many rooms where Christian women gather. Jasmine tells her personal experience of shame, with confidence and humility, providing inspiration for those stuck in the nebulous effects of shame. The thing that sets NEVER CAST OUT apart is the precision of the Gospel message expertly woven into pages of her story and insights. This will be a book I recommend to anyone needing the message of freedom contained within.

Shame is honestly something I haven't thought a lot about. I haven't consciously felt it much. But I see it affecting people all around me, particularly mothers as they navigate all the choices of parenting.

"Never Cast Out" shows how the gospel is the antidote to shame. It frees us from all the false standards of our imagined "cool girl", holds forth the true standard of Christ, gives us forgiveness for failing, and reorients us to what really matters. Jasmine walks through the "beginning of shame" and the entrance of shame into the world in the garden of Eden, our false standards, and the false gospels we use to try to get rid of our shame. In the second part, she discusses the end of shame, with "a better covering, a better image, and a better message," before turning to "living in the middle" in part 3, where she talks about silencing the Accuser, godly grief, and healthy community.

Throughout, she very clearly draws a line between guilt and shame and our need for forgiveness and change when it comes to sin, but freedom from false standards when it comes to shame--but the gospel plays a role in both responses.

Jasmine Holme's book Never Cast Out was a good read! Although it wasn't without its flaws, I appreciated Jasmine's stories, both her own and her summary of many biblical stories.

Things I liked:
💗 Jasmine talks about a lot of different walks of life and how shame impacts them... motherhood, childhood, singleness, and so on.
💗 She has great advice on how to manage messages - internal and external - of shame!

Things I didn't like:
👎🏼 I often feel like books that are centralized around one theme can often become repetitive and I definitely felt that in this one.
👎🏼 I appreciated the biblical stories that supported the author's points but I would have also appreciated some research on today's society and shame.

Thank you to Net Galley and B&H Publishing Group for an eARC for this book in exchange for my honest rating and review.

Christian author and podcaster Jasmine L. Holmes grew up Black in a predominantly white evangelical community. A pastor's kid and the oldest of 9, she went through puberty in front of the watchful eyes of her church. She said she often felt like wore a mask. She tried to live up to the image of the perfect Christian daughter because she wanted to protect her family’s ministry. She felt the mask start to slip in adulthood when she went through a miscarriage with her first pregnancy. Fearing the same during her second pregnancy, Jasmine sought counseling. She thought her counselor would focus on the loss and her fears, but the process she went through was so much more. Areas of shame in her life were drawn out of the darkness into the light.
In her book "Never Cast Out: How the Gospel Puts an End to the Story of Shame," Jasmine talked about the weight of shame many Christians carry within their hearts and minds as a result of living in a fallen and broken world. She focuses primarily on female shame in our culture, but her message applies to everyone.
Jasmine's book is steeped in scripture and rings out the truth of the Gospel's message to believers and unbelievers alike. She invited her reader to pull up a chair and sit with God and her as she explored the Bible to learn how to recognize and remove shame's harmful effects. Everything we do in this world is in the presence of the enemy, the source of the shame-game, so it's fitting that she used the imagery from Psalm 23:5 where it says God "prepare[s] a table before [us] in the presence of my enemies."
Jasmine began in Genesis where the birth of guilt and shame happened in paradise, a place where Adam and Eve had perfect communion with God. They were made in God's image and given dominion over God's creation. But then Eve chose to become less than the person God created her to be, Jasmine said, when the serpent tempted her with the image of another, better version of herself. She’d be like God, he said, and she wouldn’t die if she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When she responded to the serpent, Eve had partial knowledge of what God spoke to her and Adam. She added something God didn’t say to her and yet believed, which led to further doubt about God. See Genesis 3:3-4.
Eve touched the fruit, and when she didn’t die, she ate it and offered some to Adam who ate the fruit as well. They realized they were naked and sewed fig leaves as covering. Then they hid because they heard God walking in the garden. They knew they’d done something wrong.
Jasmine used the fig-leaf theme to show the promise God made to Adam and, His plan to permanently cover humanity's sin and shame. The wage for their sin needed to be paid and the first sacrifice was made as a covering. God had to sacrifice the animals, Jasmine explained, to cover Adam and Eve before banishing them from the Garden of Eden. But God also made a promise to Eve that through her seed would come another who would cover over the sins of the world: Jesus Christ. He would stand in humanity’s place and ransom us. Jasmine talked about God’s rescue plan, as foreshadowed in Genesis. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to become the perfect Lamb of God who would sacrifice Himself to cover our sins so that we might be made righteous and have eternal life.
Shame from sin is natural, Jasmine said. Adam and Eve hid because they were convicted by sin. When we don’t meet God’s standards, we’ve sinned, and if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will convict you. You repent and are restored to fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit has the job of molding you into the image of Christ.
Shame from something that’s not sin is often the calling card of the world that wants to mold you into your culture’s image. Jasmine talked about the differences between guilt, "a state of being," and shame, “a painful feeling of distress and embarrassment after doing something wrong or foolish.” She further gave examples to show the differences between godly and worldly shame.
To remove the latter shame, Jasmine said the world has three “false gospels”: “shake it off,” “work it off,” and “pass it off.” All three are not good news at all. You can see all three at work in our present culture. They don’t remove shame’s influence but instead either blind us to sin against God or bind us to a worldly image that continues to burden our spirits. Each of these false gospels have followers as well to make up their own warped communities that will keep us blinded and never provide true healing.
But we have a better covering, image, and message in Jesus Christ, Jasmine said. As members of God's family, we can run to the Father with both kinds of shame. Both are covered in Christ's work on the Cross on our behalf. The Holy Spirit will guide us in the scriptures to provide truth so we can shout over the shame messages we hear from our enemy. (And sometimes the enemy uses other people, Jasmine said, whether well-or-ill-intentioned.) The Spirit will also lead us to a place where we can find a fellowship of believers who will walk beside us as we fight shame and seek healing.
I loved this book so much I can't stop talking about it. I am excited for this book to publish on Valentine's Day 2023. My favorite part of this text is Jasmine's interpretation of the Samaritan woman at the well who had one of the longest conversations with Jesus. I cried trying to talk to a group of ladies because that woman went from feeling shunned to feeling joy as she "put on Christ" and ran to tell others about Jesus, the Messiah.
Jasmine took me through an emotional, intellectual, and scriptural journey as she uncovered areas of shame within me. I liked that she put scripture right within the pages; it was like an all-you-can-eat-buffet for the soul. I could relate to her description of this “Cool Girl” image, a standard she tried to meet growing up. She talked about perfectionistic tendencies women adopt in their efforts to become more like this ideal woman within the Christian community. We have all these "shoulds" thrust on us that she said are "extrabiblical" in that the guilt and shame isn't because we've not met God's standards. It's guilt and shame from not meeting our culture's standards.
Jasmine said God can rescue us from both the godly shame of sin through our repentance and from the culture's grief and shame that comes from us not measuring up in the eyes of other people in our lives. Believers aren’t supposed to conform to this world. We have a better image in Jesus Christ. We are made right with God because of the work of Jesus on the cross that covered our sin and shame, gave us access to the Father, who has work only we can do as part of His family.
Thank you to Netgalley and BH Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this advance copy of this excellent book.

Jasmine Holmes is a refreshing voice needed in the Christian world. I appreciate her writing on shame and how God takes away our shame.

In Never Cast Out, using her theological understanding, Jasmine Holmes writes about the effects of shame on people...specifically women. An interesting book to read. If you've enjoyed Holmes's previous writing, you'll enjoy reading this one too.

*I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

“The power of shame has been fully defeated, but not the presence of shame. Its ghost still haunts us. Which means we must remind ourselves that though the death of shame is already complete, we must, as we do with sin, war against it daily.”

In this deeply personal, tender, and encouraging book, Jasmine addresses the topic of shame—what it is, why we feel it, and how we respond to it in healthy and unhealthy ways. She examines the many sources of shame (sin, cultural expectations or societal pressures, Satan’s accusations, or our own perfectionism) and graciously applies the gospel to each. For such a universal experience, shame is something I’ve rarely heard addressed in Christian circles, so this is a much needed book that I think anyone would find helpful. I came away convicted and encouraged. This is easily one of a small handful of books I’ve read that I’ll feel the need to return to often, to be pointed back to the one who has covered our shame and will never cast us out.

A thoughtful and insightful book on shame and its effects on people, specifically women, in this book. The author uses her theological understandings and her personal experiences to present an explanation of shame, where it may come from, how different people handle it and some of its affects on people. I appreciated hearing her personal experience with shame in her life and how she no longer feels burdened by it.