Embracing Your Second Calling

“Embracing Your Second Calling is a wonderful book for women such as me who are navigating a life landscape filled with physical, emotional, familial, and spiritual change. For those of us in a season of shifting priorities and purposes, Dale Hanson Bourke affirms our desire for continued service and significance—and shares how we can discover anew that with God, the best truly is yet to come!”

Jane Johnson Struck

“This book made me uncomfortable. That’s saying a lot. Usually I can tell where an author is headed and get there before she does, thus insulating myself from the surprise that results in having to consider change. But Dale wound me in with her honest, human confessions so much that by the time she rounded certain corners in her self-examination and spiritual processing, I went with her. “Rats. Now I have to be different. Note that verb: not do something different. That would be somehow easier. Now I have to be different in the second half of my life . . . Thanks, Dale.”

ELISA MORGAN Publisher

“My heart resonates with Dale Bourke’s heart as she shares midlife hunger for more of God. Whatever your season of life, you will be blessed and spurred on to seek Him with more of your heart.”

Denalyn Lucado

“Like a good friend, Dale peels back her personal-life layers to reveal a timely message of clarity. I loved how she wove Naomi’s story into relevant insights for me. [Embracing Your Second Calling] is an encouraging must-read for all of us who want to see what God has in store for the rest of our lives! Relevant. Real. Honest.”

Joani Schultz

“I wholeheartedly recommend Embracing Your Second Calling. I love Dale’s insight that midlife offers women a ‘holy break’ and the opportunity to forge a new identity that is grounded in prayer and is world-changing in scope. On every page of this wise and well-crafted book, I found both affirmation and challenge. I sincerely hope that millions of midlife women will read it, become convinced that the best is yet to come, and make themselves fully available to a new work of God in and through them. As Dale says, together we can bring the kingdom of God to earth in every imaginable way.”

Lynne Hybels

“In a culture that endlessly reminds women my age that we are ‘past our prime,’ Dale shows us that God’s plans for us are just beginning. In giving us a new perspective of the life of Naomi, she also gives us courage to let go of those things that once defined us, and to embrace God’s second calling on our lives.”

Reneé Stearns

“Embracing Your Second Calling will serve as a wonderful resource to the thousands of individuals seeking to answer God’s call on their lives. At Bridgestar, we work every day with men and women, secular and faith-based, who are asking, ‘What’s next?’ in looking for senior management jobs in the nonprofit sector—many after successful careers in business, government, or returning to work after raising a family. If you want to embrace the second half of your life with passion, power, and purpose, this book will help you take a big first step. Enjoy!”

David Simms

“Dale’s honest self-reflection encouraged me to do the same. I appreciated her invitation to pause and consider midcourse adjustments for the second half of life. The challenge to realign priorities around relationships and activities that will have lasting impact was communicated as one spiritual wrestler to another. I found Dale’s insights from the book of Ruth and stories from the lives of contemporary friends to be compelling examples of commitment to eternal significance.”

Laura Crosby

“Yes! As a woman definitely in the ‘second half of life,’ I found myself identifying deeply with Dale’s excitement about the possibilities. Not doing more but going deeper, having more to give. The subtitle says it all: passion and purpose for the rest of my life. It doesn’t get better than that! Sisters, we need to help one another discover our ‘second calling.”

Neta Jackson