God Isn't Finished With You Yet

Campbell Catherine

Description

Five Bible stories of people facing difficult situations vividly retold to show us that God doesn't give up on us
When life is tough and we seem to have reached a dead end, it’s easy to feel as if God has given up on us.

We’re not alone in feeling like this. Catherine Campbell vividly retells the stories of real people from the Bible with difficult and sometimes painful lives, who struggled to see God’s path for them.

Abigail was trapped in marriage to a fool.

John Mark ran away from his friends.

The Samaritan woman faced shame in the society of her day.

Judah sinned against Tamar and Joseph.

Simeon and Anna had the challenges of old age.

But God hadn’t finished with any of them.

With Life Lessons reflections to encourage us to respond biblically to our own life circumstances, and questions for personal reflection or group discussion, Catherine Campbell helps us see what the Bible tells us – God isn’t finished with you yet!

A note from the author 6

Prologue 8

1 – Trapped – Abigail 11

Life lessons 36

Taking a closer look 45

2 – Failure – John Mark 47

Life lessons 71

Taking a closer look 84

3 – Spoiled – The Woman of Samaria 85

Life lessons 104

Taking a closer look 115

4 – Guilt – Judah 117

Life lessons 149

Taking a closer look 160

5 – Ageing – Simeon and Anna 161

Life lessons 178

Taking a closer look 189

Notes 190

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Social Issues
• Personal Growth
• Philosophie et théologie
• Devotional
• Devotion

Informations

• Publié par: IVP
• Date de parution: 22 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789744231
• Langue: English

Extrait

Catherine opens up the world of the Bible in glorious shades and images as she brings alive the stories of six people. With grace and truth, she shows how God didn’t give up on them – and how he doesn’t give up on us. I especially appreciate how she reaches our hearts through the narrative and our minds with her teaching. Read, ponder, and savour this delightful, trustworthy, and powerful book. You won’t regret it.
Amy Boucher Pye , author of 7 Ways to Pray
Catherine is an extraordinary woman. She is that women who is acquainted with grief and loss, but her life is much richer than the stories we know about her. Throughout the beautiful retelling of biblical narrative in this book, she shows us that this is also the case for characters like Abigail, John Mark and Judah. Words like abuse, failure, guilt, and ageing are turned around in our Creator’s hand. Catherine and these characters teach us about not giving up and trusting God for the rest of our stories.
Debbie Duncan , author of Gifted
This book is as informative and inspiring as we have come to expect from Catherine Campbell. Giving us a fresh insight into a selection of Biblical characters, she draws us into a new understanding of the God who spans history and his impact on our lives. This is a book for reading and reflecting. You will want to go back and reread it anytime you find yourself struggling and in need of encouragement. The practical questions for further study are ideal for individual or group study.
Jean Gibson , author of Journey of Hope
Catherine Campbell brings Bible characters to life, transporting us into their narrative. Showing the individuals behind their stories, she gently guides us to see who we are behind our own stories, and to meet God there. Catherine points us to a God who never turns His back on us, even when we try to run or hide. I laughed and I cried. I was also challenged, reassured, and encouraged. I hope you will be, too.
Emily Owen , author of Still Emily
Dedicated to Billy and Silvia whose selfless involvement in the lives of others has encouraged many, including me.
GOD ISN’T FINISHED WITH YOU YET
Life lessons on not giving up
Catherine Campbell
Contents
A note from the author
Prologue
1 – Trapped – Abigail
Life lessons
Taking a closer look
2 – Failure – John Mark
Life lessons
Taking a closer look
3 – Spoiled – The Woman of Samaria
Life lessons
Taking a closer look
4 – Guilt – Judah
Life lessons
Taking a closer look
5 – Ageing – Simeon and Anna
Life lessons
Taking a closer look
Notes
A note from the author
I have thoroughly enjoyed retelling these stories from the Bible narrative for you. My aim has been to remain true to God’s Word, while creating a picture that doesn’t add to what is written but does provide context. I believe context enriches what we discover in the story, helping to bring the narrative to life. It lends a backdrop to what might otherwise be seen as an empty stage. However, the additional background is extensively researched from trusted sources. I don’t just make it up! The social, political, and historical settings of each story are as accurate as I can make them – from the big details to the little ones. For instance, who could have imagined that the ancient Egyptians drank beer? I certainly didn’t.
That is why I am extremely grateful for the many books, commentaries, and online resources that have assisted my writing. I am indebted to them for their knowledge, wisdom and inspiration, recognising that others have laboured, and I have entered into their labour (John 4:38).
Discouragement is only one of Satan’s weapons, but an effective one. I have witnessed too many people crushed by life’s burdens and give in to them, unable to see that God hasn’t given up on them. That’s why I wrote this book. I wanted you to read about Bible characters who survived, who discovered God’s plan for them didn’t end with their circumstances. I also wanted you to own this truth for yourself, because situations we view as detrimental can become a catalyst for spiritual change in our lives.
Including a ‘Life lessons’ section this time is different from some of my previous books (for example, God Knows Your Name and When We Can’t, God Can ). Instead of the reader drawing their own prayerful conclusions about what they should learn from the Bible adaptations – which will and should still happen – I decided to include key elements of helpful biblical teaching around the theme of each story. I hope you find it useful, alongside the opportunity for you to dig deeper with the addition of a personal, or group, study guide.
The adage of ‘no man is an island’ is certainly true when it comes to publishing a book. The author may feel alone for the greatest part of the process, but I can assure you there are plenty of others involved. My thanks go first and foremost to my patient husband, Philip. He is my sounding board, encourager, and prayer-partner, and he gets to be the first to read and comment (find the mistakes!) on my work. I couldn’t have done this without him. And now, for the eighth time, my dear friend Liz Young has once more helped with her proofreading skills and advice – thanks Liz.
I am also very fortunate to have had the expertise of the team at Inter-Varsity Press to see this project through in such a professional manner, with special thanks going to my editor, Joshua Wells.
When I wrote my first book back in 2008 I had not planned to write another. However, I have been deeply humbled by the response to my books from readers, which is one of the reasons that my writing journey continues. Thank you for reading what I write, and more importantly, coming back for more. My goal is to write books that will challenge, encourage, and bring the reader into a closer relationship with God. I hope that God Isn’t Finished with You Yet will do just that for you. Writing it certainly did it for me.
But it is to God alone that I bring my deepest thanks, grateful to Him for the enabling to complete this project during a time of great global, and personal, challenge.
God bless you… until next time.
Catherine can be contacted via:
Her website www.catherine-campbell.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/catherinecampbellauthor
Instagram @catherinecampbellauthor
Prologue
I was standing in line for the cash desk in a large department store. The queue was very long, of airport security line proportions, winding up and down between black bands positioned to keep order. While snaking along with the other shoppers I became aware of a woman looking at me. I smiled in response, but it soon became rather uncomfortable as she continued to stare.
At first I thought maybe I should know the woman. However, it soon became apparent that was not the case.
“I know who you are!” she shouted across two lines, her comments startling more than me. “You’re that woman… that woman…”
I had no idea what she was going to say next, as she hesitated, trying to get her tongue around the words.
“… whose children died! Your children died, didn’t they?”
I could sense bodies beside me stiffen, as heads including my own, dropped in embarrassment. Unfortunately she wasn’t finished.
“I read your book. It was so sad. I cried…”
Never was I so glad to hear the words: “Next!” Nor indeed more thankful that the customer called forward was the lady who had just publicly shared my life with strangers.
Upset, but angry at the same time, I wanted to shout back. To tell this stranger that I was more than ‘that woman’ who had buried both of her daughters… to tell her that my life was marked by more than pain. In fact, she needed to know that I was more than the sum of my sad circumstances. But a condemning voice from deep inside told me to stay silent.
After all, you did write the book, taunted my accuser. You put your life out there for all the world to see. Instead of responding to the woman, now busy paying for her purchases, I made a hasty exit.
Sometime later, while attending a conference, I overheard a woman reply to a request for her to speak at a meeting about her recent battle with cancer.
“No, I’d rather not,” she replied. “I don’t want to be ‘that woman’.”
“Sorry, I don’t understand,” said the woman who had made the request.
“I don’t want to be ‘that woman’ who allows her circumstances to define her. I am much more than a woman who has survived breast cancer.”
I understood what she meant.
But, over the years, I had also experienced first-hand how God can take our suffering, even our sinfulness, and produce something positive from what we believed to be the ashes of our lives. Surveying life’s ruins can make us think that God is finished with us. Our souls are saved, but that is all. We feel doomed – forever trapped by whatever ails us. We reckon that God can’t possibly use spoiled or damaged goods. But quite the opposite is true for “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
That’s exactly what He did for the six people whose stories are retold in this book. Not one of them had it together as far as their lives were concerned. Weak doesn’t even begin to describe them. Yet God used their situations to produce transformation. Abigail was trapped but God freed her. The Woman of Samaria was spoiled by sin but Christ forgave her. John Mark was a failure but God made him successful. Simeon and Anna were ageing but God made them useful. Judah was guilty but God changed him.
And Catherine Campbell was indeed ‘that woman’… crippled by sadness and sorrow. But God did not leave me that way. Through it all He was present with me – caring, loving, and showing me that I was not defined by my circumstances, but that they would be used in transforming me into the image of His Son (2 Corinthians 3:18), with all that means. It’s an ongoing process – one that will continue until the day I see my Saviour face to face. He’s still working on me.
I am forever grateful that God