I read this book the summer I was a camp counselor and I flew through it pretty quickly. I loved that they were short stories, so I could read one story when I only had 5 minutes of down time. It was super encouraging to my faith and I felt truly connected to a lot of these women. The reason this is 3/5 stars and not higher rated for me is simply because of the nature of the book. Because it is written as short stories about many women, there wasn't really a plot or anything, so that's the only reason it's not higher rated.

I have such mixed feelings about this book and I'm not completely sure why. There are stories of incredible women like Joan of Arc as well as women from our time who have powerful testimonies. I think maybe what bothers me about the book is the impression it gives (probably unintentionally) of, "If your life isn't radical like this you're not doing enough." And that's simply not true. It feels like the book glorifies the women and their choices to obey the Lord more than it glorifies the work the Lord used them to do. I could be the only one who gets that impression from it, but it just soiled the experience for me. I read it as a young girl and again in college, and I still just can't have a good experience with it. I did like the devotional questions at the end of each section, as a time of reflection.

Great

Excellent read! Amazing testimonies of women devoted to God. An inspiration to press on for His Glory!

A very inspiring read which is meant to partly be devotional. It is about women who have and do live for Christ, their struggles and their successes. While I enjoyed this immensely, it is heavy and I'd imagine would be quite a chore if you planned to read it straight through.

Must read, great stories of brave courageous women!!

If you aren’t familiar with the Jesus Freaks books by DCTalk, you need to get acquainted. :D They are basically a modern version of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, stories of men and women who gave everything for God. Well, Sister Freaks is devoted to stories solely about women. It’s really neat!

Of the 60 stories I read, I’m going to highlight 5% (that means 3) of them. Manche Masemola grew up in what is now S. Africa in the early 1910s-1920s. She heard the gospel somewhere around the age 16 and became a Christian the same night she heard it. Because the evangelist was affiliated with the Anglican church, she had to attend class to study the Bible and prepare for baptism. Her parents believed the gods would unleash their wrath on the family because of Manche’s choice, so they beat her in hopes of keeping her from attending classes. Manche was determined though; she continued to go to classes, even though she was never able to complete them. She was beaten and forced to drink a potion to “rid her of the evil spirits”; no one knows which killed Manche. The awesomeness of the whole story? Forty years later, Manche’s mother “accepted Jesus as her Savior and was baptizes, in part because of the witness of her daughter.” What an incredible testimony Manche was! Hmm… Manche sounds like a great name for an adopted daughter from Africa. :D

Purnima left her home at the age of 13. Why? She had converted to Christianity in the Buddhist country of Bhutan, and her choices were to 1) denounce her faith or 2) leave the country. After many ups and downs of being on the run to escape the country, including imprisonment, Purnima lives with her sister Maya and brother-in-law Sival, desiring to endure persecution alongside believing relatives. She also hopes to, one day, share the gospel with her mother.

Coming from a poor rural Chinese village engulfed in hopelessness, Li Pasang chooses a different way of life. As she battles cancer in deplorable conditions, her attitude is one of gratitude. How so? She says, “I am glad Jesus loved me enough to allow the tumor so that I could hear about Him through a doctor.” As a result of her testimony, 30 families in her village gave their hearts to Jesus and are equally thankful for Pasang’s tumor. Yet another instance of how good God really is.

These are short summaries of incredible stories. Each story is about 2 1/2 pages long and can be used in daily devotionals. Testimonies such as these show me how great is the God I serve and how He really could choose to do something like this through me. If you choose to read this book, be sure to have a box of tissues in close proximity.

stumbled upon this book on Amazon & so grateful I bought it :) i LOVE Rebecca St James & loved this book. It's set up to be read in weeks (week 1/week 2 etc) but I read it all at once.
I loved reading about people or in this case, women, who do things for/stand up for what they believe in. I think that's a beautiful trait for anyone to have.
I also recommend the Jesus Freaks books by DC Talk ( similar types of stories)

At first this book was interesting because it talked about famous women in history. However, after awhile it became repetitive with similar stories of random women going on mission trips and girls finding Jesus. This book needed to be about 100 pages shorter than it was.

Very inspirational. I enjoyed the mix of stories about both modern day and historical saints. A good one to get the creative juices flowing re. how YOU are going to represent Jesus and keep His kingdom expanding :)

Many of these stories were truly inspiring.

Topic 9, Non-Fiction, for the ages of 8 and up.
St.James. Rebecca, (2005)Sister Freaks. Alive Communications, Faith Words, New York.

This book would be a good read for the 8-older range of young women.
This is an inspirational book for women all over the world. It shares stories of women who have laid down their lives to make a difference in the world. Amazing women such as Joan of Arc, Joy Churchill and other young people of the world, even the so called ordinary women of today like you and I.
This book shares how these women have been tested and in some cases tried for their faith. It builds character and strengthens the hearts of those under persecution. These young women have demonstrated their faith in what they believe in by being challenged in their lives and they resulted in changing lives of others around them.
It talks about women who have gone overseas to do missionary work against all odds and how they have succeeded by following their dreams and passions.
This book is an amazing book for young ones to read for encouragement and strength to stand up for what they believe in.
It is a book to build faith in every young lady, to change the world or their environment that they live in, even if they are being challenged in their lives at present.
I have chosen this book mainly because so often girls are still not encouraged to think about changing the world around them. Often in churches and in some parts of society women are still to be submissive to men. I believe that every woman has the opportunity to change this, to come out of the covers and be who they can be if given the encouragement. I am not trying to promote women liberation but I am trying to encourage young ladies to realise that they too can do great things like Mother Teresa, Corrie Ten Boom, Joan of Arc etc and they can help other women achieve goals they would never had thought of. That all things are possible.