A Fresh Start

As you may have noticed, I am a reader. Sometimes, I write about what I am reading because it has touched me in some way that I feel a need to share with you. The book I recently finished reading has done just that. Finding an outlet that allows me to do so was part of what drew me to Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers. Working with Thomas Nelson publishers allows me to read (which I love), write about what I've read (which I also love), and to combine the two in a way that will make you want to read what I've just read (which I hope to do).

The first thing that drew me to this book was not the title, but the cover artwork. Simplistic? Maybe. But take a look before you dive inside. Cool, clear water is the impression that you receive, and water does what for us? Refreshes us and quenches our thirst. Fresh Start, written by teaching pastor Doug Fields, invites you inside to learn just how "God's Invitation to a Great Life" can work for you.

You immediately discover that Fields is not your typical self-help book author. He uses humor, common sense, real-life examples, and scripture that drives his point home to bring you into the world of change. His introduction tells the tale of Thomas Edison. Not of his amazing discoveries, but of the destructive fire that obliterated much of his work. Edison's reaction? " ... I am not too old to make a fresh start." With that simple statement, Doug Fields begins to walk us through just how to make such a change happen in our lives, and what effect even simple changes will have.

Fields uses the word stuck to describe our spiritual habits, and how accurate this description is! He reminds us that through the maze of self-help, we need to focus on the one thing that can indeed bring us from "stuck" to starting over, and that's simply that "change comes only because we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Phil 4:13)," and that "real, lasting change comes from God's unlimited power." Over and over, throughout the 193 pages of this work, Doug Fields makes a point, questions your understanding, reinforces what he is teaching, and moves you forward. I just wanted to keep reading, and read this book in one day!

From defining "Unstuck," to inviting you "To Boldly Go," to "Analyzing Anger," and realizing "What You Value Most," Doug Fields has written a book that draws you in with a timely message for today's hurry-up-right-now-I-want-it-all society. Why not see what Fresh Start means to you?

"I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland!"~Isaiah 43:19 NLT