Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose
By Candace Cameron Bure
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Publisher: B&H Books
Genre: Christian
ISBN: 978-1433681844
Source: Bought E-book
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How do you do it all?”
That’s the question that wife, mom, actress, and best-selling author Candace Cameron Bure is often asked. And it’s a question that women everywhere are asking themselves as we seek to balance all of our roles, responsibilities, and opportunities.
So, how do we do it? Working since the age of 5, Candace has been in a balancing act for nearly her entire life. She is the first to tell you that there is no miracle formula for perfect execution in every area of your life, but there definitely are some lessons to be learned, lessons that come to life in Candace’s story.
Come along and dig into Candace’s story from her start in commercials, the balance-necessitating years on Full House, to adding on the roles of wife and mom while also returning to Hollywood. Insightful, funny, and poignant, Candace’s story will help you balance it all.
It seems like just yesterday I was sitting down to read Bure’s first book, Reshaping It All: Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness when really, that was in the fall of 2011. A lot has happened since then and the topic of her latest book is what I’ve been craving now more than ever. Talk about an on time message.
Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men – Colossians 3:23
As someone who has for the most part always embraced responsibility, priorities have always been very important to me. Getting it right has been an obsession of mine. I’m not married and I don’t have kids but I still have priorities and struggles with balancing it all. Mainly, making God the ultimate priority and the center of all that I am and do. I’d like to think that I have it all together spiritually but truth be told, I have my phases where for months at a time I drown myself in the word of God and months at a time, I’ll open up that bible only a handful of times. This has to change. I need to put my foot down and be consistent in all things rather than solely the things I think I want for a time. Balancing It All was the push I needed to sit down and really think about my priorities in a way that I truly never have before.
I’m a list keeper. Always have been. I make To Do lists all the time. Sometimes my daily to do lists are organized by the hour. Short term lists. Long term lists. I make them all. The thing is, I can write to do lists all day and the word, “Prioritize” comes to my mind multiple times a day for a couple of days out of every month but do I sit down and look at that list? My lists are organized by both the timely manner in which I can get it done and how high of a priority I believe it to be. But to really sit down and analyze these priorities…it hasn’t been done in awhile. What do I mean?
Balance isn’t necessarily about cutting things out of our lives, but rather being led to invest in the right things.
That. I can’t stress the above line enough. Talk about an “aha moment.” Balancing It All will encourage readers to be honest with themselves and accept accountability on a level that they’ve never reached before. I always knew I was fairly good with my balancing act but I always knew something was missing and that was it.
There’s also a part of me that knew a fraction of what needed to be changed and Bure touches on all of that as well. She writes, …my life is out of balance and my priorities need to change because I need to change. Nobody really wants to hear that they are part of the problem but it’s so true! So much of the time we are in our own way. I know I am in my own way and I am tired. So tired of half surrendering. Not anymore. Enough is enough.
I love when Bure wrote, God hasn’t abandoned me. I’ve abandoned Him. So so true. I know I can relate with my bible phases and praying everyday but not really getting down to the nitty gritty. Praying for God to help me be more kind and rolling my eyes at every test. I am in my own way. Writing down all of the things that I think I want and need to do but never asking God what He wants me to do or truly trusting Him to get it done. God will open doors when we trust in Him and seek His wisdom and guidance.
Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. – Philippians 2:3
Bure stresses the importance of faith, hard work, commitment and discipline, selflessness, boundaries, accepting help (I’ll admit, that’s something I’ve always had to work on), humility, and so much more. She tackles the tasks of growing intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially and maintaining a balance between the four with examples from her own life, back from her Full House days up to the present.
I’m 23 years old (24 on January 31st), I grew up on Full House, and I grew up in a Christian household. I didn’t put the pieces together right away that Candace Cameron was Kirk Cameron’s sister (I didn’t quite grow up on Growing Pains but I watched the VHS tape and later DVD out of Left Behind) but when I did put the pieces together, I was ecstatic. DJ Tanner was Kirk Cameron’s sister! More love and light to spread around. Only Bure wasn’t as vocal about her faith then. So I was amazed to see in Balancing It All how God was working in Bure’s life even when she didn’t realize it, even while she was a Christian but wasn’t practicing her faith like she does today. The favor of God was on her life and it’s on yours too but it’s up to you to accept it. It’s up to you to prioritize your life and this book is just the inspiration and boost you need to get you on your way.
I especially love the prayer at the end of the book. I’ve been saying for years that I would start a prayer journal and even attempted to start one twice but something about the words Bure has written has encouraged me to be consistent with a prayer journal. I also can’t even begin to express how proud I am of Candace Cameron, a household name talking about the power of prayer.
I always get so happy when I see Bure using her platform for God’s will (whether in book form, on the small screen, on Twitter, etc…) and I am so thankful that her words can, will, and have touched so many people no matter what their background and circumstance. It never ceases to bring a huge smile to my face whenever I see Bure as an instrument of His and she will never stop inspiring others to make it a point to be the same – in their own way. What an encouragement. What a phenomenal book to read to start off the new year on the right foot.
Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose by Candace Cameron Bure is available today.