#205: BOOK REVIEW: Complete by Goodness Adegbola

This book review is dedicated to all my brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling with identity crisis because of self-righteousness and reliance in strength, accolades, connection, and wisdom or because of past failures and sin. May this title reveal the person of Jesus graciously to you as He is freely portrayed in the gospels – the savior of mankind and our hope for righteous living and eternal life. Amen.

It is almost impossible to not connect and relate with the characters as the author's literary skill makes it impossible not to. I mean, there was Lade, Moni, Terrence, David, Edward, Barnabas, Jade, the parents and just everyone. It was so interesting to see how the author brought together seemingly different people through the pages and in no time, we could connect them together. A clear message to the readers that it is a small world after all.

At the back end, it becomes difficult to miss that God was at work in orchestrating the events and this stood out for me - how God aligns our lives, the way He leads and saves, the entire redemption journey is always one to be amazed at. And by divine wisdom God’s method of changing lives is through Jesus. This reality was reechoed again - Jesus makes all the difference. As opposed to how, empty, dry, cold, bitter, unforgiving, and hopeless a life is without Jesus, once Jesus's light floods our hearts, He sets a different tone where all of those is replaced by whole, complete and abundant Life full of joy, hope, purpose, and peace. All the characters had to battle pain, heart break and offences at one point or the other but I see how through Pastor Uduak, the Ojo's family pain was healed by Jesus, how Jesus helped Moni, Edward and their Father through that phase and restored them. I saw how broken, shattered David who was completely messed up, could find healing, be made whole and complete and be able to live above his mess again. It could only be Jesus for real. How God picked several of the characters from different circumstances just shows that no one is too messed up for God's love to sweep over and restore.

Another very striking point for me is how the author highlights the role of their individual relationships with God: how they heard him, got instructions from him and obeyed. The word of knowledge, the visions, and the overall clarity. It just made sense again that how I hear God is important and that my hearing God must be consistent and linked. This informs that I am not just in and out on God, but I live from his presence. This of course played out in how they all found their life partners, how they found God's will for them and all that. You just wish at this point that the script of your love life is as these.

Terrence and Lade's maturity for example was so beautiful to read. They surrendered to God's will even though they wanted to stay together. Their decision to remain as friends further made it beautiful. Initially, Lade didn't seem to see past Terrence, he was "the one" as far as she knew. But because she had a heart for God's will, she still let God lead her. How God showed Lade that Terrence wasn't the one made me realize again how often we settle for what seems good, not knowing it's just Eliab whereas David (God's choice) is always around the corner, though in seemingly odd places - in the fields tending the sheep. Learn to wait for "him". Upon surrendering to God’s will, the whole scenes of how they were all led to their partners was amazing. It was beautiful to watch them fall in love with God's will for them. And Lade met David (no pun intended) ... And it was Jesus at work in them all along, scripting every piece of their entire life story. All of that made me see through their being complete in Christ that I am also complete only in Jesus Christ.

I picked so much from that moment when Lade told David he was neglecting the alabaster jar of oil like the widow had when the prophet asked her what she had in her house. (2Kings4:1-7). That oil didn't seem like it could do much, but it did more, as much as she let it. It was then I saw that we come fully packaged, all we need for life is made available by His divine power, every passion and interest we have is not coincidence, it all matters. Our natural giftings and skills are our arsenals for fulfilling purpose and glorifying God ultimately.  David's flare for cooking didn't come off as anything much, in fact, David was ashamed of it, but see all God had in-store for that cooking. No gifting, talent or skill is ordinary. God works wonders when we lay all we are for his use even our physical resources. No one envisaged five loaves of bread and two fish could feed five thousand that fateful evening. Terrence and his art skill says something about this also, despite he studied accounting, his artistry was still serving. I wonder what would happen if he neglected it like his mum wanted him to. All the revelation, blessings and light that came from a single art piece from him would have been lost. How about Moni, a quantity surveyor by profession, but God wrought miracles through her song ministrations. With all of that, it just made sense that God was glorified in every aspect of their lives and used all their skill and talents for his purpose.

I cannot even exhaust the high points of the book. Different aspects of the book stirred me towards a closer and more intimate relationship with God:

• The incident where Lade was asked from her office to go to Kano to audit and how God helped her through that dreary and compromising situation.

• Her uncle and aunt's walk with God was also a challenge for me.

• Lade and Moni's friendship, and how Lade helped her friend through her depression and struggle. For me it emphasized giving my best in my relationships, intentionally praying for and checking on family.

• The prison outreaches, and how God encountered David and so many other aspects of the book.

May our lives beautifully tell the story of this reality: 

" And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" Colossians 2:10

It was entirely wonderful Journey through Complete, I was blessed. This does not in anyway equate to the book, trust me, you would rather read the book by yourself if you have not. You can purchase copies of this book on any of these platforms:

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Goodness-Adegbola-ebook/dp/B08HNGGTDQ

Roving heights books:

https://rhbooks.com.ng/product/complete/

Okadabooks:

https://okadabooks.com/book/about/complete/36995

I bless the hands through which this beautiful piece was written. I truly appreciate the author, Goodness Adegbola, for such a great work, I pray God keeps leading him and granting him inspiration for greater works. Goodness Adegbola is also a blogger and Christian movie actor; he has authored another book titled Walking the Blood Paved Path. His blog is filled with godly and edifying content. We highly recommend it. You may want to check out his blog:

https://hisgoodness.org/meet-goodness-adegbola/

Book Review done by Tartor Onov