by Donya Dunlap | Oct 28, 2012 | Guest Posts, The Spiritual Life
Several weeks ago I had the privilege of guest posting on the blog of the amazing Joseph Iregbu (To read that post click here.) Today I am privileged to have him sharing with us here. He has been an encouragement to me since meeting him through the book release team for Wrecked by Jeff Goins, and I know he will be an encouragement to you too.
Writer Joseph Iregbu
The Bible is full of extraordinary accounts of grace
like Ruth, Paul, Zacchaeus, Peter, Rahab and many more. What God did in their lives can often be described as:
Unfathomable
Unimaginable
Unthinkable
‘Absurd’
It’s a God Thing
But isn’t that what makes it a God thing?
Isn’t that what makes us a wonder to ourselves?
“A Holy God interested in the lives of unholy mortals, seeking to draw them to Himself, seeking to sanctify, purify and shape them…”
Grace is stupendous by nature. Whether we can fully understand it in this life, I couldn’t tell. And seriously I don’t want to – there’s eternity ahead to do just that. In the meantime, we should stand in awe.
Consider Rahab
Consider Rahab in Hebrews 11:31. Her story should continue to marvel us. There are some words you don’t naturally expect to see in the Bible, harlot being one of them. But Rahab would later be mentioned in the lineage of Christ. ‘Absurd’ grace!
This is good news for us. We are grace misfits in every possible way, naturally alienated from God but bought by the blood of Christ. This is beyond human wisdom but it’s good news. And good news are to be spread, shared and proclaimed.
Hope, Courage and Strength
Draw hope from the fact that God is the One that makes us ‘good enough’.
Draw courage from the fact that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
Draw strength from the fact that it’s not about your past record of shame and sins, but forgiveness by the One who shed His blood for you.
And if you haven’t experienced this wonder, I urge you to come in by faith. Come in and dine on this ‘absurd’ grace.
Do you remember when you first experienced God’s stupendous, ‘absurd’ grace? We would love to hear your story in the comments below!
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About Joseph
Joseph Iregbu leads on purpose and is passionate about raising the next generation of leaders. He blogs at http://josephiregbu.com and is a Coach and Mentor to young leaders. He is the author of a book (Even in the Well), husband of one wife and father to a gorgeous daughter. He lives in Germany. Connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and read about his Story of Hope that has inspired many to live bold.
by Donya Dunlap | Sep 30, 2012 | Guest Posts
Do you struggle with being afraid?
I am guest posting today at JosephIregbu.com. I hope that you will drop by his site to read the post “Do It Afraid” but also stay awhile to be encouraged by Joseph’s writings and his story of hope. (Which is pretty incredible, I might add.) Sign up to receive his posts via e-mail and you will also get his free e-book, Lines of Impact. You might also want to check out his 90-day devotional called Selah: A 90-Day Journey of Grace and Peace. It’s a great encouragement and available on Amazon. Joseph has been a personal encouragement to me and his writings have blessed my heart. I plan to have him guest post here soon, but for now, please get to know him on his home turf.
Click Here to Read “Do It Afraid”
Photo Credit: Vorakorn on freedigitalphotos.net
*affiliate link above
by Donya Dunlap | Sep 28, 2012 | Guest Posts, Making a Difference
I have the privilege of sharing with you today a brief, but invaluable five question interview with author, blogger and speaker Jeff Goins. If you have been following my posts recently, you know that Jeff has written a book called Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life. The book was an Amazon bestseller for two weeks and went into a second printing the day after it was released in August. If you have yet to get a copy, I hope that this glimpse into Jeff’s heart and the core of Wrecked will encourage you to get it soon.
Jeff, thank you for taking the time to share with us today!
Jeff Goins, Writer
Wrecked talks a lot about finding your passion. What is your passion in a nutshell?
My passion is words. To communicate messages worth spreading. I’ve done that my whole life — with music, theater, art, and now writing — and I love helping others do the same.
For the longest time, I minimized this passion, because it felt too small. I had friends who were traveling the world, and here I was, writing about it. But recently, I’ve had a change of mind: I’ve come to grips with the power of words.
Words can bring life or death, and my hope is to live a life in which my words bring hope and wholeness to people. Some say talk is cheap; I no longer believe it.
When did God first start stirring your heart in this area?
About two years ago, a friend asked me what my dream was. When I hesitantly told him it was to be a writer, he looked at me funny. Then he said, “Jeff, you don’t have to WANT to be a writer… You ARE a writer; you just need to write.” So I did. And that changed everything.
Was there a catalyst to this stirring? (ie: personal prayer, fasting, sermon, song, event, trip, etc.)
I had been working with a ministry, helping other people find their passions and pursue their dreams, and I was wondering, “Do I have a dream?” It had been so long since I’d asked that question, I was afraid of the answer.
After attending several conferences, I had to come to grips with the scary realization that I did, in fact, have a dream.
Was this always a dream for you or did you have a different desire at one point that God redirected?
I think it always was, but I didn’t know it. My experience with dreams is we get them often before we need them. So we have to go through a season in which the dream dies, which is exactly what happened for me. For five years, I served somebody else’s dream. So when the dream came back, it felt selfish and like betrayal. But at that point, my motives were more pure and I was ready.
The dream was now bigger than me.
Did you respond immediately to God’s tug on your heart? If so, how? If not, why?
You know, it took me a long time to see the spiritual implications of dreams and passions. It all just felt kind of selfish to me. When I was in college, I had some pretty dramatic experiences that led me to believe my life was going to be about more than me. I was called to serve others.
And so when I had the chance to write a book and pursue a platform that attracted an audience, it felt a little weird. I was scared of that much influence. So I avoided it for awhile, but eventually I came to see it as an opportunity to serve others (as I had been called) with the gifts God had given me. I’m continually surprised by how much impact a few simple words can have on people. So I guess I’m still getting used to it.
As I share in the book, our callings often come to us as surprises, and that’s exactly what happened for me. Discomfort is what causes us to grow; this is a lesson I keep learning throughout life.
When I was 23, the most uncomfortable thing I could do was go downtown and hang out with homeless people, so I did. When I was 28, the most uncomfortable thing for me to do was sit down and write. So I did — albeit, begrudgingly.
The abundant life, it seems, is about making choices we’d rather not make, but understanding that there’s more at stake than our own comforts.
*affiliate links above
by donyadunlap | Aug 21, 2012 | Guest Posts
Lauren D’Alessandro, Co-founder of The You Are Project, graciously offered to read a preview copy of Forgetting the Fairy Tale and write a book review of her thoughts.
I was really excited when Donya Dunlap allowed me to read and review her soon-to-be-published manuscript, Forgetting the Fairy Tale. Now as I write this review, I’m a little intimidated—I’m not sure where to begin, or how to do justice to this book that just unexpectedly became a part of my top five books by Christian authors.
Forgetting the Fairy Tale is more than just a fluffy, feel-good Christian book about womanhood. It is a call to action, a call to truly let go of the elusive pleasures we seek from men and from this world and to turn to Christ for love, strength, and our sense of self-worth…
Click here to read the full book review.
Lauren D’Alessandro, Co-founder of The You Are Project
by donyadunlap | Aug 3, 2012 | Guest Posts, Making a Difference
Susie Finney is a full time missionary with Youth With A Mission in Tyler, TX, working with the School of the Bible. When she’s not busy teaching or hanging out with her Bible students, she blogs, reads, and goes to as many Christian concerts as possible. I am thrilled to have her share her story of how God changed her heart and life with us today as part of our release week party for Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life. You can follow Susie on her blog or on Twitter:
Twitter: @missionsgirl
Nepal – Photo by Karna Deshar
It was July 2009, and I was very, very far from home.
They sometimes walked for miles to come to our seminar. Men and women who had experienced the challenges of living in a predominantly Hindu country, where the Christian population was very small. I met men and women in Nepal who had done jail time for the “crime” of being Christians. People who had been beaten and exiled from their village for their faith. And here I was, an American girl in her late twenties, looking and feeling very out of place in Nepal. I’d never experienced persecution beyond maybe someone rolling their eyes at me. I’d certainly never been kicked out of town for my beliefs.
The one statement that has always stuck with me from my Nepal outreach was during the last day of our second Bible seminar, held in the city of Pokhera. They asked some of the seminar participants to share feedback from the week-long seminar. One man stood up and started to speak through an interpreter. “I became a believer five years ago, but always wondered whether or not I was following the true God, and now I know.”
The theme verse of our seminar was John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”, but his statement was significant not only for that, but because he came from a Hindu background and culture of millions of gods and goddesses. Why should someone choose to follow Jesus and Jesus alone? What made him unique and to be worshiped rather than all the other options available at the shrines we saw at virtually every corner?
The thing that cemented this man’s faith was digging in to the scriptures and seeing what they said about what God is like-His nature and character, always trustworthy and true. It wasn’t based on feelings or an arbitrary view of an unstable god who could change on a whim.
Three years have come and gone since my trip to Nepal. I haven’t been out of the U.S. since then, and have spent most of my time at the YWAM base here in Tyler, TX. But I will never forget the people I met during my month in Nepal. My perspective changed after meeting people who had suffered for their faith, and people who came from a very different perspective than my own, yet we were bound together by love of the same Lord.
At the moment I don’t get out and travel much, but I am still a missionary. My time in Nepal was simply another confirmation of the power of God’s Word, and the privilege of getting to teach it and watch as people’s lives change never gets old, whether here in the States or halfway across the world. It is so vital to understand what scripture says about God, about Who He really is. I guess you could say that that trip reoriented my perspective on the world in that way.
How about you? What is one experience you’ve had that has changed the way you view the world around you and what is most important to you?
If you buy Wrecked by tomorrow, August 4, you’ll get over $158 worth of free resources when you scan and email your receipt to
wrecked@goinswriter.com. Click here to purchase your copy on
Amazon. (Disregard the notice that the book is out of stock. There is an error with the page.) The book is currently being offered at $9.90 and is worth every penny and more. What additional awesomeness will $9.90 get you? Here are the resources you will receive:
- All electronic versions of the book, including Nook, Kindle, and PDF for you to read on the device of your choosing (a $31.47 collection).
- Advance download of the unabridged audiobook — three months before anyone else will be able to buy it ($29.99 value).
- The 10-week “action guide” for group or individual study (an exclusive guide valued at $12.99).
- A complimentary copy of Jeff’s latest eBook, You Are a Writer, an Amazon bestseller — in Nook, Kindle, and PDF formats (a $14.97 value).
- Free download of my hour-long audio program, The Writer’s Studio, plus a companion worksheet (a $19.98 value) .
- 50% off Jeff’s upcoming online writing course, Tribe Writers (a value of $49.50).
That’s over $158.00 in free stuff for a book that retails at $13.99. So even if you don’t like it (which I can’t even imagine), you’re going to get a great deal.
by donyadunlap | Jul 24, 2012 | Guest Posts, The Spiritual Life
This is a guest post by author and speaker, Sundi Jo Graham. I’m so thankful that she agreed to share her heart today as a powerful testimony of a single girl that loves her Savior and has learned to let Him love her in return.
I’m pathetic. I’m a loser. I’m completely unlovable. No one will ever love me. I’m ugly. I’m stupid.
I heard these words most of my life. Who said them? Me. I believed they were true and my actions showed just how much I believed them. When others would say kind things to me, I’d roll my eyes, pop off some kind of snarky comment, and walk away. Who were they to lie to me? I could handle that myself.
Three years ago my life was wrecked. God took my negative ship, threw the captain overboard, and there I sat on the deserted island of what I would soon come to know as truth. It was a messy shipwreck.
I remember lying in the floor one afternoon at the Table Rock Freedom Center, sobbing my eyes out. “Why am I here God? What do you want from me?” I’ll never forget that day as I long as I live. God didn’t come down in the form of a pancake. I didn’t hear his audible voice. But I heard Him clear as day ask me, “Sundi Jo, when are you going to let me love you?”
I had no idea. Through that time He showed me that if I don’t allow others to love me, then it’s impossible to let God love me.
I picked myself up off the floor, wiped my swollen eyes, blew my nose and walked out of the room bound and determined to let Him love me. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I was going to let it happen. Slowly but surely I allowed God to love me through others.
Someone would compliment my weight loss and though it took everything in me, I would smile, do my best to make eye contact, and say thank you. Others would tell me I was beautiful and through clinched fists and gritted teeth, I made myself receive the compliment. It got easier with time.
I began to speak Scripture out loud, even looking in the mirror at times. Yes, I felt like a goof, but I was willing to do what I needed to do to believe the truth about who I was in Christ. I’d remind myself on a daily basis that I am God’s princess. I am His friend. I am not condemned. I am the bride of Christ. The King is enthralled with my beauty.
Some studies show that it takes 21 days of repeated patterns to make a habit stick. I don’t know how many days it took me, but I do know it took a dozen times throughout the day of me repeating these things to myself before the truth finally started to sink in.
I’m so thankful for God wrecking me. I’m thankful for His patience and willingness to love me through the mess. I don’t always get it right. There’s a situation in my life right now where I’m struggling to accept His love for me. But the important thing is, I’m doing it afraid, taking it one step at a time, and trusting that God’s hand is in it.
Can you name an area in your life you need to be wrecked?
Sundi Jo
Sundi Jo is an author, speaker, and small business owner, making her home in Branson, Missouri. She blogs at sundijo.com. Her first book, Dear Dad, Did You Know I Was a Princess?, comes out next year. You can read her free eBook, Becoming God’s Best now. You’ll find her engulfed in the social media world, spending time with friends and family, hanging out in a pair of jeans, t-shirt, and flip fops, or writing. Find Sundi Jo on Facebook or Twitter (@sundijo).
