{"id":7634,"date":"2013-10-29T09:08:49","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T14:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=7634"},"modified":"2013-10-29T09:08:49","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T14:08:49","slug":"book-review-let-hope-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=7634","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Let Hope In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lethopein.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-7635\" alt=\"Let-Hope-In\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Let-Hope-In.jpg\" width=\"407\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Let-Hope-In.jpg 831w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Let-Hope-In-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Let-Hope-In-687x1024.jpg 687w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Deep within you, nothing is hopeless. \u00a0You are a child of God, and he has planted hope in you. \u00a0Let go of the regret and fear, and instead focus on the hope. \u00a0Focus on the desire, and let hope in.&#8221;<\/em> Pete Wilson, <em>Let Hope In<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Could you use an extra helping of hope this week? \u00a0Who couldn&#8217;t! \u00a0Do yourself a favor&#8230;grab a cup of coffee, your Bible, a highlighter, and a copy of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lethopein.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Let Hope In<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.withoutwax.tv\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Wilson<\/a>. \u00a0If you aren&#8217;t the one in need of hope right now, I&#8217;m sure you can quickly think of someone that could use some help in this area. \u00a0If you aren&#8217;t the one in need of hope right now, rest assured, you will need it soon.<\/p>\n<p>One of the main things that immediately sticks out to me about <em>Let Hope In<\/em> is Wilson&#8217;s intentional use of Scripture throughout. \u00a0I firmly believe that a book about Hope should only point to Jesus and Wilson has done a masterful job of that. \u00a0The goal of this book is to help the reader see that letting hope in is a choice that must be made on a daily, hourly&#8230;moment by moment basis. \u00a0The four choices that Wilson outlines are grounded in prayer, Scripture, and the need for accountability in our lives.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson is a pastor and that is very evident in his writing as he seeks to connect with the reader and draw them closer to what God has for them. \u00a0There are a number of personal anecdotes that build a familiarity allowing the reader to let their guard down and really explore the idea of putting down your fears, your past, your regrets and put on the courage to run headlong into God&#8217;s amazing grace.<\/p>\n<p>I highlighted several things while reading and have pasted them below&#8230;<br \/>\n<strong>CHOICE ONE: Choosing to Transform Instead of Transfer<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your past is not your past if it\u2019s still impacting your present.<\/li>\n<li>If we don\u2019t learn to transform the pain, we\u2019ll just transfer it.<\/li>\n<li>Genesis 50:20 NASB<\/li>\n<li>God is bigger than your history and more concerned with your destiny.<\/li>\n<li>Shame stamps us with memories that feed us lies for the rest of our lives.<\/li>\n<li>Regret is a powerful emotion that often gets more powerful with the passage of time, which brings us to an important point: time doesn\u2019t heal all wounds; God heals wounds.<\/li>\n<li>The cross is the only safe place for human regret.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> CHOICE TWO: Choosing To Be Okay With Not Being Okay<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anything God leads us to do will initially involve some level of fear.<\/li>\n<li>Let the story of you be a story of redemption.<\/li>\n<li>Lamentations 3:21-23<\/li>\n<li>God is faithfully healing our brokenness. \u00a0He is restoring hope and freedom. \u00a0Let the story of you be a story of forgiveness and redemption. \u00a0Let hope in.<\/li>\n<li>2 Timothy 2:13 NIV<\/li>\n<li>2 Cor 12:9-10 NIV<\/li>\n<li>John 16:33 NIV<\/li>\n<li>Scripture teaches that in the end surrender turns out to be the only way we can win.<\/li>\n<li>There is strength in letting go. \u00a0There is radical power in surrender.<\/li>\n<li>Romans 8:35-39 NKJV<\/li>\n<li>One of the most intense, surprising, and hopeful scenes in Scripture is centered around scars.<\/li>\n<li>There\u2019s too much \u201cme trying\u201d and not enough \u201cme abiding.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>My greatest hope is for meaning and purpose. \u00a0And letting hope in happens when I begin to not just tolerate my past but embrace my past, surrendering it to God\u2019s higher purposes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> CHOICE THREE: Choosing To Trust Rather Than Please<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4A\u2019s: attention, acceptance, appreciation, and affection.<\/li>\n<li>Pleasing God is a great longing, but it cannot be our primary motivation or it will imprison our hearts. \u00a0When our motive is trusting God, our focus is then living out who God says I am. \u00a0As a follower of Christ you have received a new heart. \u00a0You have a new identity. \u00a0You\u2019ve already been changed and now you get to mature into who you already are.<\/li>\n<li>Hebrews 11:6 NIV<\/li>\n<li>Living for acceptance and love is slavery; living from acceptance and love is freedom.<\/li>\n<li>What comes into your mind when you think about God? \u00a0Your answer to that question will have huge implications for how you begin to let go of your past and let hope in.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s easy in our religious culture to start to think that this life is all about us \u201crunning to the Father,\u201d that we\u2019re the ones who are working and obeying to get to the father. \u00a0But Jesus reminds us that there is a heavenly Father who is running us down. \u00a0He reaches out to us through the person of Jesus Christ.<\/li>\n<li>God\u2019s grace is a surprising reversal of the way things work in this world and reminds us that our God is no normal God.<\/li>\n<li>Look back. \u00a0You\u2019ll see how God\u2019s hand has guided you through so many things in life. \u00a0I just don\u2019t believe that God has some secret direction for you life that he expects you to figure out before it happens. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t have a secret path for your life that he\u2019s keeping from you.<\/li>\n<li>God\u2019s main purpose for you is not what you do. \u00a0It\u2019s who you become.<\/li>\n<li>God\u2019s will is your growth in Christlikeness.<\/li>\n<li>We bypass the joy of today when we center all our focus on yesterday or tomorrow.<\/li>\n<li>Gratitude is also one of the most important and underrated aspects of our walk with God. \u00a0It\u2019s an important discipline that helps bring healing to our past and hope for our future.<\/li>\n<li>Gratitude is silenced by assumptions.<\/li>\n<li>Gratitude begins where your sense of entitlement ends.<\/li>\n<li>The higher our sense of entitlement, the lower our sense of gratitude.<\/li>\n<li>Gratitude is most often about perspective.<\/li>\n<li>Gratitude is based on not how good your situation is but how good you see your situation to be.<\/li>\n<li>The grateful heart is not developed in a \u00a0single moment; it is the result of a thousand choices. It\u2019s a repetitive choice that transforms our hearts and becomes a part of us over time. \u00a0p. 142<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>CHOICE FOUR: Choosing to Free People Rather Than Hurt Them<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You don\u2019t forgive someone for their sake; you do it for your own freedom.<\/li>\n<li>Authentic forgiveness is never cheap.<\/li>\n<li>As we forgive people, we gradually begin to see them differently.<\/li>\n<li>You can\u2019t breathe out what you haven\u2019t breathed in. \u00a0Breathing grace totally hinges on your moment-to-moment dependency on God. \u00a0We have to find ways to continually \u201cbreathe in\u201d God\u2019s grace.<\/li>\n<li>While hurt people will hurt people, free people will free people.<\/li>\n<li>John 14:27 NIV<\/li>\n<li>Romans 12:2 NIV<\/li>\n<li>Proverbs 3:5 NASB<\/li>\n<li>The beauty for those who claim to follow Christ is we can trust in something far more reliable than our own mind and understanding.<\/li>\n<li>Your fear comes from not trusting that God can take care of you.<\/li>\n<li>God\u2019s love drives out fear. \u00a0It has to be more than just a biblical fact and something we let in daily. \u00a0Let love in. \u00a0Let hope in. \u00a0And let go of fear. \u00a0There\u2019s no longer room for it.<\/li>\n<li>Fear is knocking on the door of your heart. \u00a0Doubt is whispering in your ear. \u00a0Insecurities are begging for full reign. \u00a0Reject them. \u00a0Focus on the love of God, which drives out all fear, and let hope in.<\/li>\n<li>We can either shape the people around us by intentionally or unintentionally hurting them, or we can shape their life through loving them. \u00a0It\u2019s impossible to live having a neutral relational impact on the people around us.<\/li>\n<li>Focusing on sinning less doesn\u2019t guarantee you will love more, but focusing on loving more will always guarantee that you will sin less.<\/li>\n<li>Find Value in Every Person<\/li>\n<li>Overcome Self-Centeredness<\/li>\n<li>Love People More Than Being Right<\/li>\n<li>Jesus did not just come to save us from our sin, but to save us for the kind of life we were created to live. \u00a0To save us for lives that make a radical difference in our world. \u00a0Every life was created to make a difference.<\/li>\n<li>It is important to understand that your past is not really the problem. \u00a0The real problem is the lie you believed when an event happened in your past.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Prayer #1: Give me a greater view of you<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most of us are educated far beyond our obedience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Prayer #2: Is there anything in my life that needs to be pruned?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Prayer #3: Give me heroic courage. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV<\/li>\n<li>We worship a God who specializes in resurrections in the ultimate hopeless situation.<\/li>\n<li>Ephesians 1:19-20<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\"><em>Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s 16 CFR, Part 255 &lt;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/nara\/cfr\/waisidx_03\/16cfr255_03.html\"><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/nara\/cfr\/waisidx_03\/16cfr255_03.html<\/span><\/a>&gt; : \u201cGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Deep within you, nothing is hopeless. \u00a0You are a child of God, and he has planted hope in you. \u00a0Let go of the regret and fear, and instead focus on the hope. \u00a0Focus on the desire, and let hope in.&#8221; Pete Wilson, Let Hope In Could you use an extra helping of hope this week? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,35,16,23,28,17,32,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-creative","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-marriage","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}