Picture Perfect (Paperback)

Amy Baker

ISBN 10: 1939946379 / ISBN 13: 9781939946379

Published by New Growth Press, Greensboro, 2014

About this Item

Paperback. As a culture, we have a love-hate relationship with perfectionism. We reward perfectionists for their insistence on setting high standards and their tireless efforts to achieve them. But psychologists link perfectionism with a host of problematic behaviors ranging from eating disorders to risk aversion to workaholism. Perfectionism is a crushing burden that can leave us angry, anxious, and paralyzed. Is the solution just to "lighten up"? In Picture Perfect, counselor and author Amy Baker challenges the popular notion that perfectionists need to lower their standards. After carefully examining Scripture and drawing from twenty-five years of counseling experience, Baker concludes, "The problem is not that our standards are too high and we just need to lighten up. The problem is that God's instruction to be perfect in Matthew 5:48 doesn't lead us to see how desperately we need him and drive us to our perfect Savior." Helping readers to dig beneath the frustration of perfectionism, Baker exposes what drives our perfectionism and shows how Christ's perfection changes our motives, beliefs, desires, fears, anxieties, and goals. Readers will discover that only God's grace can transform the aching "not enough" of perfectionism into the overflowing abundance of faith. The quest for perfection can be a crushing burden. When life doesn't line up, it's easy to be angry, anxious, or even paralyzed. Amy Baker uncovers the pitfalls of perfectionism and examines the root and purpose of the longing for perfection to show how God's grace transforms this burdensome quest into a joyful walk of faith. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781939946379

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Picture Perfect (Paperback)
• Publisher: New Growth Press, Greensboro
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1939946379
• ISBN 13: 9781939946379
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A compassionate and biblically grounded look at perfectionism that invites readers to move from pressure and self-reliance to the freedom of God’s grace.

In Picture Perfect, counselor and author Amy Baker explores our culture’s mixed view of perfectionism—celebrating high achievers even as perfectionism fuels anxiety, anger, burnout, and paralysis. Rather than simply advising perfectionists to relax or lower their standards, Baker challenges the common narrative and turns to Scripture to show that the real issue is deeper and more hopeful.

Drawing on twenty-five years of counseling experience, she helps readers uncover the beliefs, fears, and desires that drive perfectionism and reveals how Christ’s perfect work reshapes our motives, expectations, and goals. By pointing to God’s grace and the transforming power of Jesus, Baker offers a path that replaces the relentless ache of “never enough” with the confidence and rest found in him.

• Addresses perfectionism at its root rather than offering surface-level fixes or clichés.
• Shows how Christ’s perfection reframes desires, motivations, and expectations in everyday life.
• Offers hope and freedom from self-imposed pressure through the truth of God’s grace and the sufficiency of Jesus.

About the Author

Amy Baker, PhD, is the ministry resource director at Faith Church (Lafayette, IN); director of counseling for Vision of Hope, a faith-based residential treatment program; instructor and counselor at Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries; a council member of the Biblical Counseling Coalition; and the author of Getting to the Heart of Friendships and Picture Perfect: When Life Doesn't Line Up as well as several counseling minibooks. She is the editor of Caring for the Souls of Children: A Biblical Counselor's Manual. She and her husband, Jeff, have two children.