"The Necessity of an Enemy" by Ron Carpenter, Jr

"An enemy arising in your life is an announcement that the next stage of your future is about to be born." -Ron Carpenter, Jr

In his first-ever book, The Necessity of an Enemy: How the Battle You Face Is Your Best Opportunity, Ron Carpenter, Jr describes an enemy as any person, mindset, weakness, or situation that Satan uses to threaten or sabotage your passion for God's purpose and plan for your life. The concept behind his book is that these "enemies" are just as important as friends- or potentially even more critical- because they are indicators that God is planning movement in your life, and that transition is right around the corner. 

Despite being about spiritual warfare, The Necessity of an Enemy is a very encouraging book. It views suffering from a new perspective and is eye-opening to some of the reasons that God allows (but does not cause) adversity to take place. Carpenter covers a variety of topics; such as the reason for enemies, viewing enemies through God's point of view, battling back when your enemies rise up against you, and so on and so forth. The book is broken up into 8 different parts that lead to understanding, embracing, and ultimately conquering your enemies. 

Carpenter challenges some traditional views such as "tests and trials are God's way of teaching us something." Instead, Carpenter suggests that tests in life are God's way of measuring what we already know. Carpenter states, "[In] the time of testing, God is evaluating what you have learned during the previous season of your life. And you have to overcome or pass that test, which often comes in the form of an enemy, in order for God to advance you to the next level of your purpose...A test forces us to focus squarely on what we know to be true. The enemies you're facing right now may be there because God recognizes you've lost focus and it's stopping you from accomplishing your purpose." This is one of many perspectives Carpenter takes on viewing hardships in life.

The Necessity of an Enemy is essential for anyone who struggles with the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" This book is chock-full of good insight and wisdom. It's an easy read in the sense that the content is not overwhelming and each of the 8 parts of the book are organized into short and to-the-point sections. I would recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with any kind of affliction. As Ron Carpenter, Jr states, "If your enemies are loud and the battles are raging, continue to stand, knowing this: Something great is about to dawn in your life."

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. 

My rating: 5/5 stars

"Life, In Spite of Me" by Kristen Jane Anderson & Tricia Goyer

Life, In Spite of Me, is the personal memoir of Kristen Anderson. At seventeen-years-old, after a series of traumatic events, Kristen decided to try to end her own life by lying across the train tracks in front of her home. Miraculously, she survived being run over by a train, but lost both of her legs in the process.

In her memoir, Kristen recounts her journey of dealing with the aftermath of her failed suicide attempt, learning to live life without legs, and the way that what began as a tragedy ultimately saved her life by propelling her into a very real and gratifying relationship with God.

Stories like this tend to be my personal favorites. I'm always impressed and humbled when people have the courage to write and share their journeys of hardship with the world. I love reading about how people overcame said struggles and am constantly inspired by the ways that God faithfully shows up in the darkest of times when people are willing to look for Him. Kristen's story is no different. It is powerful and very encouraging. I have seen videos of her speak and she definitely has an incredible story to tell.

That being said, I feel that her book left something to be desired. The writing was dull and I had a very hard time engaging for the majority of the book; focusing more on how many pages were left rather than the story itself. This is partially because of the fact that it was written at a juvenile level. I'm not sure if that was Kristen's intentional target audience or not. Based on the personal "notes" that she placed periodically throughout the book, it seems like she may have been trying to appeal to a younger crowd, but much of the content of her story, such as the piece about being raped or the moderately graphic details of being run over by a train, didn't necessarily seem appropriate for a young age group. I also had trouble engaging because I felt like the written account of her story was simply a superficial narrative of what happened. There was little to no depth to it. It felt like it could have been written by someone who had no more than observed the situation from afar. The book occasionally jumped so far forward in time with no explanation that I felt like I had missed something. The personal notes that Kristen disperses throughout the book between chapters address individuals who may be struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts, etc, which, according to the author, consist of "things I wish I had known, things I wish someone had told me back then." I understand the concept, but the notes seemed very random and redundant. They were also a bit of an interruption, never flowing well with the chapters they followed. I think it would have been more effective to combine them into one (they all said virtually the same thing anyway) and put it at the beginning or end of the book.

Kristen's story itself is beautiful and inspiring. However, her book does not do it justice and I would highly recommend viewing it on YouTube instead. Check out this short summary video if you're interested in her story.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

My rating: 2.5/5 stars