Sacred Endurance: Finding Grace and Strength for a Lasting Faith by Trillia J. Newbell

Sacred Endurance: Finding Grace and Strength for a Lasting Faith Reviews

• 
  Bob

  Summary: Using the analogy of running a race, sets out the promises of God and the practices of the believer that enable us to finish the race of faith.
  
  ...being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience..." Colossians 1:11, NIV
  
  Years ago, my first ministry supervisor and I were studying through the book of Colossians together when we came to this verse in the middle of Paul's intercessory prayer for the Colossians. He asked me why "great endurance" is so important as a believer. As a young believer, I'm not sure I fully grasped why this mattered. But the question stayed with me, as well as the promise of God's strengthening glorious might. The years since have made sense of the necessity of endurance through the parenting years, through disappointments, serious illnesses, deaths of close family and friends, failures, conflict, and the gradual encroachments of age on one's body. Equally, there are those seasons of the ordinary, the routine tasks that we get up and do over and over. Most of us have wondered at some point, "how can I keep going on?" "How can I finish well?"
  
  Trillia Newbell has written a marvelously encouraging book exploring this crucial topic of endurance. A former runner, she describes running the anchor leg of a 4 X 400 relay, running swiftly until the last 100 meters, when exhaustion left her summoning every last ounce to finish ahead of those on her heels. Throughout the book, she uses the image of a race to speak of both the provision of God to enable us to finish our race of faith, and what it means for us to live into that promise.
  
  The book is filled with biblical passages, grounding our hope for enduring in the promises and instructions of God. She reminds us of the "great cloud of witnesses" cheering us on, and the necessity to strip away any encumbering sins and to focus on Jesus. She explores our running motivations, particularly the "love of Christ" that compels. She confronts the lies of the gospel of success and prosperity and explores how the presence and power of God meets us in our suffering, troubles, and weakness. She addresses the importance of the mind to endurance and the call to be renewed in our minds. 
  
  I was particularly impressed with her chapter on enduring amid the troubles of society and the world. She acknowledges the particular challenges she faces as an African-American female confronting blatant racism, even white supremacism. She describes her own disciplines of stopping to remember God, taking heart in the truth that the Lord has overcome the world, that people are not the enemy, to persist in doing good, not giving way to cynicism, and knowing toward whom we are running when we can be distracted by other loyalties.
  
  She explores abiding in Christ, and practical disciplines of abiding, particularly the word of God and prayer. She speaks of how God meets us in our brokenness and contrition, helps us press on when we fall and fail, the provision of running companions in the church, and the prize toward which we run. Even her appendix, on those who don't endure, stresses how God is fully able to help us run to the finish.
  
  There is nothing startlingly new here, but perhaps in our preoccupation with so many challenges in life, we need to hear these words afresh. Trillia Newbell is like the good track coach who keeps telling us the things we need as often as we need to hear them. She coaches out of her own journey with honesty, humility, and a contagious joy that arises from her own experience of the promises of God that help her run and endure with joy. She reminds us of all the resources God provides, the practices that help us keep running, the things we need to let go of, and the God who meets us at our weakest places and the Christ toward whom we run.
  
  If you are asking yourself how you will get through the next year, or month, or even day, this is a great book to read. It is a good book for young parents balancing work, childcare and other responsibilities. It is good for those in the mid-life "sandwich," wondering where they will find the strength to handle it all, and why it is worth it. It is a good book for those in their senior years, approaching the finish line, wanting to do it well. Endurance never goes out of season.
  
  ________________________________
  
  Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
• 
  Frances Chan

  Trillia’s writing is always warm, personal, and deeply encouraging, and this book is no exception. Sacred Endurance is a call to live a faithful Christian life, but doesn’t come across as at all preachy, unattainable, or shallow. Trillia offers personal stories, scriptural truths, and wonderful encouragement from a fellow Christian. One of the most encouraging books I’ve read this year, and one I will definitely read again.
  
  (I received a free advanced reading copy from NetGalley in return for my honest review.)
• 
  Julia

  I love Trillia Newbell and all the work she does on racial reconcilation, diversity and representing women in the SBC. However, I did not love this book. While it was biblically rich and accurate, it didn't address the issues I expected it to address - and I felt it was a little bit more of a "primer" on the Christian faith than a book about endurance. It covered so many topics in such a short book that it felt at times disjointed and all over the place. However, this book may be enjoyed more by a brand new believer or someone with little faith background.
• 
  Marvy Herrera

  I received an ARC from IVP Books via NetGalley this review is my personal opinion.
  
  
  What a great book, I can only say a good thing about this book. Lovely and unexpected, with a biblical focus; Trillia Newbell opens up and in my case the answer to many questions I had for a time now. I like that she says it, that this book was not: How to.. You name it. But how at the end this Christian life, is not a race to be won fast. But only by the grace and power of God in us. I like the remainder of how important is for us to get rather of all that takes us away from God. But it must important how(even do we don’t want to) we will sin and do and say the wrong thing. But that God will never reject us and that he cares is about my heart and not my performance. I must say this book confronts me about my motivations and how they need to be rooted in Christ. It remained me that everything I think I need to do to “gain” God’s love or favor, I’m saying that his sacrifice in the cross was incompleted; just wow!
  
  This quote was one of my favorites:” We think that our success and others, our joy, our circumstances, and all that God will do or will not according on how we act, pray or think”
  
  On to examine our lives, to not ignore the sorrows and the pain, but to hold on the truth of who he is. None likes to purposefully suffer, but to endure and for our character to be built, is not going to be easy. But like Trillia Newbell reminds us through the book we are not alone That at the end we live in the fallen world, but we need each other, that is important to belong to a good community that helps us grow in the love of Christ.
  I believe this book is a must-read for all Christians, with a fresh and approachable language. Trillia Newbell gives us a guideline and opens up to in any case important themes that sadly have been misunderstood. We also have the questions discussion for those reading in a group. I think that will be interesting and an opportunity to shared and build a friendship.
  
  Truly grateful to IVP for the ARC of this book.
• 
  Michele Morin

  Perhaps the biggest lie we all have to overcome is the idea that the following life should be easy. This thinking is not supported in the biblical record, and it is poor preparation for the realities of friends who let us down, bodies that fail, and the disappointments that come with church life, parenting, or curating a career. While God promises grace sufficient for every hard decision and every obstacle, the truth is that we have to take that grace consciously and continuously as we run the race set before us.
  
  Newbell digs deep into the canon, ransacking the Apostle Paul’s story for words that run like a river of hope through his own challenging story of shipwreck, imprisonment, and beatings. He came to the end of his life with this hymn of thanksgiving:
  
  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
  (2 Timothy 4:7)
  
  If your heart is resonating to the pitch and timbre of Paul’s testimony, Sacred Endurance is an invitation to dig into the spiritual riches that empower a faithful following:
  
  Don’t go it alone!
  We were never designed to run the race of the Christian life solo. We need the faithful wounds of friends, the cheering section of the body of Christ, and the accountability of a life lived in community over the long haul.
  Get up again!
  While it’s true that we all stumble in many ways, there’s grace available for picking ourselves up, receiving forgiveness, and living with brokenness while also trusting for ultimate healing–either in this life or in the life to come.
  Look to the prize!
  Corrie ten Boom came out on the other end of unthinkable suffering with the truth that “you can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.” (159) While we sit with the unfinished business of life on a fallen planet, we are given the comfort of preaching the gospel to ourselves, of fighting idolatry with regular doses of truth about what really matters, and of eagerly waiting for the pleasures and the fullness of joy that live in the presence of God.
  While we wait for that moment, and as we trust for grace to embody a sacred endurance moment by moment throughout this date on the calendar, let’s share our stories with joy. Let’s war against doubt and discouragement with a borrowed confidence that defies our unbelief and keeps us running by faith as we trust in the carrying mercy of Christ.
  
  Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.
• 
  Nitoy Gonzales

  I think Perseverance of the saints,  is a candidate being a discouraging letter in the TULIP acronym.   Christians will be glad that it is found in the end of the popular nickname for Doctrine of Grace. Believers will be more happy the "P" is actually left out.  As if you’re looking for a happy ending, you get this notion that it is not. You might say “With all those talk it all boils down to persevere and I thought God did it all for us?” Christians like me feels like walking on glass everytime someone talks about the letter “P”. I find it discouraging sometimes when I don't do the "persevering" part for God.
  
  Sacred Endurance answers the call to help Christians struggling on what it means to endure. Newbell lays it here clearly and joyfully that persevering won't feel like a burden to us. This book is a map that will cLear out the fog out of persevering.
  
   As you read this book, you’ll see Trillia as an encouragement machine. Whenever you’re going down, Trillia will cheer you with her biblical insight and personal stories again and again. She won’t let you down. She’ll be your personal coach pumping you up and shouting “Focus on Jesus!” Page after page you’ll be encourage to endure in any circumstances in your Christian walk. Don't just pick this book up when your down, get it to help you go on an extra mile with your faith.
  
  Sacred Endurance is a book that will tell you not just the “what’ but the “whys” and the “hows” of enduring. Some of us gets bogged down by the "what" that we dread to ask the "hows" and the "whys." This is coming from an author that has been through a lot in her family life and not a theologian on an ivory tower. She us coming as a fellow learner that we will meet along the dusty road. After reading this book you’ll find joy to go on and run the Christian race with joy!
  
   My verdict:
  
  4.5 out of 5
  
  (Review copy of this book is provided by InterVarsity Press)
• 
  Annette Wagoner

  (I received a free digital copy of this book through Net Galley for my honest review of the book. The opinions are wholly mine.)
  
  When I began reading Trillia Newbell’s newest book, Sacred Endurance, I was captivated by the honesty of her words. Too many books that can be found marketed to Christians can be so overly optimistic that they undercut the real struggles people have in their walk of faith. In this book, you encounter people who have struggled and still showed endurance in their faith. Trillia backs up her message with many passages from Scripture to support it.
  
  Trillia Newbell’s words are powerful, honest, and inspiring. It would make a great book for a leadership team, ministry leader, or anyone else struggling with wanting to endure in the faith when it seems easier to just quit.
  
• 
  Abby

  **I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review **
  
  Trillia Newbell’s book Sacred Endurance is an encouragement and a challenge, offering a Biblically grounded look and why and how to stay faithful in the long haul of the Christian walk. I really appreciated how rooted in Scripture this book was, and she strikes a helpful balance between the theology (“why”) and practical, day-to-day steps (“how”) of walking with God not just in the *really great* or *really bad* moments of life, but in the ordinary, unsurprising times that make up most of our days. There’s also discussion questions in the back that would make this great for a small group or a discipleship/buddy read.
• 
  Becky B

  The Christian life is a marathon, not a spring. So how do you keep on keeping on, even when times get tough? Trillia Newbell shares wisdom from Scripture, stories from her own life, and practices that have proven true for herself and others that will produce sacred endurance.
  
  There's nothing earth-shattering or necessarily new in here, but Newbell is able to communicate these truths and poignant reminders in ways that stick and resonate in new ways. If you are in need of a bit of cheerleading to keep on in your faith, snatch this up. It is encouraging and saturated with good reminders even those decades into their faith will find good to hear again.
• 
  Neva Davies

  My most recent read, and one which I was on the launch team for: Sacred Endurance by Trillia Newbell is about running the race of our Christian faith with the endurance that can only come from our trust in a loving God.
  I'm glad that I got to be a part of the launch team, because not only did I get to read a copy early, but I got to tell others about it. If you are a Christian and you struggle with trials that life throws at you, you should definitely read Sacred Endurance, because Trillia is open and honest and forthcoming about her own story.
  4.75/5 stars
• 
  Josiah Richardson

  This was a difficult book for me to rate and review because I feel like it was the 10th time I've read the same book. In other words, I feel like everything she wrote about I have read before in a few other authors like Kyle Idleman, or Bob Goff, or someone along those lines. So it may have been a different experience if I read this first before those books.
  
  That being said, it was well written and had some good reminders about endurance of the saints and what it means to anticipate a faith that is irrevocable.
• 
  Lindsey Teat

  “We want to watch that our running toward Jesus isn’t more about us and less about him.”
  
  This book is incredibly encouraging. Trillia is so real about what it takes to faithfully endure as we walk with Christ. It has been both a breath of fresh air and a challenge to reflect and check myself in my pursuit of Christ. Trillia gently guides you through what scripture says about how to endure and how to practically apply it. This is a book I will return to time and again for encouragement and refreshment as I work to endure the race He has called me to run.
• 
  April Yamasaki

  Author Trillia J. Newbell offers hope for the daily challenges of faith and life. I’m not much of an athlete, but I appreciate what she says about how living a Christian life is both like and unlike training for a marathon. It gives me hope for all of us athletes and non-athletes. For more, please see
  5 Books That Give Me Hope.
• 
  Heather Persing

  **I received this book from InterVarsity Press through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.**
  
  “Because he first pursued us, we can pursue him with sacred endurance.”
  
  This book will encourage you, challenge you, and draw your heart towards Jesus. Trillia Newbell communicates how to live faithfully as a follower of Christ in the midst of hardships and the mundane—and she does it beautifully!
  
  I’m incredibly grateful for this book, and I’ll be recommending it to everyone I know!
• 
  Robert McDonald

  I found Newbell's voice to be warm in tone and at it's most compelling when touching on racial issues in the Church. But somehow this book left me wanting more, like it was too nice (perhaps in an effort to be gracious). IMO sterner writing may have been better for the good of readers and the American Church at large.
• 
  Jeanette

  Great encouragement for new and mature Christians to stay close to the Savior and remain steadfast so that we can finish our race well. Basic truths but oh so important! Conversational in tone and a great reminder of all we have to be thankful for.
• 
  Ben

  This book was good but felt like it’s primary audience was probably newer Christians. The subject matter was solid but fairly simple and basic. I don’t really feel like I learned anything but it was good to be reminded of the need to endure in the faith in all circumstances.
• 
  Hannah Barnhart

  This book had good basic truths about the Christian walk and how to endure.
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  Christina Singh

  Inspiring and relatable on so many levels! I tried to read a few pages before bed every night and it really helped to relax me and help me sleep better.