I had never encountered the author or her ministry before picking up this book. I feel like I have been missing out. This was an incredible book! The personal stories and the Scripture were paired together so well. I have never had an experience where I kept saying I thought I was the only one who thought that and then seeing God's response with Scripture was magic for me. Highly highly recommend!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

She Speaks Fire
Battling Shame, Reigniting Your Faith, and Claiming Your Purpose
by Mariela Rosario
Pub Date 13 Feb 2024
Nelson Books,Thomas Nelson
Christian| Self-Help


I am reviewing She Speaks Fire through Nelson Books and Netgalley:


Having been deeply wounded as a child, Mariela Rosario grew up with pain that seemed insurmountable. A toxic pattern of drug use, people-pleasing, and shame emerged in her life. After an encounter with God alone in her house in 2015, Mariela turned away from destructive patterns and began attending church. With a deepening relationship with Jesus, she launched a ministry to help other women overcome their past hurts and walk in freedom and joy. The purpose God has given a woman is activated when she speaks fire.



Mariela uses the biblical story of Eden to explore eight lessons about shame that will nourish us and lead us to live authentically, powerfully, and freely. As Mariela shows us how we can return to sweet communion with God and ourselves and live in community with others, she helps us seeMariela demonstrates how we can return to sweet communion with God and ourselves and live in community with others as she shows us how to return to sweet communion with God and ourselves why the seed of shame might be holding us back from God’s call, God's call might be hindered by the seed of shame,what it looks like to let go of the need for others’ approval, What it looks like to let go of the need for approval from others, who our real enemy is and why he will never win, and Why our real enemy will never win, and what we can do to stop him how to bravely own our stories so we can help others find freedom too.

By owning our stories bravely, we can help others find freedom as well.We can help others find freedom by owning our stories bravely.
 
It can be difficult to know what to do when there is an overwhelming sense of shame. As you take your first bold step toward living an authentic and loving life on fire for God, this book will encourage and validate you.


I give She Speaks Fire five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

With 8 chapters of garden lessons, covering topics like identity, purpose, community and lies, She Speaks Fire seeks to show how shame entered the human narrative and we can find freedom from shame. There was one good point that I highlighted, but there were several portions that brought confusion and concern.

For example, in the Boundaries chapter, Rosario says "untested faith is merely hope". Where is that in Scripture? That doesn't line up. In the Lies chapter, when speaking about Eve "selling out in the garden", she writes "We like to think we'd respond differently, but the truth is we don't know how we would have responded." Well, if you're saying all have sinned, that every single human is born a sinner (pg 157), it can only be that every single one of us would fall short. Which human in history would have responded differently and not sinned? Later in that chapter, she says that "In the depths of the Jordan, our shame drowned, and out of the water came the power and authority to respond differently to the enemy and his lies. And for the first time since the garden, nakedness without shame existed again." What?? What does Jesus' baptism have to do with drowning shame? Does the cross have nothing to do with it? And "nakedness without shame existed again" after Jesus was baptized? These claims aren't backed up at all in the manuscript (nor in Scripture, that I'm aware of).

I'm not sure how things like these got past multiple rounds of edits in a Christian publishing company, but it's cause for concern when it isn't backed up within the manuscript. It would have been fantastic to see sources/notes throughout.