Starting Over


Starting Over: Your Life Beyond Regrets by Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson is the definitive manual for Christians looking to redeem their lives after regrets and mistakes, big and small. They identify what they call the Sorry Cycle and then show us how to get out of it. Starting Over is divided into four sections: Starting Over, Starting Today; Breaking Out Of The Sorry Cycle; Redeeming Your Deepest Regrets; and Starting Over Every Day. The book description reads:

"I wish I had loved more.
I wish I had been smarter about money.
I wish I had thought about God more.

We all have regrets about the past. Many of them come from our attempts to fulfill unmet longings. Dave and Jon Ferguson call this back and forth between longing and regret the Sorry Cycle and they want to help us escape it.
In Starting Over, Dave and Jon show us how to recognize specific regrets and then release them to God as we learn to see our regrets as opportunities to start over. Finally, we can see God redeem our regrets as he takes the worst things in our lives and uses them for a greater good.

Your regrets don t need to keep you from the joy God has for your life. As you apply the recognize-release-redeem process to your financial, relational, and personal regrets, you will find new freedom in living out your God-given dreams.
Fall in Love with Your Regrets
It sounds impossible. How can we learn to love our mistakes? Instead, we go over and over them in our mind. Could they ever bring us or anyone else good?

Drawing from scientific research and biblical truths, Jon and Dave Ferguson give us tools to redeem our mistakes in five key areas: relationships, health, purpose, finances, and spirituality. Along the way, they teach us lifelong skills for getting unstuck when regret threatens to trap us again. We also learn how to help others escape the Sorry Cycle and experience the Starting Over Loop.
It is possible to learn to love our regrets because through them we see God at work. We see that our weakness does not limit what God can do. Whatever regret is trapping you in the Sorry Cycle, God is big enough to redeem it. What could you do with a life beyond regret?""

I loved this book. Like many people, I have regrets in my life and can often get stuck in the cycle of thinking my life is ruined, I can never move past this, my mistake was too big to get over, etc. This book showed me not only that it's never too late to undo a mistake, turn around, and start over, and gave me a specific action plan to turn around. It also includes a worksheet to help you work through the process. I highly recommend this book to any Christian who needs a fresh start or is stuck in a cycle of regret.

I received an advance copy of this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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