When I read this book, I had just finished another one called ‘Rare Leadership’ by Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner. It’s an inspirational book that invites church leaders to bring joy into their leadership through keeping the focus on relationships rather than problems. It teaches how to love well by accepting others and always seeing them as bigger than their mistakes.

Then I picked up ‘Unexceptional’ and it was as if I had moved straight into solid examples of good relationships in practice. ‘Unexceptional’ is a gritty, honest and vulnerable account of real women really loving the Lord and their neighbours when it costs a lot. It’s a book about investing in others as a ‘thank you’ to Jesus who has invested everything in us. It’s about embracing God’s purposes with a big dose of trust when the way ahead makes no sense in human terms.

Sharon has given the concluding chapter the title ‘Persevere to the End’ and I read it on a day when I needed to be reminded of the eternal rewards of keeping on keeping on. I would not be at all surprised if other women have picked up ‘Unexceptional’ and found that it’s message was the right one for that particular moment in their lives too. I have to end by saying a big thank you to all the contributors.

Catherine Knights, Lord's Hill Church of England, Southampton