Robin Jones Gunn is a highly successful author of several fiction series. She's ministered to many young women with her Christy Miller series, and to many adult women with her Sisterchicks series. A brand new book, Victim of Grace: When God's Goodness Prevails, is Robin's memoir of what it means to be what she calls a "victim of grace."Let me introduce you to the concept of being a victim of grace. At first, it would seem backwards, as grace is a privilege, a gift. I tried to figure out how that was being a victim, which connotes something negative to me. The more I read, the more I understood.
Robin says, "My thoughts ran to a deep place. I considered how there is nothing I can do, nothing to make the rain fall or the wind blow. Unprovoked by any act o my part, God gives me breath. He opens his hand and gives and gives and gives. I don't control his faithfulness. I don't initiate his mercy. I can do nothing to earn his kindness. I don't deserve his gifts. The truth is, I am powerless to stop his love for me. I did nothing to activate his goodness toward me. I am incapable of deflecting the endless showers of blessings that come from his storehouses and rain over my life. It's all grace. Grace upon grace…I am a victim of grace" (pg. 15).
Then I understood.
This book is Robin's story, but it isn't just a biography. She cleverly weaves the memoir and story into an application that inspires the reader with a sense that we can be victims of grace too. As she talks about how God worked in and through so many details and how his plan brought her so much satisfaction and joy, I can see how God does that for me too.
Robin shares her journey into becoming a published author, a mother, a wife, and a speaker. I heard her share this story during several evening plenary sessions at a writer's conference in 2012 and I was inspired then. As I read the story again, I could hear her sweet voice, hear her smile, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ultimately, it's the story of how God took her dream and brought it to fruition in a more marvelous way than she imagined. She uses examples in each chapter from women of the Bible and truth from scripture.
The discussion questions at the end of the book help readers interact with the material and apply the concepts to life. Readers will learn to consider their own dreams, look at what obedience means, make peace with limitations, embrace each season of life, and look for God's grace in and through their own experiences.
I highly recommend the book, and it releases TODAY! It's also available in eBook.
I received an advance reader copy of the book from the Amazon Vine Reviewer program in exchange for my objective review. I was not compensated for my review or required to write a favorable review.
About Robin Jones Gunn
Over the past 25 years Robin has written 82 books
with almost 4.5 million copies sold worldwide. To her great delight,
Robin’s books are doing exactly what she always hoped to do – they are
traveling around the world and telling people about God’s love. She is
doing the same. Over the past ten years Robin has been invited to speak
at events around the US and Canada as well as in South America, Africa,
Europe and Australia. Robin and her husband have two grown children and have been married for 35 years. They live in Hawai’i where she continues to write and speak in rhythm with her life verse:
“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the LORD Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24.
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