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What Identity and Purpose Actually Were
Becoming a Diamond is a faith-centered guide for women who caught between the life they’ve built and the person they’re still becoming. WWhat inspired you to write this guide for women?
As a woman in her 40s, who had 3 children, 2 who had already graduated, I was feeling a little disconnected. I grew up in a divorced household and learned early on to work hard for what I wanted and how to take care of myself and everyone around me. And without realizing it, to need validation for a lot of what I did. If I accomplished a goal, I would need a “pat on the back” to feel like I succeeded but never really celebrated. I was always looking ahead to the next thing. I realized it was people-pleasing but that desire also made me feel worthless at times. As a mom & an entrepreneur, I was scattered and BUSY! I was always running and never stopped to really acknowledge what I was doing to my nervous system. I was on auto-pilot.
Your daughter Emma’s graduation serves as the emotional starting point of the book. Why did that moment become the doorway into this larger conversation about identity and purpose?
When Emma graduated, that was the first time I think I really looked ahead and wondered what was next. What would make me feel fulfilled and what would my purpose be. I knew I would always be her Mom, but the relationship and the expectations of what she would need me for would be different. So I really started reflecting. I started asking GOD bigger questions about who HE made me to be and what HE wanted from me. And that conversation brought me to start researching more about what Identity and Purpose actually were.
What role does prayer play in discovering purpose and identity?
We hear this all the time… “what is my purpose”, “what is my identity”? And I truly believe it’s just a statement as simple as “I am fine”. We don’t really understand it. And what I found was that GOD had given me an Identity long before I knew what it was. Long before “life” took its twists and turns. Long before the experiences that shaped me, which felt like they defined who I was. So asking these questions led me to realize, these experiences were gifts. They taught me lessons and now I could help other people realize that they were not victims to those experiences, but they too received those gifts to help others. I realized that I wanted to empower others to leave the victim mindset behind and to really search who GOD made them to be, like I did. GOD is always there to listen, but he also gave us 1 mouth and 2 ears for US to listen as well. So, when I started to listen more, I heard the desire to put these feelings onto pages that others had access to. Words that GOD helped me write. Reflection steps to dig deeper into their own story and action steps to become the brilliant, polished diamond GOD was waiting for them to reveal.
What small steps can someone take if they know they need change but feel overwhelmed by where to begin?
For the person who isn’t sure where to start. Read my origin story. Know you are not alone. Even the most successful people on paper are often struggling too. And giving yourself a moment to realize you also can change the trajectory of your life one story at a time, could be the moment you’ve been waiting for. The moment your identity or purpose are revealed in your heart! The moment you hear GODs voice tell you that you are loved and he’s excited you are ready!
Author Links: Facebook | Website
You know who you used to be … but those old definitions no longer fit.
And yet, you can’t figure out what’s next — or where to look for answers.
Maybe what’s missing is the right question.
Who are you becoming?
In Becoming a Diamond, life and leadership coach Nicole Lindhorst asks just that — then gently guides you through your own answers. Writing as the trusted friend you’ve prayed for — honest, encouraging, faith-filled, and unafraid to say the things most women only think — and using her Diamond developmental framework, she will help you:
-Cut through identity confusion and reconnect with your authentic self.
-Learn to see your purpose from a new lens of joy and fulfillment.
-Honor your self-worth and shut down negativity.
-Release your fear of judgment and express your uniqueness as a gift.
-Break free from paralysis and embrace confidence.
-Stop feeling scattered by focusing where it matters.
-Nurture supportive relationships and release those not serving you.
-Embrace all your gifts and encourage brilliance in others.
Packed with Sparks of Wisdom, provocative micro-perspectives and actionable steps that bring real results, this book meets you wherever you are. New chapter, old season, or finally ready to stop dimming your own brilliance, you’ll recognize the diamond God’s been shaping in you all along
Becoming a Diamond
Becoming a Diamond, by Nicole Lindhorst, is a faith-centered guide for women who feel caught between the life they’ve built and the person they’re still becoming. Framed around “Facets,” including identity, purpose, self-worth, authenticity, decisiveness, focus, relationship, and brilliance, the book blends memoir, coaching, scripture, reflection prompts, and small action steps. Lindhorst begins with the tender ache of her daughter Emma’s graduation and move to Omaha, then follows that emotional opening into deeper questions about motherhood, purpose, business, faith, and the courage to stop living inside roles that no longer fit.
I appreciated how personal the book feels. Lindhorst writes from the middle of lived experience, not from some polished mountaintop where all the pain has been neatly solved. The scene of Emma in her white dress and diamond tiara gave the whole book its emotional doorway, and I found that vulnerability disarming in the best way. The later moments, like her retreat at Sedona Mago, her decision to sell the rhinestone and sign businesses, and the grief of closing her boutique, give the ideas real weight. This isn’t just a book saying “find yourself” in a pretty font. It’s a woman admitting that identity can quietly attach itself to motherhood, work, usefulness, and being needed, then asking what remains when those things shift.
The writing is warm, conversational, and deeply encouraging, with a rhythm that feels closest to a long, honest talk with a friend who also happens to be a coach. I liked the recurring images, especially the closet full of old roles, the untouched guitar as a symbol of forgotten joy, and the phone-at-dinner scene that makes the chapter on focus feel immediately recognizable. The book repeats its central language of polishing, facets, brilliance, and becoming. I think that repetition is part of the book’s design. It’s meant to be absorbed slowly, almost devotionally, with the “Reflect” and “Polish” sections nudging the reader toward action rather than passive inspiration. The ideas are strongest when they’re grounded in story, like Sally’s painful reimagining of motherhood through fostering or the “just a mom” passage that gently pushes back against the ways women diminish their own sacred labor.
I felt that Becoming a Diamond succeeds because it understands transition not as failure, but as an invitation. It has a tender, steady confidence about women’s capacity to change without discarding who they’ve been. This is a heartfelt and useful book for Christian women in midlife, empty-nest seasons, career transitions, identity shifts, or any moment when “I’m fine” no longer feels like the whole truth.
Pages: 236 | ISBN : 978-1970329148
