Recent reads with insightful content and powerful personal impact
Time to continue our series on life-changing books. Looking for suggestions as to what to read? This is the third post in my five-part series about some of the most impactful books that I have recently read. I’m passing along some suggestions for your reading list or book-giving list. The books are of different kinds, but all of them will motivate positive change in your life and in your Christian discipleship as they have done in mine.
- Maxwell, John C. The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential. Center Street, 2012.
- Weissenbacher, Alan. The Brain Change Program: 6 Steps to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life. Broad Street, 2024.
- Groeschel, Craig. Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life. Zondervan, 2017.
- Caine, Christine. You Are Not Finished Yet: Discovering Your Purpose in the Midst of Life’s Interruptions. Thomas Nelson, 2023.
- Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Crossway, 2004.
Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life.
This is another eminently practical book that helps motivate us and gives us practical insights into how to navigate life. Craig Groeschel and his wife Amy founded Life-Church which has grown into a large network of churches. He is the author of several New York Times best-selling books, including, Winning the War in Your Mind; Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life; Lead Like It Matters; and The Benefit of Doubt.
Divine Direction begins by helping us to get in touch with the story that we all hope to write – but not just from our perspective! We are to seek in prayer to sense what God wants for us. Then once we have our direction in mind, the rest of the book helps us with very simple and practical tips about the choices that will help us get there.
How to begin
“If you want to take aim at the story you want to tell, you have to make small, life changing choices and then act on them daily. The best decision you can make is always the next one” (Page 14). “It’s the small choices no one sees that result in the big impact everyone wants” (Page 15).
In an unusual move, typical of the simple thrust of the book, each chapter title is a single word, an action verb. The first chapter is “Start.” “After you have a sense of what God wants you to want, where do you begin? What discipline do you need to start practicing to head toward where God wants you to get?” (Page 40).
Chapter two is a surprise with the title “Stop.” In order to get something happening that is not currently, we will need to make room in our lives. So, we need to ask another necessary question which we often neglect. “Based on what God wants you to want, what does God want you to stop?” (Page 64).
How to keep going
Yet, on the way to any goal, there are setbacks and times when one feels like there is no progress. “If you are tempted to walk away, make sure to seek God, because you never know what he might do if you have the courage to stay.”(Page 87). Chapter three titled “Stay” closes with the amazing story of Bobby Gruenewald, inventor of YouVersion App. Bobby started and sold two technology companies before he graduated from college. He started volunteering at his church in his mid-twenties and they put him on staff. His pastor labeled his work as “extraordinary,” but Bobby felt he wasn’t making a difference and was tempted to quit. But he persevered in God’s work and became the inventor of YouVersion Bible App which the church sponsored.
Chapter four titled “Go” is the motivational chapter we expected at the beginning. But even so, it has some surprising nuggets of wisdom. “Even if you don’t feel like anything is different right at this moment, it’s always a good idea to keep your heart prepared for change. Because it happens to us all: a new step of faith, a new venture, a new opportunity” (p. 96). Or this memo, “To step into your destiny, you might have to step away from your security” (p. 97).
Why keep going?
Chapter 5 called “Serve” is a great reminder of our ultimate mission. “We forget that we are not made to be spiritual consumers. God has called us to be spiritual contributors. And the church does not exist for us. We are the church, and we exist for the world” (p. 128). That kind of thinking is why Rev. Groeschel’s church is changing the world!
Connection with others is the topic of chapter six. “When you decide to connect with people, you change the story you will tell one day” (p. 150). Other people influence us and we influence them as well. “Everyone needs a friend who makes them better” (p. 153).
All this sounds great, but we are often fearful and hold back. We know what is needed but sense that the journey will be too much for us. In chapter 7 called “Trust” our author agrees that sometimes life will be more than we can handle, but he points the way in our dilemma. It is in exactly such times that we must trust in God to help us through. God still whispers to us as He did to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9,10).
I highly recommend this book
It is filled with touching life stories to help us understand. And its advice is eminently practical. It is clear the author lives the message of the book and so is well qualified to help us on our journeys. The writing is succinct and easy to read too.