Overcoming Your Past, Transforming Your Present, Embracing Your Future

By

Kasey Van Norman

Overview:      

This book takes you on a refreshing (and sometimes) painful journey of realizing just how deep God’s grace goes and how unconditional His love really is. 

Kasey shares her story as she guides us on how to overcome our past hurts and mistakes and shows us how important it is to forgive ourselves and others who have had an impact on our own “life story.”  

She helps us realize the necessity of nurturing and maintaining our personal relationship with Jesus as we seek God’s plans for us on a daily basis.

She encourages us to embrace our future and learn to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives with excitement and enthusiasm and avoid becoming spiritually complacent.  

The book takes us on this journey in a little over 200 pages.  If you are interested in using the workbook as well, it makes for an insightful Bible study.

A Few Highlights

Overcoming your Past:

• The most destructive force known to well-meaning Christ followers is complacency. (pg. 6)

• No matter how far we’ve drifted, it’s never too far for our loving and compassionate God to pursue us and find us. (pg. 44)

• Forgiveness means releasing the other person from the clutches of your thoughts and feelings. This doesn’t mean you have to forget the past offense, but it does mean you no longer continue to dwell on it. (pg. 78)


• As long as you cling to your pain, you are allowing another person’s sin to dominate you and have power over you. (pg. 81)

Transforming your Present

• One of the biggest roadblocks in our relationship with God is unacknowledged or unconfessed sin in our lives. (pg. 87)


• Change is possible, no matter who you are or where you’ve been. (pg. 88)


• If you are a passionate pursuer of Christ, it is not a question of if Satan will attack you but when. (pg. 89)

• Satan is armed, dangerous, deceitful, and manipulative. He is not, however, equal to the Most High God. The Lord is the Creator, and Satan is only a created being. Although Satan is a threat, he is no match for the omnipotent, sovereign God. (pg. 89-90)


• Satan loves nothing more than to put out the flame of a burning believer who is on fire for the Lord. (pg. 119)


• Christ is stronger than our enemy. (pg. 123)


• It is not enough to simply believe in God; we must believe God. (pg. 144)


• You are no mistake. Jesus did not bleed and die for a mistake. (pg. 148)


• God created you intentionally, and you are his delight! (pg. 150)

Embracing your Future

• It is only when we have surrendered ourselves to God that he can plant a vision inside us. (pg. 164)


• Becoming mature in a particular area of our lives takes intentional pursuit. (pg. 171)


• If we are to be overcomers in this world and not the overcome, it is essential that we mature in Christ. This cannot be a side hobby or something we do when we have some extra time; it must become our daily reason for living. (pg. 171)

Christians, our maturity depends on whether we choose to resemble Christ or the rest of the world. (pg. 173)


• Becoming a disciple of Christ is a daily commitment. (pg. 175)


• The Word of God is our life support! (pg. 183)


• We must look to Christ as the standard of our spiritual fitness. (pg. 189)


• Our lives should be daily offerings to Christ on the altar of service. (pg. 190)


• Live each day with an eye to what Christ will do in the future. (pg. 214)


• We need to be intentional about keeping our relationship with the Holy Spirit a vibrant part of our lives. We cannot experience daily renewal unless the Holy Spirit is a work in us. (pg. 218)


• We need to pray that God will give us a clear revelation of who we are and who he desires us to be. And then we need to do whatever it is he calls us to do. (pg. 227)


• The more you embrace your purpose, the closer you get to Jesus. The more you know him, the more you trust him. The more you trust him, the more you love him. And the more you love him, the more you love others as well. (pg. 229)

Recommendation

This is an excellent small group study and there is an accompanying video if you’re interested. There is also a workbook available, however, it is not necessary.

If you are trying to move beyond the pain and mistakes of your past, change your attitude from discouragement to hope, and learn to embrace your future with excitement and enthusiasm, then this book is for you.

References

Named by God: Overcoming Your Past, Transforming Your Present, Embracing Your Future; Copyright 2012 by Kasey Van Norman; D.C. Jacobson and Associates, 239 p.

Disclaimer:

For those of you who love to read, I am sharing a quick review of some of the Christian-based books I have read and Bible studies I have participated in, both personally and in a group. These are my favorites.

I always appreciate others’ input and suggestions when trying to decide on my next reading project, so I hope this will be helpful when you are trying to decide on your next read and/or study.

These reviews are based on my personal opinion, and I was not compensated in any way for reading them or reviewing them.

Make today a day in which you try to be all that Christ saved you for and wants you to be.

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