Book Review: Meant For Good
Meant for Good is a power-packed, Biblical look at the truth that you really can trust God's plan for your life--no matter what your life looks like right now. Megan Fate Marshman is larger than life with her sense of humor and lively personality and it really shines through in the book from the first page to the last page. Known for being a dynamic Bible teacher, Megan helps you to discover how to stop discounting yourself from a hopeful future, start living in active dependence on God, and find your way to the good plan He has for you.
I didn’t’ expect to get as much as I did from this book, but the season of life that I’m in, I realize how much God has used His words through Megan to help me see that every part of my life from the lessons, the highs and the lows are truly meant for my good. In chapter 1, Megan outlines how Jesus, Who is so personal is more interested in our being than our doing, and that He wants to capture our hearts, not program us to be mechanical. It is through relationship with us that God does His most redemptive work. And while we aren’t free from worry, our relationship with Him is where we can take our worry. It’s by trusting Him and in his plans for our lives that we will see Him in everything.
With authenticity and revelatory insights into the character of God, Megan shares an engaging and fresh look at the core themes within the well-loved scripture of Jeremiah 29:11-14. Through winsome and inspiring stories, Meant for Good will show you how to trust God in your daily life and, more importantly, how to trust God's definition of good above your own.
As Megan delves deeper into us understanding that God’s plans for our lives are meant for our good, His glory and the blessings of others she reminds us that we are not the main characters in the room, but rather God is and Jesus should be enough for us. As she writes in chapter 2, “Jesus invites you to stop thinking you can do everything on your own. He wants you to step up, offer what you have, and stop trusting in yourself. Engage with Him. Place your trust in Him. Depend on Him.”
It is by making God our top priority and seeking Him that we will realize He is all we need. Megan reminds us that one way to see where our priorities are is looking at where we spend our time and who we spend most of our time with. All of this shows what’s truly in our hearts.
She closes out the book with a reminder that community is key and that we’re at are best when we’re loving on people. It’s in our needs in life that God responds by using people to bless us. She writes: “even in the midst of your own needs, which you do have, God invites you to see the needs of others. That’s the way He’s going to heal your needs: by planting you in community, thereby creating more ways and circumstances for you to trust Him.”
And the most important thing that Megan does as she wraps up her book is that she reminds us of the salvation story and why we’re in this race, because ultimately at the end of it all, Jesus is coming back for His bride.
In “Meant For Good,” you will discover:
That you’re not-enough-ness is exactly enough for God, and that in fact, you have everything you need to take that first step into the life God has for you.
How to stop counting yourself out, because Jesus never has. God is up to something really good, and He's inviting you to join Him.
How to hear and respond to God's voice, and intentionally grow a personal, intimate relationship with Him.
How to defeat anxiety, trust God with all you're carrying and worrying about, and experience a life of freedom in relying on God daily.
God has a good plan for you--a plan to give you a hope and a future. Are you ready to believe it?
