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Being a reader, I should have taken notice when Fifty Shades of Gray was released, but it really didn’t register on my radar…until several women I knew started talking about it. Naively, I looked it up and was quite stunned at what had become popular with my peers, friends, relatives.

Yeah, TOTALLY not what I expected. At 32, I can still be surprised. And I’m a little uncomfortable even bringing up the topic here…but God has shown me the importance of this topic for women right now in our culture, Christian or not.

I have not read the Fifty Shades of Grey books and I pass no judgment on any who have, but I am applauding Dr. Juli Slattery and Dannah Gresh for taking on what those books represent in our culture heading on in their new book, Pulling Back the Shades.

This book is not ultimately about Fifty Shades of Grey or even about erotica. This book is about the spiritual battle for the hearts and souls of women. Our prayer is not just that you throw out the junk that enslaves you to the world’s thinking but that you join a call for revival among God’s women. {p. 147}

There is so much I could go into about Juli and Dannah’s words of wisdom and advice on the topic of women, sexuality, media, but there was one main message I wanted to highlight today.

I believe one of the great failures of the church is programming women in singleness for sexual repression by hiding from them the notion that they are created to be sexual. That is not God’s plan for purity. {p. 111}

We as women don’t have to be only spiritual or only sexual. We were designed to be BOTH.

Your sexuality was never meant to be separate from your deepest spiritual and relational longings but to be an expression of them. {p. 46}

There has been so much separation put between the spiritual and the sexual that we have come to believe they cannot or should not coexist. And this is where we find temptation and sin sneaking in.

The important things discussed in this book include Dannah and Juli’s answers to many women’s questions about what is “right” and “wrong” in regards to sexuality, what it means to be both spiritually and sexually satisfied, and lots of thoughts on what our culture and media have made us think is acceptable and natural – when it’s really becoming a substitute for God.

I know Pulling Back the Shades is going to be a powerful book for women seeking answers and trying to live lives that glorify God in all areas. And as uncomfortable as I may be even bringing up this topic, the light is the only way to freedom and that is just what this book does – shines His light.

Thanks to Dannah and Juli, I have five copies of Pulling Back the Shades to giveaway today – for you, for a friend, for your own awareness as you minister to other women! Just enter below to win by liking the Authentic Intimacy Facebook page and/or following the Authentic Intimacy Twitter account! The work these women are doing is so needed!

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* I received a copy of Pulling Back the Shades to review. I was not compensated in any way for this post, and all opinions are 100% my own!