Second Calling: Passion and Purpose for the Rest of Your Life [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

by Dale Hanson Bourke (Author)
Key Phrases: second calling, World Vision, Book of Ruth, Grandma Hanson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Women over forty long to redefine the rest of their lives. Dale Hanson Bourke and the friends she interviewed-including General Claudia Kennedy, Kay Warren, Becky Pippert, journalist Peggy Wehmeyer and Jill Briscoe-resoundingly affirm that midlife can be a time of spiritual rebirth and a chance for God to get one's attention now that others' demands on her life have diminished. Bourke offers essential principles that will help women to blaze new trails in their best years. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Amazon Remainders Account (January 1, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 1591453321
• ASIN: B000GYI1M4
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #639,381 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gentle invitation to relinquish control to God in mid-life, June 23, 2006

By	Christian Book Previews.com "Christian Book P... - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Second Calling: Finding Passion & Purpose for the Rest of Your Life (Hardcover)

In 1985, Dale Hanson Bourke published You Can Make Your Dreams Come True, a book designed to encourage women to believe in themselves, their passions, and their power in God to realize their dreams. Two decades later, her latest book, Second Calling: Passion & Purpose for the Rest of Your Life, could be its sequel. For Second Calling is all about life after the dream has been achieved. Or not.

Patterned on the book of Ruth, Second Calling is written for women "in or approaching the second half of . . . life." And it's especially relevant to those who spent the first half of their lives pursuing their dreams, whether successfully or not, only to find as they transition into mid-life that they no longer have the energy and drive they once had.

After the death of her husband and sons, the future looked bleak as Naomi packed her things, dispatched her daughters-in-law, and headed out of Moab back to Judah. But Ruth refused to leave, so together they made their way to Bethlehem where Naomi instructed the women to call her "Mara, because the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me." At that moment, when all seemed lost, Naomi had no way of knowing that God would use her life to bless future generations.

Through this study of Naomi's life, Bourke encourages women to realize that when age inevitably takes its toll on our energy and vitality, when our dreams have either been realized or given up, our lives can still have meaning and purpose. Once the busyness has slowed, God can finally get our attention and show us, as He did Naomi, that it's not what we can do for Him, but what He can do through us that ultimately matters.

"Naomi became part of the greatest story ever told," writes Bourke, "not because of what she did in the first half of her life but because of what God did through her in the second half."

Naomi's second calling was to be "called the grandmother of baby Obed, who later becomes the grandfather of David." Only God knows what unique second calling He has in mind for each of us, but, according to Bourke, Naomi's story "is evidence that God wants to tell a story through us as well." In Second Calling, Dale Hanson Bourke has issued a gentle invitation to women in mid-life and beyond to relinquish control of our lives and to rest in God's grace while He writes "the rest of [our] story." - Linda Whitlock, Christian Book Previews.com

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read for mature women, July 10, 2006

By	FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Calling: Finding Passion & Purpose for the Rest of Your Life (Hardcover)

This is a book for mature women (these days and in this context meaning baby-boomers) facing the "second half of life." Dale Hanson Bourke, now in her early 50s, has a different take on life than she did as a young I-can-do-it-all wife, mother and entrepreneur. She was the type who set annual five-year and 10-year goals, building toward the next achievement. She even wrote her first book about it, titled YOU CAN MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. But now? In recent years she's felt drawn toward what she refers to as a "second calling," one that "doesn't necessarily build your résumé, but it builds your soul." And here she welcomes readers to join her on this transformative journey.

The book is framed by the biblical story of Naomi (and secondarily Ruth). "Before the Book of Ruth begins, Naomi is enjoying a wonderful life... She loves God and her family, and all seems right in the world." But "then the bottom falls out." And later, "through divine providence and Naomi's obedience, the Book of Ruth ends" with Naomi "feeling fulfilled" and "playing a pivotal role" in a larger story.

But Naomi and Ruth provide the framework for a contemporary challenge: "If all the Christian women aged forty and older got truly serious about seeking God and letting him use us in amazing ways, we could completely change our world." With an endearing vulnerability, Dale walks you through her own menopausal crisis and awakening, realizing that what really energized her involved international relief and justice issues, including AIDS awareness and orphan assistance. But such work, which started with high-profile marketing advice and overseas travel, eventually and humbly included night after night of personally labeling and mailing out packages of "AIDS orphan bracelets" --- not because she had to do it herself but because she wanted to.

This is more than her own story, however. She also draws in vignettes of other empty-nest moms and career women who've found a new stride. And parts of the middle chapters are quite specific in their how-to pointers for finding new direction --- identifying what one needs to let go of and leave behind before one can step out in confidence and faith.

In one particularly interesting chapter, titled "Giving up Idols," Dale humorously describes how much she valued her airline "super-duper premier executive platinum card" and ultimately admits that she's "still an achiever in recovery."

Whole chapters are devoted to the foundational aspects of prayer and to the critical support of friends and mentors. "If prayer is the bedrock of the second half of life, then friends are the rich soil that give form, substance, and richness to our calling." She also addresses the value of passing on your life lessons to the younger generation.

One chapter departs from the Naomi metaphor and centers on the wilderness manna that was edible only one day. Here Dale discusses the importance of "living in the present," letting God set the agenda, taking on the task set before her rather than relying on those old long-term goals. Though she has obviously felt the grief of letting go and moving on, maybe she has ultimately experienced her heart's dreams come true.

The publisher's claim that this is the "first major book to address the spiritual side of a woman's second half of life" gave me pause. It's been out nearly a decade, but for a midlife woman I'd also recommend Valerie Bell's A WELL-TENDED SOUL.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book hits me where I live!, March 6, 2006

By	Betty (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Calling: Finding Passion & Purpose for the Rest of Your Life (Hardcover)

I had the opportunity to read this book in manuscript form, before it was published. I laughed, I cried, I nodded my head and said, "oh yeah, that's me!" As I read it (on an airplane) I started writing the names of the women I knew that abspolutely HAD to read it - that NEEDED to hear this message - on the front page. I put stars beside the names of the women that need it FIRST - they might not be able to wait until it was actually published. When I finished reading the manuscript, I counted the names . . . 36. The number with "stars" . . . 24. I've been in the book publishing business for almost 20 years. I'm an avid reader. This is one of the most important books I've ever read.