Review of "Whole" by Lisa Whittle

The holes in your life can ultimately be what make you WHOLE.  Very thought provoking.  Lisa Whittle shares her heart and life to illustrate the truth that although we will have challenges, things that shake our beliefs and life in general, that God still wants us to be whole.  Our experiences can be just that - experiences.  Not the sole definer of all that He has made us to be and the end of our story.

She is very transparent in her story (it seems she holds nothing back!) and I admire her for that.  From her notes at the end, I thought it was interesting that she felt she was supposed to "come at the book from my failures, not my successes".  It's an interesting perspective and a powerful one, I believe.

I was really excited to read this book, as I have so much in common with Lisa Whittle.  She is a pastor's daughter, she's been married the same amount of time as I have, they planted a church (we are planting now with our 1st anniversary in a few weeks), and we have both experienced holes - as well as some wholeness through a deeper relationship with God.

My favorite part is towards the end of the book; due to a number of circumstances she is feeling pretty raw, and God says to her, "Lisa, I love you.  I know you are hurting right now, and I know why.  But in these months of doing Thrive Church, have you gotten to know Me better?"

She answers yes.  He says, "If then you have gotten to know Me better and you were created for that purpose, how can you consider your experience with Thrive Church a failure?  It is instead a wild success."

I was so moved by this because I've been there (challenging circumstances, feeling like a failure, when will things ever "get better", and although I wouldn't want to live those specific circumstances again, necessarily...I am grateful for the result of knowing Him better.  Priceless.  A wild success.  :)

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