When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

Find true freedom and peace for your soul when you discover that God's grace secures what striving never could.

In this hustling, image-forward age of opportunity, we feel more anxious than ever. Despite all the affirming memes and self-reflections that dominate social media feeds, approval and worth often seem assigned to what we do rather than who we are. And we end up constantly feeling like we're behind, lacking, and failing--at home, at work, with friends, with God.

Ruth Chou Simons knows something about feeling measured by achievement, performance, and the approval of others. As a Taiwanese immigrant growing up between two cultures, Ruth was always on a mission to prove her worth, until she came to truly understand the one thing that changes everything: the extravagant, undeserved gift of grace from a merciful God.

In When Strivings Cease, Ruth guides you on a journey to find freedom from the never-ending quest for self-improvement. She shows you how to:

• Confront the ways you look to superficial means of acceptance and belonging
• Find relief in realizing self-help isn't the answer because you can't be so amazing that you won't need grace
• Stop seeing God as someone to perform for and start finding delight in responding to his welcome
• Let go of trying to rely on your own strength, your own abilities, and your own savvy by truly understanding the freedom Jesus purchased for you

With personal stories, biblical insights, practical applications, and touches of original artwork by Ruth, When Strivings Cease will help you see the beautiful truth that God's grace is the only thing you need--because in Christ you are enough.

Ruth Chou Simons is a Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of several books and Bible studies, including GraceLaced, Beholding and Becoming, When Strivings Cease, and Now and Not Yet. She is an artist, podcaster, speaker, and the founder, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer of GraceLaced, an art and lifestyle brand. Simons uses each of these platforms to spiritually sow the Word of God into people's hearts, making deep truths beautifully accessible with her signature art and relatable communication style. Simons has been featured on Good Morning America, Fox, Christianity Today, and Hallmark Home and Family. Ruth and her husband, Troy, live in Western Colorado and are grateful parents to six boys--their greatest adventure.