A League of Dangerous Women
by Mary Frances Bowley with James Lund
Published by Random House
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Reviewed by Patty Inglish, MS
Subtitled: True Stories from the Road to Redemption
People with nothing to lose are dangerous, but not to the extent that those who have everything to give are.
Mary Bowley demonstrates that the most dangerous people "count it all joy" by looking at the bigger picture. They do this with an unshakable faith that all will be well, no matter what circumstances look like at this moment. Such people have come through the fires of hell in one piece and have survived--No, they have prospered. Now they spread the good word of hope, and this is the lesson of A League of Dangerous Women: If we know it, then we can achieve it, and then we will facilitate it for others.
Groups of women have been dangerous in the past, among them America's suffragettes of the19th and 20th centuries. Some men and women alike that opposed their right to vote abused them. Just as disturbingly today, some women are abused in more ways, starting as early as infancy when they are molested, raped, belittled, beaten, burned, neglected, starved, and thrown out. Further, because of peer pressure and spousal abandonment, many American women fall victim to drug addiction, alcoholism, unwed pregnancy, cult lifestyles, homelessness, poverty, prostitution, and suicide.
With nothing left to lose, these women come to Wellspring and its way station home, where the staff and residents show that God is still in the healing business. Wellspring Living's motto is: "Changing Our World by Changing Hers."
The staff members are in recovery as well, or at least have a calling to help, but they all receive more than they invest. Friends, family, church, and the legal system refer young broken women. Any of their stories, recorded as chapters, could stand alone as an important film. Together, they make a formidable team that cannot stop what God has started, but only help to finish it: growth, independence, and blessings.
These women progressed from broken vessels, to women dangerous to themselves and others, to heroes boldly dangerous for God and His promises for healing, deliverance, and truth through salvation in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They won't settle for less, and it's all real.
This book is for any woman--middle school girls to senior citizen. I hope that women everywhere can become so dangerous.
Armchair Interviews says: Those wonderful "dangerous" women get a lot done.
Author's Web site: http://www.wellspringliving.org