Named by God: my review!

This book was one of the most amazing books I have read. Not because of an amazing plot line. Not because of amazing new truths that were presented. But because I was able to see my life through the author's words. Kasey Van Norman was transparent about her struggles, heartaches, and triumphs. She exposed truths that I knew, but she accompanied truth with her personal story, making it relevant to my life. I would recommend this book to both the struggling and steadfast Christian. This book will practically apply christian truths to anyone's life.

Named by God - Embracing your Future

“It is only when we have surrendered ourselves to God that he can plant a vision inside us.” As we begin to grow in our relationship with the Lord, we will begin to mature spiritually. “Maturity is about a choice – a commitment.” We become mature through everyday discipleship, “the process of becoming like Christ.” Daily acting as a sponge and soaking up all that the Lord has for you that day will consistency increase your maturity in the spiritual realm.

Part of growing up spiritually is that you feel “unexplainable urge to serve.” Jesus was the ultimate example of a servant, and he was God! How much more can we serve others when we are just His creation? “Jesus had an attitude – an entire lifestyle – of service that he calls us to imitate.”

“Nowhere is scripture are we told that we are given gifts to bring glory to ourselves, to meet a personal need, or to make ourselves feel better.” Wherever God calls you to serve, on stage or backstage, do it with all you have inside. But many times people who have fallen into sin are convinced that God could never use them. “To deny repentant sinners access to church ministry would be denying that the blood of Jesus Christ is enough to cover all sins.” No matter how hard you’ve fallen, there are always people that you can minister to: because you are always “serving for an audience of one.”

“God has wired us to live on the edge – to be driven to know him more deeply and to be addicted to bringing people to him….I see being radical as purposely living outside the box of religion and culture.” Christianity is about thinking outside the box to reach others for your amazing out-of-the-box God. “Too often people see religion as a set of rules or a confining box intended to control people. True religion, however, has nothing to with denomination, worship style, legalism, or how many times you show up at church each week…. True religion involves a complete transformation of the way we think, act, talk, and serve.” And because of that, we don’t have to do anything to gain favor with the Lord.

“Go after Him today, my friend, and don’t look back! Pursue him as the greatest love of your life. With each day you embark on this sincere quest for him, your past will seem more distant, your purpose for today will be clearer, and your mission for the future will be more exciting. The next time you doubt your worth or wonder if your life has meaning, know that God has redeemed you – your past, present, and future are covered with his blood. You, loved one, have been named by God.
You will be given a new name by the Lord’s own mouth – Isaiah 62:2”

Named by God:Transforming your Present

The second part of the book focuses on what you can do in your own personal life to open up your relationship with the Lord. How you’ve hurt others because of your own pain needs to be dealt with. Just because you were hurting does not give you an excuse to hurt others. And in hurting others, most of the time, the conviction that you feel hurts you just as much as you hurt the other person. 

Sometimes, in reaction to how others have inflicted pain, we ourselves delve into sin to escape the horrible guilt that we feel. But when we come back to the Lord, we know we are desperate, “that if the Lord was not as big as I was counting on him to be, I was most assuredly a dead woman.” Why not run to the Lord who’s arms are outstretched in love for you, his child?

There will be attacks from both the devil and from our own flesh. “The more powerful your story, the more captivating your love, he more fervent your passion – the more watchful the murderous eye of Satan will be on you.” And, in our desire to reconcile with the Lord, we will have to confess sin. But the author states that there are three reasons we bristle at the confession part of Christianity. The fear of the consequences, fear of what people might think or say, and fear that God will not be there to catch you.

“When God calls us to do something, he wants us to respond to his leading based on faith, not on what seems logical to other people or what we have seen him do in the past.” Your calling from God is not dependant on what other people think. Abram followed God’s leading without even knowing where he was going. But he obeyed because he trusted that if God was leading him, everything would be fine. God delights in guiding your life, because your life was worth dying for.

“If we can start believing what we do know of God’s plan for us, we will soon find that the parts we don’t know really don’t matter all that much anymore…. Spiritual growth is not so much a to-do list or an attempt to master the external mechanics of Christian living. It’s more about humbly placing ourselves before God in order to be changed.” Learning to trust is one of the harder parts about the Christian life.

God has so much in store for you right now! Your sin that you hold on to and blame on others will only hinder your walk with the Lord who desperately wants to have a relationship with you. God has a plan for your life; let him lead you now, which will later affect how he works in your future.

Named by God: Overcoming your Past

In many cases, the past is intimidating, and using the past as a map to lead the rest of your life seems absolutely terrifying. In fact, many Christians would argue that the past doesn’t define where you’re going to go. “But what if I told you that being defined by your past does not have to be a bad or scary thing? What if I told you that who you are right this minute has everything to do with who you were days, weeks, months, and even years ago?... Child of God, when you can choose to see your past, present, and future through the filter of Christ, this rocky, winding, pothole-filled road will soon become clear, straight, and paved.”

Kasey then dives into her own story. She grew up in the Bible Belt, each Sunday coming around as yet another duty of going to church and looking the perfect Christian. Throughout her childhood, this ritualistic form of Christianity satisfied her. But into her adolescence, that all changed. When her parents divorced, the five years that followed were filled with the attacks of Satan. Until the age of fifteen, she had maintained the aura that everything was alright, and she still felt the presence of God on her life. But one night she was raped by one of the Christian seniors at her school. From that minute on, she had never felt so far fm God, so alone. It seemed like a “fairy” tale believing in God, something to tell the little kids as you tuck them into bed. She felt like she hadn’t measured up to what God wanted. Her heart became insensitive to God because of bitterness at unanswered questions.  She then began to search for that security and satisfaction in things other than God.

Her journey back to God began when she realized that she couldn’t blame others for the wreckage in her life. “For us to truly experience a life worth living, we must take responsibility, not for what has been done to us, but for our reaction that what has been done to us.” Self-pity does nothing but grow bitterness, and when we are bitter, we grow cold and un-feeling in our relationship with God, who is our only help.

Psalm 73:23-26 says “Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You hide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”

Sometimes the most painful experiences we have in life are caused by other people. “We can’t go back and change those circumstances in our past that have marked us, but God can take those scars and polish then until they are transformed into something beautiful.” God cares for his creation, and is pursuing us even when we don’t know that we need pursuing.

One of the first things that Christians need to do on their journey to overcoming their past is to realize that God loves them. People who have been hurt have a hard time grasping this truth. “We will never be able to fully function while clinging to any pieces of our past. Call on the supernatural power of the Hold Spirit to give you the strength, and believe in the one who doesn’t just understand love but is love.”

                                                     

I don’t normally quote large passages from the book I am reviewing, but this illustration was amazing! Please bear with me!

Imagine with me for a few moments. Let’s say you’re in the kitchen cutting up some veggies in preparation for the evening meal. The phone rings and startles you, and before your brain has a chance to transmit to your body that you are in pain, your eves tell you that you’ve just cut your finger!

No one is around to help, so you run into the bathroom, turn on the faucet, and allow the fresh water to wash away the blood so you can get a better look. Yep, just as you had assumed, it looks pretty bad. 

But wait-you’ve got to finish cooking dinner! You wrap your finger in a towel, apply pressure to stop the bleeding, and return to the kitchen. But as soon as you start stirring the skillet on the stove, a dark spot begins to emerge on the towel. You shuffle frantically through the medicine cabinet for the band aids. You apply one -no, two - band-aids on the cut. Surely this will let you get back to the pressing task of feeding your family. But soon the band-aids are soaked through, and the pain is now causing throbbing in your hand.

Your next attempt is to elevate your hand, wrap the towel around your finger again, and pace around, unsure of what to do next. Your kids are outside playing, your husband has yet to arrive home from work, and tears of pain are now beginning to fill your eyes. Sure, you could go to the doctor, but how silly would you feel if you loaded up your kids and had your hubby meet you at the doctor’s office only for the good doctor to wrap your finger in some gauze and send you right back home? Besides, you're tough-you’re a mom! You can take care of this yourself! You simply must get dinner cooked-the water is boiling over, and the oven is bleeding frantically, telling you that your preheat is complete. This inconvenience will have to wait until later.

You march yourself back into the kitchen, wipe the tears from your eyes, and attempt to pick up the knife once more with your towel wrapped hand. “Ouch!” You drop the knife. The towel is now completely soaked with blood, and the pain is almost unbearable. You know you should lay down your pride, load up the kids, and make your way to the doctor’s office, but you just can’t see taking the time to do that. Besides, if the doctor called for stitches, you'd have to give up your entire evening. If only the Band-Aid would work, you could have dinner on the table in no time.

This scenario might sound crazy, but it’s exactly what we tend to do with the areas of hurt from your past. We walk around, bleeding through our band-aids, waiting for a small piece of plastic to fix what's wrong. Meanwhile, the unending through gets worse instead of better, and still we refuse the stitches needed to bring healing. The cut is much deeper than we ever realized- and deeper than we would admit to anyone, ourselves included. The treatment for the wounds of our past may be inconvenient and even painful, but we will never truly heal unless we present out hurt to the Lord and trust him to do his work.

The first step toward healing is to admit how your hurt has affected you. Although God knows where you are in your pain, he wants you to acknowledge it.  “God wants all of you – your pain included.” Secondly, you have to realize that Christ understands every part of your pain. No one on earth can say that they fully understand your hurt – but God does! Next, you have to trust that God will make right the wrongs that have been done to you; keeping the need for revenge bottled up inside of you will only result in a growing root of bitterness that affects your relationship with God. Is what that other person did to you worth destroying your walk with God? Fourthly, you need to love your enemy despite what has happened. “The genuine love he [God] is talking about is an act of the will…. Without love, we are incapable of channeling the supernatural power of God’s Spirit within us.” Next, you need to give forgiveness to those that have hurt you. “Forgiveness means releasing the other person from the clutches of your thoughts and feelings.” Finally, you have to ask the Lord for power to love and forgive those that have done wrong toward you. To forgive someone who has deeply affected and hurt you requires the love and forgiveness of the Divine One; no determination you have could ever muster would ever be enough. But this is the way to healing and moving on in your relationship with God.

Named by God - Introduction Summary

Kasey begins and says that after her conversion at age nine, she viewed God as her Savior, which is good; but many Christians view God as a “‘step-in-Savior’ – believing in him only when we’re aware there is something to be saved from.” But that doesn’t work in all situations. Later in her life, she became bombarded with seemingly unanswerable questions, and the view of God only as her Savior left her reeling, knowing that the answers had to be explained somehow.

But when we view God as our redeemer, that all changes. Redeemed means “to free from what distresses or harms; to free from captivity by payment of ransom; to free from the consequences of sin.” Believing that we love the Lord is so much easier than to believe that God loves you back. Nothing you can do will ever separate you from the love of God, because when we are faithless and unworthy, God still loves us.

“To be named by God – and to live that way – is to abide in a constant state of redemption and surrender. It is a place of knowing who you are in Christ and knowing that your true identify is found in him. It is a place of recognizing that other people’s opinions and attitudes toward you no longer dictate your worth…. Being named by God is finding yourself by losing yourself – redemption and surrender.”

Named by God

In her book, Named by God, Kasey Van Norman reveals on paper what almost every Christian woman thinks at least once in her life. Through the revelation of her own failings and hardships, she emphasizes the downfalls of organized religion and religious practices, instead pointing to the private and intimate love that God has towards us, no matter what we do.

I often wonder why it took me so long to get it. As a child practically born in the church nursery and then raised in the Bible Belt, how did I reach my late twenties as one of the most insecure, self-defeated, guilt ridden individuals on the face of the earth? How is it that this devoted Christian girl from East Texas who sang in the church choir and led small group Bible study suddenly found herself tossing back a bottleful of Xanax to end it all?

Her openness and transparency makes it easy for readers to connect with her thoughts and actions. Through the next few weeks, I hope to take her book, chapter by chapter, and post the major points that really impacted me. I hope that each one of you is as inspired and awakened as I was when I read this book. May your eyes be opened to the real Christianity that we are missing through this book.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, depicts the affects of war and violence on youth. A young girl, Katniss, is forced to fight to the death against her peers, knowing that she must either kill or be killed. All while being broadcast through the country on live TV to be enjoyed by those who rule her country. The last person alive earns food and wealth for their families. Through this, the author conveys the extreme measures people will take to gain control and keep control.

The book starts out depicting Katniss’ life before she chosen to fight in the hunger games. Starvation is an everyday experience, and she takes extreme measures feed her little sister and mother after her father is killed in a mining accident. The day to randomly select players for the hunger games comes, and Katniss’ little sister, Prim, is selected. But Katniss, unable to watch her small and weak sister sent to her death, volunteers herself to go in Prim’s place. The boy chosen from her district’s name is Peeta, the son of a baker. Katniss resolves to keep a distance from Peeta, knowing in the end that she would have no choice but to kill him in the arena if it comes down to that.

For the next three weeks, Katniss becomes nothing more than a play-thing for those in command, being dressed up and pampered for no reason other than to give the public eye a look at her before she is released to die in the arena. She finds more food than she has ever seen in her life and is sickened by the luscious lifestyle others live while in her district people die from starvation every day.

During these weeks, Katniss finds Peeta to be her only understanding companion who knows how she feels. And despite her original intention of staying away from him, she feels drawn to his strength of mind and deep kindness that he shows her. Soon, the crowds have created an illusion that Katniss and Peeta’s relationship is the love of a woman and man. Using this to increase popularity, her sponsors build up this amazing love story that extends way past their true friendship. But if this can keep them alive a bit longer in the arena, Katniss decides to play along, refusing to think about what would happen in the end.

Finally, the games begin.

Out in the woods, Katniss uses her meager supplies of a knife, wire, and sleeping bag to hide in a tree, determining to hide out from the others. That first day, ten out of the twenty four are dead. Peeta is still alive.

Through the next few days, she tries to survive by hiding, during which see sees many of her peers slaughtered in front of her eyes. She later teams up with Rue, a twelve year old girl from District 11, out of pity for the poor girl. They determine to take the offensive and destroy the other’s food supplies. But during this mission, Rue is fatally wounded, and Katniss holds the little girl as she dies. Through Rue’s death, Katniss realizes her hatred toward the Gamemakers (those in command), and she determines to show as much rebellion toward the people who eagerly look forward to watching her die.

Then, the new rule is announced: two people from the same district may team together and win without having to kill each other. Immediately Katniss begins her search for Peeta, learning he is fatally wounded. And when she does find him, she tries as much as she can to heal him, but she knows he will die unless someone sends medicine. And her sponsors come through with a vial of medicine to keep Peeta alive, feeling sorry for the two lovebirds trapped in such a horrible situation. While he recovers, she slowly begins to open up to Peeta, thinking that if they appear to have a close-knit relationship, the sponsors will again feel bad and send more supplies. But she realizes her heart is being drawn toward Peeta’s, and soon there is no pretense or pretending about it.

When Katniss is sure Peeta is healed enough to start searching for food, they leave the cave, aware that only four players remain in the game. One of the other girls, who Katniss has nicknamed Fox-face because of her sly movements, eats poisoned berries and dies, leaving only Katniss, Peeta, and a boy from one of the strongest Districts, Cato. The Game-makers want to see the fight immediately.

The Game-makers release a creation.

Muttations. No question about it. I've never seen these mutts, but they’re no natural-born animals. They resemble huge wolves, but what wolf lands and then balances easily on its hind legs? What wolf waves the rest of the pack forward with its front paw as though it had a wrist?

After climbing up away from these creatures that are determined to kill the remaining contestants, Peeta and Katniss find themselves on the same platform as Cato, the only other one remaining. When Cato falls from the platform into the pack of mutts below, Katniss and Peeta spend an entire night listening to the wails and screams of Cato as he is torn apart and tortured by the pack of wolves below. When death mercifully takes Cato from the world, the two friends expect for the game to end. But another rule change. The Gamemakers change their minds, wanting only one victor to win the games.

I (Katniss) stare at Peeta in disbelief as the truth sinks in. They never intended to let us both live. This has all been devised by the Gamemakers to guarantee the most dramatic showdown in history. And like a fool, I bought into it.

Before I am even aware of my actions, my bow is loaded with the arrow pointed straight at his heart. Peeta raises his eyebrows and I see the knife has already left his hand on its way to the lake where it splashed in the water. I drop my weapons and take a step back, my face burning in what can only be shame.

“No,” he says. “Do it.” Peeta limps toward me and thrusts the weapons back in my hands.

“I can’t.” I say. “I won’t.”

“Do it. Before they send those mutts back or something. I don’t want to die like Cato.” He says

“Then you shoot me,” I say, furiously, shoving the weapons back at him. “You shoot me and go home and live with it!” And as I say it, I know death right here, right now would be the easier of the two….

“Listen,” he says, pulling me to my feet. “We both know they have to have victor. It can only be one of us. Please take it. For me” And he goes on about how he loves, what life would be without me by I've stopped listening because his previous words are trapped in my head, thrashing desperately around.

Yes, they have to have a victor. Without a victor, the whole thing would blow up in the Gamemakers faces. They'd have failed the Capitol. Might possibly even be executed slowly and painfully while the cameras broadcast it to every screen in the country.

If Peeta and I were both to die, or they thought we were…

I loosed the top of the pouch and pour a few spoonfuls of berries (poison) into his palm. Then I fill my own.  “On the count of three?...

“The count of three,” he says.

We stand, our backs pressed together, our empty hands locked tight.

“Hold them out. I want everyone to see,” he says.

I spread out my fingers, and the dark berries glisten in the sun. I give Peeta’s hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a goodbye, and we begin counting. “One,” Maybe I’m wrong. “Two,” Maybe they don’t care if we both die. “Three!” It’s too late to change my mind. I lift my hand to my mouth, taking one last look at the world….

“Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger games.

To be honest with you, I was intrepid about reading The Hunger Games. The feedback from the recently released movie suggested that the book may be extremely gory and inappropriate. But nothing in my imagination crossed the line into gore or thematic elements. Now, the overall sense of the book does revolve around surviving while everyone around you is determined to kill you. But the underlying theme explores the affect that horror and death has on teenagers, and how those teenagers resolved to show their staunch opposition to the normal way of life. Through what I have read, the author’s goal in this book was to show teenagers that they can do something about the wrong that they see, even when everything seems helpless.

If you are looking for an easy-read with a thought-provoking premise, The Hunger Games might just be the book for you!