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To Be Told : Know Your Story, Shape Your Future review:5 stars (Highly recommended!!) - Dan Allender in his book, "To Be Told" presents both the tools and the inspiration for each of us to understand the stories that God has written in our lives. By understanding the story that God has written in the past, he contends that it will help us to understand the direction that God would have us to take for the future.
Allender does a great job in this book of presenting a method for understanding the difficulties of our past. His sharing of his own difficult background shows that he personally knows of that which he speaks. And since he keeps it simple it is accessible to anyone.
One area that I wish Allender had done a better job of was to broaden the application of understanding our stories. Although dealing with the past and understanding the direction for the future are both important applications, I think that there may be a whole host of others.
However, that small difference aside, Allender's book is well-written and includes powerful practical ideas on how to understand how God is writing your life. I highly recommend it and the accompanying workbook.
(...)5 stars (A Story Worth Reading) - The idea of life as a story is not some recent fad. Rather, God tells His eternal story in story form--the narrative of the Bible.
Nor is the idea that we should listen to our own story some post-modern invention. Augustine insisted that there were only two things worth knowing--God and self. Calvin taught that all knowledge can be summarized by knowledge of God and knowledge of self.
With this historical backdrop, Allender becomes your guide on a journey into your own story and how to discover God's sometime hidden, often perplexing trail as you travel with Him.
As Allender puts it, "God is not only your Authority, He is also your Author." That is, He is both Sovereign and Shepherd. He is over you seeing your whole path, yet also beside you blazing the path with you.
Since these concepts are not novel, Allender provides wisdom for reading your life novel. With humour and grace, he describes how to search your past to find meaning in your present and hope for your future. None of this is done with a self-centered focus on self, but rather with a focus on how to glorify God through telling and living the unique story He is writing in your life.
"To Be Told" is a river worth wading in. It's a valuable travel guide--something of a "Theological Mapquest" through the narrative that we call "Life."
Reviewer: Dr. Bob Kellemen, author of "Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction" and "Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." 5 stars (Insightful guide for living an intentional Christian Life) - In his latest book, TO BE TOLD, Dan Allender encourages readers to examine their lives in a search for the story that God is telling through their existence. Allender says we often don't know our own stories because we doubt their existence, dismiss their importance, or we're distracted.
"Too many people are missing their story because they're watching the stories of others. We live vicariously through television, sports, magazine, and talk shows. Such stories may occasionally educate us, but most often they sedate us. They free us from admitting that our own life is dull and lifeless. They attract us because they offer life without risk. They are deathly safe."
Fans of John Eldredge's writing, especially THE SACRED ROMANCE, will find similar themes of brokenness, revelation, desire, and narrative redemption here.
"Something must awaken us to the fact that we are asleep. And what awakens us is usually a moment of exposure when we see that the conventions that guide our steps and promise us a good life are nothing more than illusions."
"The stories told in most families are a kind of propaganda."
"You must listen to the heartache and hope that etched in the narrative of your life. And you must find the meaning God has written there."
"Your plight is your redemption."
"Desire is both our greatest frailty and the mark of our highest beauty."
Allender has a humble and disarming tone that is humorous and relatable. It can be hard at times to wade through the jargon of "story" --- feasting on story, editing together, writing your destiny ... what does all that mean? But the effort to truly understand what Allender is getting at is worth it. In essence, he's trying to get people to remember. It sounds simple, but it's not given that so many people have a dysfunctional relationship with the past. Whether good or bad, it can be hard to deal with, and so people tend to forget. But by entering into the past, Allender says that we can understand the present and help write our futures.
"God is the Potter, and we are the clay. Even the word human --- derived from the Latin word humus, meaning "dirt" --- shouts loudly about our origin. We are dirt. The name Adam (Hebrew 'adama) means "red," the color of clay. God shaped, molded, and formed us to reveal something about himself. He is a Being who loves to reveal and who invites us to join the process of revelation by calling to ask, seek and knock. God always intended for his children to join him in completing creation. We are no inanimate entities that merely reveal glory but living stories that are meant to create glory."
In other words, by seeing and understanding the stories God is telling through our lives, we can be more alive.
TO BE TOLD will provide insight for just about everyone interested in living an intentional Christian life. In addition to his wise observations about life, Allender gets practical in his suggestions for knowing one's story, including fasting, prayer, and of course, writing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a bit of a memoir-writing fad ensues. And frankly, if Allender is right, we'd be better off for it.
--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel
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