Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot By Kurt W. Bubna Book Review

Epic Grace is written to assist readers into comprehending that God’s grace and mercy is a compelling critical aspect of grasping what being a Christian is truly all about. Kurt W. Bubna begins the book by admitting to his readers that he is a recovering idiot and he has made numerous mistakes throughout his life. By despite, his failures and his mistakes God was and is gracious enough to forgive him of his sins and give him implausible epic grace when he didn’t deserve it or earn it. He revealed to readers several personal stories about his heartaches, hardships, regrets, and how God’s amazing grace sustained him through his suffering.  

Kurt W. Bubna realized that perseverance and endurance during the difficult times is often overlooked. Most people don’t connect perseverance to the term grace. But he stressed that grace isn’t just about sinning and repenting, grace can also mean, receiving divine assistance while we are enduring through our struggles and suffering. God is always by our side in the midst of trying seasons of our lives and He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He is a true friend that sticks close to us and He has everything under complete control, even when we feel like there is chaos all around. Job was a man who feared God and stayed away from evil things and God surpassingly blessed him. Satan told God that if he could test Job and destroy everything he has then Job would surely curse God. God allowed it and satan began taking away everything Job treasured. Job had his donkeys and oxen stolen and all of his servants were tragically killed, next lighting stuck and burned up his sheep and all of his shepherds but one, and later raiders stole his camels and killed all of the servants but one. Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worst, another blow hit it blew behind the knees this time. A messenger arrived and told him the awful news that his children was at their oldest brother’s house when a powerful wind swept and made the house collapse, killing everyone but the one messenger. Losing children would be the final straw for most parents but Job fell to the ground and worshiped God even after the fact that his children were gone. (I don’t know if I would even have the strength to do that) He was also tested in his health and was tortured with boils all over his body. His wife complained and told him to curse God and die. His friends kept blaming and stating that all of his problems was because of all of the sins that he has committed. Job went through appalling suffering that no one wants to have to undergo. But Job is an excellence example of someone who continued to worship God and trust him during these problematic trials.  

Unfortunately, Kurt W. Bubna has experienced terrible grief and it’s one his family never saw coming. His daughter-in-law went into premature labor at seven months along. On the way to the long drive to the hospital, Nathan, his son called and told them the news that his little son, Phineas was born with undeveloped lungs and only lived an hour. Like most people, Kurt questioned God and he didn’t understand why he had to lose his grandson. His entire family was heartbroken and devastated. During this trial, he learnt that God knows what it is like to lose a Son and God was always there to comfort him in his grief. I would love to write that was the only dreadful pain that he ever had to go through but it wasn’t.  

I also loved the personal story about how Kurt discovered his calling and destiny and how he became a preacher. I related to the questions on “the process of discovery” that he presented in the chapter entitled, “Driven by Destiny”. I massively benefited from this section and I was reminded to listen to the still small voice and promptings that God places on our hearts in order for us to determine God’s purpose for our lives. It’s also viral to listen to what others believe to be our gifts and talents from God. It’s important to make sure that the Godly advice we receive from our friend’s line up with what God is saying and what he says in His written word. This past year, God has impressed upon me to assist His chosen people in whatever areas, they are struggling in and help them to overcome their issues that our hindering them from being all that God has intended for them to be. I’m majoring in Psychology because I want to be equipped to help children and adults, who struggle with low self-esteem, eating disorders, love and relationship issues, red flags in dating, how to end bullying, preventing suicide, parenting children, marriage problems, overcoming addictions, grief, handling stress in the workplace, how to monitor technology usage with children, how to protect our children from predators, how to help foster children to deal with the trauma experiences of losing or being abandoned by their birth parents, and people who were abused. I’m still seeking God on where He wants me to serve and where I should focus on being a therapist or a counselor. This chapter greatly reinforced the significance of following God’s plan and purpose for my life.  

I would recommend this magnificent book about God’s epic grace to anyone who is feeling like a failure, and they are feeling terrible guilty for the sins that they have committed, and they feel like God can’t possible forgive them and love them. This book will proved to you that God can forgive us of our stupid mistakes and sins, all we have to do is confess and repent, and turn away from our sins. God freely sent His only Son to die on a wooden cross for our many sins and He took the punishment we all deserved, which is death. The book will impart in readers that God will give them grace through whatever trials they have to withstand and He is constantly there. The book was a gigantic catalyst in helping me understand more fully the concept of epic grace. I immensely loved how Kurt W. Bubna was transparent in his struggles and triumphs and how epic grace from our loving Creator changed his life completely. He was very genuine in disclosing that he grew up in a dysfunctional family and his father had an unrealistic standard of perfection that no one could measure up to. His father also had secret addictions and was angry most of the time. Kurt shared that he was at one time, the prodigal son who rebelled and did shameful things that he regretted. He confessed that there was a time he drank a lot and partied hard whenever he got the chance. But by the grace of God, his life has turned around to where now he is serving God fully. I truly appreciated his honesty regarding his marriage troubles and how they went to a marriage counselor for guidance. The notion of the large circle conveying how a marriage covenant bond is supposed to work during the different stages of marriage was very life changing and will be extremely helpful to readers. I also loved the chapter about Caleb and his adoption story it was very inspiring to learn about how Caleb became to be a part of Kurt’s daughter, Jessica’s family. I greatly hope that God has me a Caleb out there somewhere in the future. I highly commend Kurt for writing such a life changing book and being extremely open to his fellow readers. If you’re looking for a book on the topic of grace, then you need to read this one!  

 

“I received an advance PDF copy of the book for free from the author for this review and I was a member of the book launch team”. 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Epic Grace, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Epic-Grace-Chronicles-Recovering-Idiot/dp/1414385048

 

Check out the book trailer:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2nzOhRtsvA

 

 

Compassionate Jesus: Rethinking the Christian’s Approach to Modern Medicine By Christopher W. Bogosh Book Review

 

In Compassionate Jesus, Christopher W. Bogosh revealed the hidden dangers into buying into the medical field advice of prolonging life by any means necessary. This book is a personal mission to educate readers into learning about the medical science and the health care system and how they deal with treating dying patients. It also looks at the spiritual side of death and if prolonging death is really God’s will for our lives. Christopher W. Bogosh joined the Army in 1989 and became a medical technician and eventually became a registered nurse. He felt God calling him into ministry and he enjoys helping out as a clinical hospice liaison. He understands having to endure pain and heartache in his own life. He recalls having his sister die in a tragic automobile accident and he struggled with the why questions. Through this horrible event, he learnt that God is merciful and that he is in complete control and everything has a purpose and a reason, even when we don’t understand why bad things have to happen. He realized that everyone is guilty and we all deserve every illness, sickness, and even death. But God is merciful and He gives us grace and forgiveness for our numerous sins.  

A big emphasis is put on the scripture verse that Paul wrote that stated, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) Christopher W. Bogosh pointed out that is extremely easy to believe that declare that verse when we are healthy and no sign of sickness is in our bodies. But will we be able to boldly decree that verse when sickness and death hits us. And we all know that at some point everyone dies an earthly death. Whether we choose a life in Heaven or hell is up to us! He has personally noticed that many Christian will pursue medical treatments at whatever costs in order to live a longer life. It’s important to remember to seek God’s will for our lives and not to worship the medical field as our healer and as our saving living Savior.  

My favorite chapter would be “Medical Science: Biblically Informed”. This section redefined the meaning of brain death and he reinforced that the medical field announces that the person is dead when a patient’s brain shows no activity. But for Christians we must remember that even, if their brain isn’t functioning, but they are still breathing, then they are really still alive. A person is alive still if their heart is still beating and their lungs are working. He also took a very critical stand against organ donors who are still on life support. He has observed that most organ donors who are on life support and declared dead have their organs removed before life support is taken off. He also notes that he isn’t against organ donors, but he truly believes that the medical doctors should wait until after the person is off life support, and they stop breathing for at least three minutes before harvesting their organs. He advises people to have a written will and a DNR order in order that their spouse, children, or family doesn’t have to make the difficult decisions regarding your health. You can already go ahead and have a plan ready just in case. I believed that this was great instruction to guide readers into thinking about how they view death and how they are already prepare ahead so their families aren’t having to guess what our wishes are.  

I would recommend this marvelous book to anyone who is suffering from a disease, illness, sickness, and possibly a death sentence. The book will provide readers with the awareness and the real threat of worshiping the medical field as your one true God. I would also recommend this book especially to people who are getting older and nearing the age of death. The book contained loads of information about how to handle and assist people who are close to death. Even if you’re perfectly healthy right now, this book will be an enormous advantage for all readers. This book would also benefit pastors and churches on how to assist people who are terribly sick and dying, and they could serve and be the catalyst of change and provide much needed encouragement on their journey into their loving Creator’s arms. I immensely enjoyed reading about praying in the spirit and praying for God’s will for our lives whether we are healed on earth or in Heaven. If readers will consider their desires concerning life support and other issues, then this will save your family from having to make problematic decisions on your behalf. The book was very well researched and Christopher W. Bogosh did an excellence job at presenting all of the Biblical explanations behind the massive facets of medical science and the problems of lengthening our life. If you’re looking for a book that will transform your thinking about medical science and you’re wondering what the Bible states about health and the health care system of today, then this book is definably the one to read!  

 

“I received this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews / Reformation Heritage Books for this review”.

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Compassionate Jesus, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601782284/

Secrets to a Happy Life: Finding Satisfaction in Any Situation By Bill Giovannetti Book Review

In Secrets to a Happy Life, Bill Giovannetti explored the deeper meaning behind true happiness and the satisfaction of relying on God’s amazing providence. The book enclosed eleven life changing key principles to finding contentment and happiness no matter what trials in life you may have to go through. The book covered the whole Biblical story of Joseph (Genesis 37 through Genesis 50) in vast details from his dim circumstances to his ultimate triumphs leading to God’s glory. Some of the eleven secrets keys to happiness are, “destiny, consistency, loyalty, endurance, trust, identity, surrender, and many more.  

As many of us know, Joseph grew up in a dysfunctional family. At seventeen years old, he was instructed to the task of watching his father’s flock. His father loved him the most because he was the youngest son and he had him at an old age. His father gave him a coat of many colors and this made his brothers very angry and they envied him. Joseph was also a dreamer and had many God given dreams about where God would be taking him and he told his brothers that he would rule over them and they resented and hated him. They decided to throw into a bottomless cistern and they destroyed his previous beloved coat. They eventually sold him to a slave trader and killed a goat and put its blood on the coat. They told Jacob the bad news that Joseph must have been attacked by an animal and killed. To say the least very least, Jacob was distraught and sick with grief over losing his son.  

Bill explained that Potiphar, the captain of the guards for Pharaoh, purchased Joseph and was his servant. He was put in responsibility of watching the house and everything that Potiphar owned. Joseph had an extreme loyalty to Potiphar and he respected him and God blessed Potiphar’s crops and livestock because of the calling on Joseph’s life. Joseph had a horrible predicament that was about to change his life again for the second time. Joseph was a very attractive young man and Potiphar’s wife began to tempt Joseph sexual. She repeatedly tried to seduce him and ask him to sleep with her. He refused and stated that yes, he was in charge of everything in their household but one aspect was entirely off limits and that his master’s wife. He reminded her that it would be a sin against God but that didn’t stop her. One day, everyone was gone but Joseph and her. She decided to grab his cloak and she commanded and begged him to sleep with her. He ran out and left her the cloak and she accused him of trying to rape her and he was thrown in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Bill pointed out that we can learn from Joseph’s story, the importance of being loyal to God in every area of our lives and this includes our singleness, dating, marriage, parenting, and business. He also noticed that our Mrs. Potiphar can be a number of different things in today’s times. Our Mrs. Potiphar can be cheating on our spouse, being consumed by greed and always wanting more, having to get the next high or buzz from drugs or alcohol, power and having to be the one in control, and sex. Another crucial aspect that Bill observed was God’s loyalty to Joseph just because He loved him. Joseph didn’t have to preform perfect or do anything to earn God’ infinite love. And the same goes for all believers, God graciously gives us grace even though we don’t deserve it and we haven’t earned it nor can we ever earn it.  

One of my favorite chapters in this book was entitled, “endurance”. When Joseph was in jail, he wasn’t lured into complaining about his problems and his unfair woes. Joseph spent his time overseeing two other prisoners, the chief butler and the chief baker in prison. It’s viral to recognize that Joseph didn’t stop living his life in prison and he served while waiting on God’s timing. One of my favorite quotes was, “You might be waiting for a marriage proposal, or an operation, or a job offer, or a graduation, or to have kids, or for your kids to move out, or to hear back about the resumes you sent out. Whatever you are waiting for, realize that waiting does not mean slamming on the brakes, stopping cold, or putting your life on hold and licking your wounds” (Page 84). This chapter spoke to me in my time of need, it showed me that while I am personally waiting on God’s timing regarding marriage and having children. I’m supposed to continue living my life as a single young man and serving God and others. I loved how Bill reinstated that God isn’t afraid of time and His time is eternity and complaining won’t help us get there any faster in the here and now.  

I would recommend this exceptional book to everyone who is longing for true happiness and fulfilment in our everyday lives. I have learnt that happiness isn’t based on our circumstances, or our adversities occurring in our life, how much money or materials we have, or how our career is going. Happiness is staying content and being joyful despite what is happening in our external surroundings. I immensely enjoying reading this astonishing book and Bill taught be a lot about Joseph that I will admit that I have never saw prior to reading Joseph’s story. I also loved how Bill came up with an analogy and compared Joseph’s life story to dominoes. If you remove one domino they will crash into each other, but together they form a whole giant picture. This is essentially saying that if you remove one part of the story of our lives, you will be missing the massive depiction that God is constructing for His purposes. He is going to use our trials, failures, and successes for His glory, even if we don’t understand right now why we had to go through our adversities. I really liked how Bill didn’t leave out the dreadful raunchy Genesis 38. Bill was very courageous in writing on this topic when most pastors and teachers tend to skip over it when telling the story of Joseph because the story switches to Judah, Onan, and Tamar. This chapter of the Bible is quite graphic so I can see why. But if it’s in the Bible, it is written for a reason. I will confess that this is the first year that I have read this chapter and understood the meaning behind it. Bill did an excellence job at writing the book about Joseph and it is one of the best books that I have read and learnt so much about happiness and being joyful in the mists of our problems.  

I immeasurably appreciated the personal stories, he shared that he went through in his own life. Bill revealed that he questioned God and he had trouble praying after he lost his first baby due to a miscarriage. He chose to trust God and surrendered his grief and pain and it took some time. I can’t even began to imagine the heartache He faced and endured. He also had to lean on God when his dad went through his fifth time in battling cancer. Bill knows firsthand how life can get complicated quickly and unexpectedly. I also found the identity chapter to have a number of beneficial reminders of who we are in Christ and how we need to base our self-worth on what Christ has declared over our lives. Each chapter had questions to reflect on and answer that assisted me in comprehending the material. This book taught me how to find happiness, it reminded me of my identity in Christ, and I learnt how to trust in God’s timing, especially when we don’t see any evidence that our dreams will ever come to pass or our situations will change. But even if they don’t, we can still choose happiness and in Heaven, hopefully we will see 20/20 vision of why we had to go through so many difficult things. If you’re looking for a book on how to find true happiness, then read this book! I highly recommend that you get a copy! It’s time for you to find true lasting happiness in Christ Jesus!

 

“I received this book free from the publisher through the Bethany House Publishers/ Chosen book review bloggers program.”     

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Secrets to a Happy Life, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Happy-Life-Satisfaction-Situation/dp/0764211242

Clean: A Proven Plan for Men Committed to Sexual Integrity By Douglas Weiss, PHD Book Review

 

Clean is written to guide readers into becoming clean and living a life with sexual integrity and purity. Douglas Weiss is a nationally known psychologist, speaker, and an author. He is also the president of the American Association for Sex Addiction Therapy. He is also a committed Christian who had written an excellent book on the subject of staying clean from all bad forms of sexual perversity. He was very transparent and open about his own personal struggle with masturbation and pornography while in Bible school. He admitted that he would confess then keep masturbating and he would remain stuck in this deadly cycle. When he went to seminary he was still struggling but it was becoming less frequent. He felt God prompting him to tell his roommate that he masturbated and to be obedient he would confess to him. Luckily he had a trusting roommate that prayed for him and was a true friend throughout his sexual battles. He eventually realized that if he acted out he would have to confess to him. He finally broke the cycle and became free and now he wants to help every man, son, father, brother, pastor, daughter, and wife to be completely free.

 

He begins the book by digging into depth and sharing the statistics of how pornography has dramatically increased and is becoming more widespread. Times have changed and pornography is easily more accessible to users because of new technology, for example, iPads and smart phones. You can pretty much look at pornography anywhere.

Some of the statistics stated:

“Every second 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography.” (Page 6)

“Every second, $3,075.64 is being spend on pornography.” (Page 6)

“In 2006, the United States had 244,661,900 porn Web pages.” (Page 9)

“The Internet Filter Learning Center (2008) states, “Approximately 13% of the US population regularly views Internet pornography 75% of whom are males.” (Page 10).

“Woman accessing adult websites each month 9.4 million.” (Chart on page 11).

All of the statistics presented displays that pornography is mostly viewed by men. But Douglas Weiss even admitted that his office has noticed that they are having to treat more women sex addicts than ever before. One survey found that 37% of pastors are also struggling with viewing pornography. As if the statistics couldn’t get any worst, next Douglas revealed the hidden dangers of our adolescents and their pornography habits. The average age that a child sees pornography is age 11. Between the ages of 8-16 years old 90% of children and teens have observed porn online and most are looking at porn while supposedly doing homework. Sex and pornography as you can perceive is influencing our generations and is negatively affecting many families and future families. I only shared some of the appalling statistics about pornography but the book encompassed tons of more statistics that will impact the reader.  

Douglas Weiss explored the veracity that some of the scripture characters had to endure regarding their sexual temptation. For instance, Joseph master’s wife, Potiphar attempted to seduce him into bed and tried multiple times to get him to give in to the temptation. Joseph said no repeatedly and he wouldn’t give in to her pleas. He stood his ground and wound up arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. But what if he had given in and had sex and had a moment of thrilling pleasure would he had been able to fulfill his destiny. As Douglas pointed out, “sexual purity is what maintained Joseph’s destiny” (Page 23). He also looks at Samson and Delilah and the affect that one decision that lead to the big reveal and the secret of Samson’s power that cost him dearly. Just like the characters in the Bible, we are in a fight with the devil for our great destiny that Christ wants us to accomplish for His glory.  

I was truly shocked when Douglas went into details concerning Revelation 2:20-22 and the woman Jezebel is very much active today. This was the first time that I have learnt about the incredible power that the woman Jezebel has on our world and how she is teaching and spreading the news that it’s okay to have sexual intercourse with whomever you please or masturbate and watch porn if you want and when you want to. All of this is lies from the satan and Jesus has declared that Jezebel will be made to go through suffering and whoever commits adultery with her will also suffer. The good news is that if we have fallen and sinned God is able to forgive us when we repent for our sins and turn from our ways.  

Douglas has opened my eyes to this numerous passages and the importance of staying clean. I also enjoyed that he shared stories about how people have gotten trapped in sexual sin. I liked how he tried to wake people up to the critical issues by relating stories that people could connect to. Some of the stories include workers getting caught at work printing off homosexual pornography and they ultimately get fired, one guy even called a prostitute and he accidently conferenced in his wife while setting up the encounter, others had sexual affairs and some accidently became pregnant or got someone pregnant, a company executive had an affair with an employee and she filed sexual harassment and sued him and the company, some even tried to hire a prostitute and it turned out to be undercover cop instead and they got arrested, and many more heartbreaking stories.  

One of the biggest takeaways was the serious emphasize on staying clean for our sons, daughters, and our wife or future wife. This is one of the paramount books that I have read on sexual temptations and how to become clean from our sexual addictions. I also immensely loved the countless charts featuring how looking at porn, masturbating, or having an affair affects our spouse and our children. This section of the book would make any man want to conquer the sexual battle satan is engaging with us. This taught me that a number of women will unfortunately become depressed because of their husband’s sexual struggles. I also learned that my sexual behaviors can affect my child self-esteem, spirituality, social, and dating life. I commend Douglas for sharing who are sexual organs truthfully belong to and it was very eye opening. I loved how the book contained many scripture passages discussed to teach readers what we might have missed before. The most scandalous Bible stories Douglas went into massive detail was the city of Sodom and Noah’s son Ham (Canaan’s father). This is the first time I have even remotely understood the implicit story about Ham.

I would recommend this life changing book to every man, husband, father, son, brother, pastor, and business man. Basically if you’re a man you without a doubt need to read this book! This book is also for both single men and married men. I must warn you that this isn’t a book for the fainthearted and most of the material and information will disturb you significantly. But how sweet the freedom and revelation will inspire you to change and stay sexual clean for yourself, your wife or future wife, your kids or future kids, and grandchildren or future grandchildren. I have personally struggled with masturbation and pornography and this book was an enormous tool to encourage me and help me to succeed in staying clean for my future wife and children even if I am still currently single. I would also recommend this book to all females who are wanting to understand what their husband or children our facing in regards to their sexual integrity. The book had many principles and plans to overcome and to help men maintain their sexual integrity and to stay clean. I would highly endorse this book to every man who is looking for a resource to assist them in their journey towards their sexual honor and destiny!

 

"I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program."

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Clean check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Proven-Committed-Sexual-Integrity/dp/1400204682

You Were Born for More: Six Steps to Breaking Through to Your Destiny By Harry R. Jackson Jr. Book Review

In You Were Born for More, Harry R. Jackson Jr. has written this book to remind readers that they were born for more than the life they are currently living. In the book, he teaches readers about the four different classifications of grace and the transformation that is available through Christ. The four types of grace are, “survival, visionary, transitional, and establishment. His book included six principles on finding favor with the Lord and how to live fully in your destiny. The six principles was, “humility, trust, love, faithfulness, endurance, and purity”.  

On February 4, 2006, Harry R. Jackson had major surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized cancerous tumor located in his esophagus. He encountered some critical problems during his surgery and had suffered from a heart arrhythmia. He explained that his heartbeat would drop as low as 80 beats per minute and then rise as high as 180 beats per minute. The doctors were extremely concerned and was monitoring him closely. He also had a stroke a few months before the treatment and the doctors declared that people in his condition only had a 10 percent chance of survival. Before even having the surgery, Harry was prepared for what ever happened and he knew that he was a winner either way. He had faith in Jehovah and he knew that God wouldn’t leave his side. God sent him a confirmation on the day of his surgery in a newspaper article in the Baltimore Sun. The article was an interview about his new book which featured research on African Churches. He was deeply encouraged by the article and he knew that God hadn’t forgotten about him. He stated that it was the grace of God that healed his body from cancer.  

One of my favorite chapters was entitled, “When Everything Changes” and it was about having endurance when life suddenly changes beyond our control. Harry went into vast details about the story of Abraham and Sarah and referred this back to visionary grace. God called Abraham to leave the land of Ur and he gave him a promise that if he obey he would have a great nation and his name would be great and be blessing to all. He also said he would have many descendants. God declared that he would curse anyone who cursed him. Harry reiterates that believers nowadays can’t simply move away from idol worship and evil filled countries. What we must do is guard ourselves against the lures of satan and distance ourselves away from bad friends who negative influence us and try and draw us away from Christ. We also can protect what we allow to dictate our thoughts and behaviors. I immensely liked how Harry portrayed and demonstrated the illustration that when a woman becomes pregnant, her body begins to undergo changes and she first goes through morning sickness. He compares this to believers surrendering their own personal will for the will of the Lord. When you receive Christ into your life as your personal Savior, you become a new creature in Christ. God will began to birth a new thing in your life and we will have to go through growing pains but all of this is necessity in the grand schemes of things. God has a specific vision for your life and it’s imperative to remember that only God will bless what he has decreed. Back to Abraham’s story, Sarah was getting older in age and she still wasn’t pregnant. They both saw no sign that God’s promise would ever come to pass. Sarah decided to let Abraham have a child with her maidservant, Hagar. Hagar and Abraham had a son named Ishmael. God wouldn’t bless Ishmael because it wasn’t what God’s told them to do. God would only bless them when they were in the ultimate will for their lives. This chapter taught me a lot about staying in the will of God and not rushing to go ahead and trying to make things happen in my own strength and settling for Ishmael.  

I would recommend this fantastic book to anyone who is wanting to rise higher in their walk with God and they are tired of being stuck in the past. This book is a prodigious book for teenagers and adults to assist readers into knowing that they are more than conquers and that God has so much more in store for His children. This book has imparted me with so much wisdom about understanding the grace of God and the process of transformation to being all that we can be and reaching our God given destiny. I loved how the book covered countless examples of circumstances that readers may be going through. Some of these included, financial problems, sickness, relationships issues, marriage problems, and many other obstacles. One of my favorite types of grace is survival grace because God has protected me and saved me from some unpleasant obstacles and he has also provided for my needs time and time again. This has the potential to help you activate your spiritual breakthrough and to release everything that God has just for you! If you’re looking for a book on experiencing the favor of God in your life, then read this book!

 

“I received this book free from the publisher through the Bethany House Publishers/ Chosen book review bloggers program.”    

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of You Were Born for More, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Born-More-Breaking/dp/0800795563

Finding the Good in Grief: Rediscovering Joy after a Life-Changing Loss By John F. Baggett Book Review

 

Finding the Good in Grief is a potent resource on guiding readers through the different stages of grief and rediscovering your sense of purpose and joy. The different stages of grief are, “trust God and rely on others, choose reality instead of illusion, resist the temptation to get stuck, recognize moments of grace, and discover new meaning and purpose. Many times we didn’t see the sickness and death knocking on our loved ones doors until they were gone. Our cold hard fears came upon us when we least expected them to. At least some part of us gets stuck asking God why we had to lose someone that we loved dearly. Like many people struggling with grief, healing and still living your life can seem impossible after going through a difficult tragic loss, this book will reveal to you how to do just that. 

Dr. John F. Baggett writes this book from personal experience and the terrible pain he had to endure through the hardships of life. His lost occurred when an un-expecting event changed his son, Mark’s life. Mark was always a loving teenager who had incredible dreams to make a difference in people’s lives. He truly cared about others and wanted to go into a profession that he could have an impact in their lives for good. But at the age of seventeen, everything dramatically changed. Mark began to act abnormally and was talking in his room loudly and ramblingly frequently. He also told John that his friend was using mental telepathy to give him a heart attack. He also started to punch holes in the walls and he broke things for no reason. Eventually, the doctors diagnosed Mark as having schizophrenia and in that moment his life was never the same again. John Baggett went through the stages of grief and the losing of his son that he knew for seventeen years. This book was written to help others going through grief.

 

The book contained many stories that John Baggett wrote in order to discuss the different stages of grief. Some of the stories included a loved one being diagnosed with cancer and they end up losing the fight, a child being diagnosed with mental retardation and the hopes and dreams for the future are gone in an instant, overspending and then losing a job and escaping the pain and hurt through alcohol and one night stands, a young boy seeing his parents get a divorce and questioning why God didn’t answer his prayers, the effects of drunk driving, a person committing suicide, a person getting rape, and many more heartbreaking stories.

One of my stories that stuck out to me was, the story about Nancy and how she used her lost for a new calling and purpose. Nancy and her husband, Carl put their young daughter to bed and was about to watch TV when someone rang the doorbell. Two men dressed in dark clothes pushed her backwards and she screamed and her husband came running and they pointed a gun at him. They tied him up and raped his wife and forced him to watch the brutal crime. They found some wine bottles and began to devour them. When Nancy tried to untie her husband, one of the men seized a knife and began to attack her. She felt unconscious and next, they stabbed her husband and killed him. Then they took valuables and jewelry and they discovered the three year old little girl and they took her. The neighbor spotted them taking the daughter and called the police and gave them their license plate number. They ultimately found out that the car belonged to a felon who had been already been convicted of rape and armed robbery. The man was left out of jail six week earlier because the prosecutor was found guilty of prosecutorial misconduct on a different case and the system freed eight people pending retrials. The police tracked down the two criminals and arrested them. They entered a plea deal with the second attacker and stated that he wouldn’t get the death penalty, if he told them where the daughter’s remains were located. The police uncovered the remains of the daughter and they both were sentenced. The first attacker was sentenced death by lethal injection. Nancy was outraged and bitter like anyone would understanding be. She went through the different stages of grief and finally found a way to help others going through suffering events. She watched the news and reached out to others who were victims of crimes and she founded support groups and internet chat groups to assist hurting victims. Like many people, this story disturbs me and upsets me of how evil spreads and gets it’s time in the spotlight and scars many people. This story deeply moved me and reinstated that when bad things happen, there is still some good that can come from it.

 

I would recommend this excellent book to everyone because no one gets through life without losing someone they love or grieving a terrible occurrence. I exceedingly recommend this book to anyone who is currently dealing with grief right now and they are stuck and don’t know how to move forward and how to continue living their life. This book will serve as a catalyst for readers to read to recover from a horrible lost. Like most people, I have experienced losing a loved one, for example, I have lost an aunt to cancer. I also lost a grandpa and I can still remember hearing the phone ring at 3:00 am and receiving the news that my grandpa dropped dead in the kitchen table from a heart attack. I remember rushing over there and they had him lying on the floor. It’s an image that you can’t ease from your memory. I wish that this book would have been released when I was going through the grieving process. I immensely loved the many diverse stories that John Baggett wrote about in order to portray how these different stages of grief presented themselves in people’s lives. I loved how John didn’t just focus all of his stories on just sickness and death. He pointed out that grief can occur through many different situations like a divorce, losing your job, death, and other losses. The book had a number of encouraging scriptures to assist readers in their grief. I liked how each chapter had multiple questions to lead readers into digging deeper in their feelings and emotions. If readers are persistent in learning about the different stages of grief, when they are having to endure grief, this book will inspire them and help them.

 

"I received this book free from the publisher from Kregel Publications book review bloggers program."

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Finding the Good in Grief, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Good-Grief-Rediscover-Life-Changing/dp/0825443199