Made to Crave for Young Women by Lysa Terkeurst and Shaunti Feldhahn

Published: March 6^th, 2012 (Zonderkidz)

Pages: 240

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads ~ Amazon

What do you crave to make you happy? ... every day is filled with things we want and crave. Things that will make us feel good at least for a moment. But what happens when that moment is gone and the need returns? There's nothing wrong with wanting certain things, but God didn't create us to rely on those things to make us happy. He created us to crave Him, and a happiness that lasts. In this teen adaptation of the bestselling Made to Crave, the deep emotional, physical, and material cravings you face are explored---desires that can turn into spending too much, over- or under-eating, needing a boyfriend, or more. Through real-life stories and support from people who have been where you are, you will also discover how to truly crave God and the love and comfort He wants us to have, and how craving heavenly things can make the earthly cravings easier to overcome. You were made to crave more than this world has to offer.(Description from Goodreads)

I don’t usually review nonfiction, but this book deserved some time in the spot light. I bought this book because it sounded like it was written just for me. I was going through some stuff (probably the same sort of thing you’re going through), and I knew I had to read Made to Crave after reading the back cover.

Author Lysa TerKeurst

The general topic of the book is “satisfying your deepest desires with God.” I mean, that speaks to a large variety of us! All of us, at one time or another, try to satisfy ourselves with something other than God and His Great Love. Lysa and Shaunti outline three cravings that eat away at us girls: the emotional craving, the physical craving, and the material craving. When we feel empty inside, as many of us do, instead of turning to God we turn to food (physical craving) or clothes (material craving) or boys (emotional craving). And as you might have guessed, none of these things satisfy us for long. They might make us happy for a little while, but they run out, and we have to go find something else to fill the holes in our hearts.

Guess what. This book tells you how to fill that hole once. Yes, once. You’ll never have to fill it again.

Author Shaunti Feldhahn

And I’m not lying when I say this Made to Crave really helped me in that area. It truly did. The book zooms in on each craving area, and gives an abundant of helpful tips to overcome that craving and replace it with Jesus Christ. Lysa and Shaunti give accounts of personal experiences and how they learned from them, which really helped me. Another thing I love is that at the end of each short chapter (you could definitely read a chapter a day in place of personal devotions!), the authors give a little “takeaway tip.” It’s basically a one or two sentence summary of the chapter. I’d run this tip over and over in my head throughout the day to help me remember it’s truth, and I also wrote them all down in my prayer journal for future reference. There’s also an “action plan” with a simple activity to do, such as journal something about the chapter or say a prayer to help you overcome a craving. By the end of the book, I was so encouraged, so refreshed, and so ready to take action against my unhealthy cravings.

I want to share something real quick that really stuck with me after finishing Made to Crave. It’s this: “You crave what you consume.” If you are obsessed with a perfect body image, that’s what you will crave more and more and more. If you are focused on getting that certain boy to pay attention to you so that you’ll feel special, you will crave that more and more and more. If you’re addicted to overspending on clothes or shoes so that you’ll think you look pretty, you’ll crave that more and more and more.

But if you’re consumed with the power of God in your life, if you deeply desire to continue to feel His love, and you take action to make sure you’re growing in Him, that’s what you’ll crave more and more and more. And that’s exactly what He wants for His children. He wants us to crave Him as much as He loves us.

I’m telling you, girls, you have got to read this book. Even if you can’t identify an unhealthy craving you have off the top of your head, this book will help you find those secret cravings before they consume you. This isn’t a blame book- it will encourage you to high heaven. I guarantee it. Made to Crave is a book every girl of any age should read, so don’t miss out.

P.S. There’s one for women, too. *grin*