A Memoir On Someone You Admire: 2019 Reading Challenge

After two and a half weeks of struggling through Erik Larson's Devil in the White City, I picked up a book called The Lipstick Gospel by Stephanie May Wilson. Now, don't get me wrong, overall I enjoyed Larson's book, and you can read all about it on my review from last week, but it took me longer than I expected. If it weren't for this challenge I probably would have set it aside. Needless to say, Wilson's book was a breath of fresh air, and it only took me a day to finish.

I hadn't planned for this book to end up in my memoir category; in fact, I had already purchased Anna Kendrick's Scrappy Little Nobody and was going to read Wilson's on the side. But on the list of categories for the 2019 reading challenge, number seven was “a memoir on someone you admire.” Well, let me tell you. Not only do I admire Stephanie May Wilson, but she inspires me through her podcast (Girl's Night) and blog. I also recently joined her online class, Loving Your Single Life, with a good friend of mine and Wilson speaks into the depths of my soul.

Anyway, I received this book from my grandmother for Christmas and after Wilson's name came up AGAIN in my small group, I decided this was the time to crack it open. And let me tell you, Stephanie's story is so authentic, honest, and hopeful. The Lipstick Gospel is the story of how one young woman’s mess became her message to thousands of young women about how God can redeem even the most broken pieces in our lives and teach us more about love than we could ever learn on our own.

Stephanie wasn’t raised in a Christian home, and had preconceived notions of Christianity, even at one point in the book saying, “Christianity is for grandmas and girls with ugly shoes.” I laughed when I read that, because that presumption is true. From the outside the church looks corrupt and legalistic, so I don’t blame her for thinking it . But, despite her assumptions about Christianity and about God, Jesus found her in some of her darkest moments, pulled her close, and whispered “This is not what I have planned for you.”

He showed himself to her when she was studying abroad with two Christian friends in Spain. She saw him is the cobblestone streets of Seville, the Sistine Chapel, and cappuccinos. During her semester away from sorority drama, drunken parties, and broken relationships, she began to pray, journal, and see God for who he really is. It was in the Sistine Chapel that Stephanie accepted Jesus and began to see him working on her broken heart.

The Lipstick Gospel is a travel memoir that is conversational in tone and relatable. I think the biggest reason Wilson is able to reach so many young women is because her story is like a lot of ours; it’s messy. When she returned to Boulder after her semester abroad, she expected her life to have wildly changed, but it hadn’t. Becoming a Christian doesn’t magically change our life dramatically the second we let Jesus into our hearts, sometimes it gets harder, and Stephanie found truth fairly quickly. She found herself living two different lives, continuing her party-going activities and fooling around with guys, all while attending church and the college ministry throughout the week, sometimes hungover.

I loved the book so much and was so encouraged that I also purchased her devotional and prayer journal!

Stephanie is an author, blogger, speaker, and encourager who seeks to help women in their twenties and thirties navigate their relationships with God, with friends, with significant others, and with ourselves. She is a great resource for young women and I’m so grateful that my lovely friend Ellen introduced me to her podcast and books.

As Stephanie says, “life is so much better, and easier, and absolutely more fun when we navigate it together as girlfriends.” If you are at all interested in learning more about Stephanie and her story, you can find her online at http://stephaniemaywilson.com or on Instagram @smaywilson. You can also download a FREE copy of The Lipstick Gospel here.