Uninvited

Denied.  Refused.  Forsaken.  Returned.  Rejected.  It's the part of life that's not fun to write about but it is reality.  At one time or another we've all felt these very real emotions.  We've all been Uninvited.

For many of us it's hard to "live loved" which is why so many have picked up this book since its release.  Who wants to be lonely?  Who wants to carry around the baggage of past rejections?  No one!  We all want to be free of burdens to live our best life.

In Uninvited Lysa TerKeurst attempts to help lead us to this place of "living loved" while also sharing personal stories about her own journey.  When I first began to read this book I was hopeful.  I have had several major rejections in my life all too recently and was hoping to finally be rid of pain that these rejections have caused.  I can't quite say that I found resolution but Lysa did a decent job of reminding me where I need to go to work through these rejections: Jesus.

My biggest issue with this book is the Bible verses that are taken out of context.  After perusing the reviews on both Amazon and GoodReads I found that I was not alone in this concern.  (Check out Callie's review on GoodReads.  It mirrors my views exactly)  The author was also very repetitive, and several times I felt like I was having deja vu.  I did enjoy her personal stories and wish she would've delved more into her memoir instead of continuously trying to tie in rejection to places that it didn't really belong.

From a writing standpoint, I enjoy her style.  This is my first TerKeurst book and I did enjoy it for the most part but when it came to teaching about overcoming rejection I feel it missed the mark.  I did highlight a few quotes that did speak to me but by the time I made it to the bonus chapter I couldn't read anymore and I had to put it down, admitting defeat.

I did eventually skim through the rest of the book and noticed in the acknowledgements that she thanked her church, Elevation Church.  The pastor of Elevation Church is Steven Furtick.  I reviewed one of Furtick's books in March 2017 and was also not impressed with his book for similar reasons.  I'm not saying there's any correlation, I just found it odd that the same issues I have with Uninvited I also had with The Seven-Mile Miracle.

If you do decide to read this book I will caution you to read it prayerfully, with discernment, and do your own research on the verses provided.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange in an honest, unbiased review.  All opinions are my own.