Book Review: Chazown

I went through a period of time over this past year where I really began wondering what God wanted me to do with my life.  More specifically, what He wanted me to do with my skills and passions.  Although I have a very good job, I was feeling an itch to use my abilities in a way that allowed me to more directly benefit God's kingdom.

It was around this time that I read the book "Chazown" by Craig Groeschel.  Chazown is the Hebrew word meaning vision.  In this book, Craig walks you step-by-step through a process meant to help you center in on God's vision for your life, and then he encourages you to pursue it.  He pushes you to think about your talents and skills, your past, and your passions.  He provides you with activities to guide you along the way, and his website provides a platform for participating in these activities.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was the following:

"When you begin to understand what you’re supposed to do, you can better discren what you’re not supposed to do. And this is important, because other people also have plans for your life. I can’t count the number of good opportunities and invitations I receive from people. But good opportunities shouldn’t distract from the better and the great. And because of the focus of my vision, I say respectfully over and over again, 'I’m sorry. I just don’t do that because that’s not in line with the vision that God has given me.'"

This quote is so pertinent in my life, because I do feel that I am constantly bombarded with opportunities to get "more involved".  Whether it's with work, with church, with a group of friends, or with a service organization, there is always someone else asking for my time and attention.  This book helped me to realize that it's ok to say no to those requests if they are not in line with God's vision for my life.

Through it all, Craig also encourages you to seek God's will in all situations and really lean on Him.  I found that this book really pushed me to examine how often I was seeking God's guidance in daily situations, not just in the big issues.  I also enjoyed the step-by-step process, homework, and online resources and activities that Craig provided to help me along my way.

If I had any negative comments about the book, my primary one would be that I would have organized the book differently.  I felt that some items discussed toward the middle of the book would have been more appropriate at the beginning, and vice a versa.  This made it hard for me to read at times, due to the way my logic works.  There were moments where I thought, "Well, if I had known that this is what you meant back at the beginning, I would have thought about it all a little differently."

Overall, though, it was a good book that made me think.  I would recommend it to friends who are feeling overwhelmed with life and yet like they're doing little of eternal worth.  Chazown will help you figure it out, even if in a slightly-illogically-organized way. :) 

Note: I received this book for free, in exchange for writing a review, from the program "Blogging For Books" located at http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/.