Trillia J. Newbell

It’s hard to find good books to share the Gospel with little children. But this book knocks it out of the park. Trillia Newbell takes us through God’s plan for the world and His creation of the world. She tells us how man sinned and the world was broken, and then she leads us through how God rescued a people from the world. Newbell tells children of God’s very good plan for the universe and how they can be a part of that happy plan by repenting and believing in Jesus. She speaks show more clearly and succinctly, in a way even little ones can understand.

I love the way Newbell encompasses all races and age groups in her invitation to come to Jesus. Colorful illustrations show us that anyone can be included in God’s happy plan.

“People who like reading need forgiveness, and people who like riding bikes need forgiveness.
People with darker skin need forgiveness, and people with lighter skin need forgiveness.
People with curly hair need forgiveness, and people with straight hair need forgiveness.”

I have to admit, even though this book is meant for children, I often read it to myself. The Gospel is so clearly explained. As a person with autism I sometimes struggle to read my Bible or understand the Gospel, and this book helps me comprehend and latch onto the truth about Jesus.

“One day, God will finish his very good idea. Jesus will come back and make the world perfect again. And anyone who has asked Jesus to forgive them will live there, with their different languages and skin colors.”

I highly recommend this book for people of all ages and skin colors. I hope you read it and rest everything in Jesus. show less

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 show more 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.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less

Excellent read. Beginning was a little slow but it was going over some basics that a lot of people have never read (I'm a theology nerd). This is a great concise overview of God's heart for the church and the reasons why we're called to embrace it and love it like He does. Sometimes this leads us to embrace people and therefore embrace the Church in uncomfortable ways...ways that aren't exactly like we're used to or aren't our particular preference. I really loved how she emphasized in show more several places the need for diversity in order to be a functioning Body like we need to be to accomplish our mission. We need all personalities, all genders, all ethnicities and so on, because in that we are are able to learn and grow and really BE the Church. "Many parts (diversity), one Body (unity)." show less

This thought-provoking book invites you to explore the truth of God’s Word and discover how to nurture daily a spirit of gratitude and deep satisfaction.