All I Need Is Jesus & A Good Pair of Jeans

Written on February 18, 2009 by Lisa

In the introduction to her book All I Need Is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans: The Tired Supergirl’s Search for Grace Susanna Foth Aughtmon describes with perfect clarity and amazing insight the universal quest of womankind: the perfect pair of jeans. We want jeans that “suppress the upper thigh, lengthen the inseam, and let you reveal your inner rock star. Because they look that good.” Jeans that are forgiving, particularly when it comes to the less than flattering parts of our bodies. However, if we are honest, we know that there is something of a dichotomy between what we know a good pair of jeans ought to look like and what we really look like in our everyday jeans. Bringing the metaphor home, Aughtmon says:

And it’s the same when we look at the rest of our lives. What we desire is not necessarily what we have. The person we are is not the person we long to be. Just as the perfect jeans seem to elude us, so do the obedient children, the perfect marital communication, and the conquering of all our weaknesses…It seems that we supergirls need some forgiveness in other areas of our lives besides jeans and outerwear. We need forgiveness for our lives in general. And what we really need is some grace. An ever-present shower of grace that we can sit under and soak up and let pervade all the areas of our life that seem to fall short of the glory of God.

And such is the premise and purpose of her book. All I Need Is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans: The Tired Supergirl’s Search for Grace provides an frank and vulnerable look at the struggles all women face, from insecurity to body image issues. Each chapter is a confession of sorts, often hilarious, sometimes painfully honest, sometimes so much a mirror reflection of my own failures and foibles that I wondered how Aughtmon got inside my head. Aughtmon is refreshingly authentic as she describes her inadequacies and imperfections with humor and honesty, deliberately pointing readers to the grace we all need, the grace that is found only in the person of Jesus Christ.

Like Aughtmon, I am a tired supergirl, weary of battling foes like Tired Lady, Compare-A-Girl, Miss No-Fair, Miss Do-They-Like-Me and the Diva. Like Aughtmon, I am oh so tired, I want chocolate to solve my problems, I am jealous of my friends, I don’t like to admit I am wrong, I am a people pleaser, and I have a long way to go (all of which are chapter titles). Like Aughtmon, I feel caught between who I am and who I long to be, and, like Aughtmon, I know that even tired supergirls can find grace as they turn to Jesus and the truth of God’s Word.

Author Susanna Foth Aughtmon has graciously volunteered to giveaway three copies of this book (U.S. or Canadian shipping addresses). If you would like to win a copy, please leave us a comment and we’ll announce the recipients on February 25.

The winner of the If I Were A. . . series is #51 Tammy Grady.

The winners of Your Roots Are Showing are

#57 jayne
#60 Nicole C.
#120 Angie P.
#73 Gabriel J.
#134 Angie Lamb

If you didn’t receive your notification email, send your name and address to 5minutesforbooksATgmailDOTcom.

Wife and mother, Bible teacher and blogger, Lisa loves Jesus, coffee, dark chocolate and, of course, books. Read more of her reflections at Lisa writes….

Lisa blogs at Lisa writes…. and tweets at @lisa_writes.