On My Own Now by Donna Lee Schillinger--Book Review

Are you concerned over what decisions your daughter might make once she's out on her own?

Are you a young woman searching for guidance now that you no longer live with your parents?

Are you a pastor seeking to guide young single women in your church?

Do you know a young woman living on her own or soon to be living on her own who would benefit from some Godly guidance?

If you answered yes to any of these, then you'll want to pick up a copy of On My Own Now: Straight Talk from the Proverbs for Young Christian Women who Want to Remain Pure, Debt-free and Regret-free by Donna Lee Schillinger.

In this interesting and thought-provoking exploration of the book of Proverbs, Schillinger takes young women along a journey that will help them to make better, safer, and more sound decisions.

The author takes a unique approach to the book of Proverbs by reversing the gender in many of the proverbs from "he" to "she"--which she discusses in this guest post from April 13th; though she does include a modern day translation of Proverbs 31:10-29 about the traits of a good woman at the back of the book.

Exploring such topics as how Proverbs applies today, staying pure until marriage, dealing with anger and jealousy, developing good habits, tithing, using passion to make a positive impact, and the importance of not making rash decisions, Schillinger shows how the book of Proverbs can guide young women to be the women they want to be and stay that way.

On My Own Now can easily be used as a daily devotional, each section concluding with a thought for the reader to hold on to, such as "What I can't have honestly, I simply won't have."

Its hip cover and conversational style will attract young women, and Schillinger is careful to get her point across without being overly preachy. There are also word bubbles throughout the book that capture important portions of the text to focus the reader.

I have to admit that the overuse of the exclamation point made it lose its effectiveness for me; but in the hands of a younger woman, that may not be the case. I also found a couple portions of text where I stopped to ponder the impression a young woman would be left with when reading these passages.

The first was the "Hold this thought" found on page 162, "I will confess that I was a sinner but am no more." I could not grasp the author's full meaning after reading this portion of the chapter on confession, but this ending thought bothers me because we will always be sinners. That doesn't change when we accept Christ as our Savior; but we willingly seek to not sin because of wanting fellowship with God. I'm not sure the ending thought makes that clear.

The other is found on pages 179 through 181. The chapters in this section deal with friendship, and these particular pages cover depression and finding help when you need it. Schillinger talks about chemical imbalances possibly being a cause of depression and how modern medicine can help if we aren't too proud to ask. She first suggests creating good eating, sleeping, and exercising habits, and then if that doesn't make the reader feel better after 21 days she should start taking multivitamins, St. John's wort, and other supplements recommended by a pharmacist. She then goes on to say that if this works, "don't stop taking them...vitamins are something our body needs every day for the rest of our lives."

While the author does make a point to mention that St. John's wort may interact poorly with some medication and to talk to a healthcare provider if the reader is on any prescription medication, it seems it would be safer and prudent to suggest the reader talk to her healthcare provider or a registered dietician about adding supplements to her diet prior to taking anything.

Those areas aside, On My Own Now, is an excellent resource for young women on how to use proverbs to guide their lives. I am going to talk to our pastor about purchasing copies of this book for female high school graduates from our church.


Title: On My Own Now
Author: Donna Lee Schillinger
Publisher: The Quilldriver
ISBN: 978-0-979639-5-1
SRP: $14.95 (U.S.)

Donna Lee Schillinger and On My Own Now: How Young Women Can Use Proverbs as a Guide

I am excited about today's guest blogger because I am over halfway through her book, On My Own Now: Straight Talk from the Proverbs for Young Christian Women who Want to Remain Pure, Debt-free and Regret-free, and realizing how helpful this book will be to young women.

Proverbs is one of my favorite books of the Bible; and it does not surprise me that an author has captured the wisdom of King Solomon in a book that relates to modern-day themes. But Donna's unique approach is what makes this book so special.

I asked Donna to provide three proverbs that young women could use to help guide them through life. Here is what she had to say:

Before I jump into a few proverbs that can be beneficial for guiding young women, I have to explain that my process in On My Own Now: Straight Talk from the Proverbs for Young Christian Women who Want to Remain Pure, Debt-free and Regret-free was to take verses from the proverbs and reverse the gender in them. I made “he” into “she,” “him” into “her,” and so on. Just this simple change opened up a lot of verses to modern applications to young women that I had never considered before. These verses help to illustrate this point:

Proverbs 26:27 “If a woman digs a pit, she will fall into it; if a woman rolls a stone, it will roll back on her.”

A lot of the mistakes we make as women have in their basis ignoring simple facts of physics – if I roll this stone up the hill and stand in its place, it will roll back on me. Duh, right? And yet, how readily would a young bride of 18 who has known her fiancé for three months agree that she is setting herself up to be rolled over by entering into a major decision too quickly, with someone she doesn’t know well enough, at an age to which our society is hostile against marriage? Just try to convince this woman in love that she’s making a mistake. We need to stay engaged with rational thinking and understand that we are not immune to probable outcomes and natural consequences, just because we have high hopes.

Proverbs 29:11 “A fool gives vent to her anger, but a wise woman keeps herself under control.”

Probably since the advent of soap operas, we’ve been wearing away at the distinction between what works in the movies and what works in real life. Now with reality TV and dramatic talk shows (of the Jerry Springer ilk), those lines are becoming even more blurred. We see high drama on television and in the movies all the time, but in real life, big acting does not win awards. One of the quickest ways to find this out is to throw a fit on the job. So I lost my temper, so what? People should get over it in one episode, like they do on TV, right? Nope. In real life, we can expect a counseling statement from our supervisor or maybe even a police escort off the property. Even when we have just cause to be angry, if we abandon rational behavior to prove our point, no one will defend us.

Proverbs 19:27 “Stop listening to instruction, my daughter, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.”

If I could get just one truth across in On My Own Now, this would be it. When we cease to have a regularly scheduled quiet time with our Heavenly Father, we will stray. It’s what happened to me. When I was a teenager, I used to read Proverbs religiously (no pun intended). Then I stopped. Life got in the way. College totally disrupted my former routine and instead of reading Proverbs before I fell asleep, I was studying biology, partying or late-night chatting with friends. There was a residual effect of all that wisdom I had soaked up in my teen years, but when it finally wore off, do you know what was left? A fool. Turns out the only thing keeping me out of trouble was that daily connection to the Wisdom of the ages. Though being a fool seemed like fun at the time, I don’t have much to brag about now. I would be embarrassed to admit to many of my antics and I wouldn’t want my daughter to know about them, for sure! I may have turned from those memories, but they have not disappeared. I left a trail of witnesses so thick I could never run for public office!

Be deliberate about your relationship with God. Make a commitment to stay in contact at least once a day. Begin to think about chatting with God as being as essential as changing your underwear each day!

Visit Donna online at www.onmyownnow.com. While you're there, don't forget to sign up for the free Single! Young Christian Woman e-zine.

You can order an autographed copy of the book right now for 25% off at Quilldriver Books.