Book Review: Lost & Found: Finding Hope in the Detours of Life by Sarah Jakes
Written by Felicia McKnight
10/31/2014
Sarah Jakes, daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes, has written the memoirs of her young life. She tells her journey of how she wanted a life of love and happiness. She struggled to connect with the church and with God by allowing Him to lead her to her destiny. Sarah Jakes set out on a self-directed journey. Instead of finding her way to a fairy tale lifestyle she found her way to several dark places.
As a teenager Sarah wanted love and a sense of belonging. She wanted someone to talk to but couldn’t find anyone she could relate to at the age thirteen with the issues she was dealing with. As she set off on her journey of finding hope she ended up in the wrong places. She found herself pregnant at thirteen, a mother at fourteen, didn’t complete college, rejected, settling for less than God’s best, and a marriage full of infidelity which ended in divorce.
As I read this book I was engaged in every page and encouraged, because it is a very transparent story that we don’t often see enough of in the church. As I read her story and her mishaps I was able to see some of my own mistakes that I’ve made along life’s journey. It’s amazing how things look when you are on the outside looking in yet you can totally relate. I found myself thinking at some of her story lines “I did the same thing or I’ve been in the same situation”, but thank God for a God of grace who can steer us to the right path.
As I reflect on Sarah’s story I think of so many of God’s children who look for love and acceptance everywhere except to God himself. We tend to look to people, relationships, drugs, alcohol, lifestyles, and poor choices all for love, acceptance, and validation when these are all things God has promised us through salvation. When we stray from God He gives us plenty of warnings and open doors to get on to the right path. We often can get so caught up that we miss God in his multiple attempts of deliverance. We continue to make mistake after mistake and wrong choice after wrong choice. I’ve learned in my own life and in the observation of others that we cannot receive complete deliverance until we want it for ourselves. People can fast, pray, encourage, and lecture us until they are blue in the face, but nothing will happen until your own mind is made up that you want change. The first step to God’s grace is realizing when you’ve had enough of things going wrong and enough rock bottoms. It’s when you realize that you can’t live a life of self-sufficiency, but you need the guidance and power of an all sufficient God. Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom or stripping us to nothing for God to get our complete and total attention so that He can lead us back on the path He has in store.
This is where grace comes in. Before we can receive God’s grace we first have to admit that we’ve messed up and that we are in such a low place that God is the only one who can bring us out. We have to acknowledge our faults to God. The wonderful thing about God is He was there all along patiently waiting for us to return to Him. God is a God of restoration and He can restore the souls and the lives of His children. Sarah Jakes who found herself in several places of darkness is now sharing her redemptive story not only in this book, but in various speaking engagements and platforms across this nation.
• If you have ever been so lost that you tried to find your way instead of relying on God….
• If you ever allowed yourself to be mistreated by someone and mistook it for love….
• If you have ever reflected on the mistakes you have made and wondered if life could ever be better…
• If you ever wondered who you would have been if you would have made better lifestyle choices or career choices…
• If you have ever wondered if your destiny was blocked by your poor choices….
Then this book is for you. Sarah Jakes experienced all of these but now she is a living testimony that if you will yield yourself and surrender to God and allow Him to perform His perfect will in your life, then you can receive all the wonderful things He has in store. Your mistakes are not in vain. God can turn your mess into a miracle. He can turn your mishaps into a testimony that can help others overcome and lead them to a place of hope, restoration, and destiny. We have all had places in life where we have been lost, but there is a redemptive place to be found. God is just waiting for us to turn and surrender ALL to Him.
Thank you Sarah Jakes for being transparent and sharing your story! Be Blessed and Encouraged on today.
Feevotionals 