When we think of success, we think of words like "bigger," "more," and "better." Bigger paycheck, more security, better reputation. But what if God's perspective on success was radically different than our own? What if the things we seek to avoid--pain, suffering, weakness, insecurity--were the very things he used to mold us into his image? With insights born from his own difficult journey, Clayton King offers readers a truly liberating understanding of weakness and suffering--not as God's punishment, but as his pruning. Revealing the God who is a companion in our most difficult seasons, King shows us that when we are in Christ, our deepest pain becomes the source of our greatest power, and our times of testing become our strongest testimony. Anyone who struggles to make sense of seemingly hopeless situations will find in this book not only hope for a brighter future but purpose in their imperfect present.
What an amazing book. I won this book through a giveaway on goodreads. I discovered Clayton King through Newspring Church. I liked him the first time I heard him. I normally have a hard time with non-fiction but this book held my interest. I also ended up reading while my mom had a stroke. It helped knowing someone else has gone through rought times with a close family. It helped me see how someway my story will also help someone else. I have learned that sometimes we have to be completely weakened to reach out to God with all our hearts. Clayton King is an amazing man with an amazing story, I highly recommend reading. I will definitely read again.
This was a very good book! Definitely made me cry a few times because of the topics discussed. But overall, made me see God’s Grace more through the brokenness of this world and in my relationship with others. I highly recommend this book if you are struggling with grief or with understanding brokenness and how God’s strength is much more powerful than our own.
This is a book that everyone needs to read. I especially recommend it for those that are grieving or going through a seemingly difficult time. Clayton King really reminds you of the strength and glory of God through his own experiences. I picked this particular novel up at a time where I was trying to figure out how to care for my mom. I was struggling with guilt and mourning for her. She wasn't dead, but she had dementia which slowly took her away from me. Mr. King really put her disease and our live in perspective.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Some things I read in this book will stick with me as I talk with other people and as I do some things. I appreciate that Clayton King was so honest and descriptive of how he lived those 12 difficult years.
This was an incredible book, and it inspired me in my own book writing and publishing journey. I highly suggest this book to anyone who seeks to know what God can do even in your hard times. God is mighty, and Clayton King does a phenomenal job at showcasing this!
This is a great book if you ever feel alone after the loss of a loved one this is the book you should read it helped me realize that I wasn't alone in my grief journey and made me realize God does things for a reason and he does all of it to make you stronger
This book was pretty easy to read and full of a lot of gems. You can really feel his pain, suffering, and ultimately his joy through Christ in these pages.
Rich in metaphor, dizzying in apparent contradiction, Scripture describes the Kingdom of God with upside-down truth: life out of death, power in humility, healing from brokenness, suffering as the path to glory. In Stronger, his gripping memoir, Clayton King captures the underlying, big-picture paradox, and while he’s at it, he seizes the opportunity to relieve us of some pervasive wrong thinking about strength. He also had believed the lie:
“To me, strength and success were proof that God was using me and that He loved me.”
Active in ministry since the age of fourteen, Clayton now travels internationally to speak in prisons, churches, and schools. Founder and president of a humanitarian non-profit and a teaching pastor, he found that his ministry and his family life began spinning out of control when, in his thirties, he experienced the deaths of nine close family members. Walking with him through the dark days of loss and his intense grief over the illnesses and deaths of both parents, the reader is invited to enter into the truth of God’s words in Psalm 91:
“I will be with him in trouble.”
Clayton helps his readers to see that God’s presence is “part of the greater purpose in our trials,” because the truth is that our strength comes from God.
There is no index in Stronger (It’s not that kind of book.), but if there were, the word leverage would have — by my extremely unscientific tally — at least eight entries. The concept figures prominently in Clayton’s thinking, and here’s why: Life on a fallen planet guarantees dark days and long nights; weakness; hard times; hopeless seasons; suffering; loss; regret; abuse and fear. Stronger shares how God’s great power will leverage all of these for His own purpose; for our good and for His glory; for our ultimate transformation into disciples; for the sake of our humility, development, and growth; for the sake of helping others.
In this paradox, and in one sentence, Clayton King summarizes the problem of pain:
“We live in a world where the kingdom of God has not yet been fully realized on the earth, and in the meantime there are many things we can and must experience that we cannot make sense of with our intellect.”
Instead of intellectual mastery, God offers understanding, and “weakness is the doorway to understanding. Understanding is the doorway to compassion and ministry.”
Clayton King’s journey and the telling of it — “How Hard Times Reveal God’s Greatest Power” — offers truth like a crowbar to pry our hearts away from the notion that weakness is a destination, when the truth is this:
“The goal is to be stronger. Weakness is God’s way of getting you there.”
This book was provided by BakerBooks, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger or so the saying goes. In fact, non-lethal pain can be debilitating: grief, chronic illness, loss of a job, flesh-eating-bacteria (or whatever). But as emotionally and physically draining hard times can be, they can also be a means for a fresh work of God, shaping you into who he wants you to be. Clayton King, founder and president of Clayton King Ministries and Crossroads Missions & Summer Camps, knows pain . In Stronger he tells the story of losing both of his parents before he turned forty and the trauma and turmoil it put him in.
His mother died unexpectedly after being rushed to emergency. She had a secret addiction to prescription drugs. King’s father was in the later stages of diabetes, undergoing dialysis three times a week. King was not there when either of his parents past away. He was stuck in Toronto, Canada, unable to get a flight home when his mother died. He left his dad’s side to attend an awards ceremony for his kid when his father passed away. King shares about his pain, regret, and feelings of brokenness. His parent’s deaths also opens up other wounds (like his grandfather’s abandonment of his father).
However this book is not about wallowing. King wants us to see how God uses hard times, pain and moments of weakness to further our transformation, “Sometimes God will remove the weakness and sometimes he will redeem the weakness, but he will never waste your weakness” (18). King shares about where God met him, blessed him amidst brokenness, taught him humility and redeemed the pain. In the middle of his grief, God’s spirit was present with him, he was able to experience God’s grace and forgiveness in a vulnerable time.
This would be a good book for anyone facing hard times (which is all of us, at some time). King is personal and vulnerable. While saying to someone in a crisis, “God works out all things according to his pleasure” is trite, when someone shares that truth through their experience, it is a more apt word. That being said, those in raw grief probably aren’t ready to read a book like this quite yet. Still I give this four stars.
Note: I received this book from Baker Books in exchange for my honest review.
Stronger: How Hard Times Reveal God’s Greatest Power by Clayton King is for:
Anyone who wants to know Christ Anyone who has given their lives to Christ Anyone who has prayed in the name of Jesus to use them according to His will Anyone who is following Christ with their whole heart and also going through the toughest times of their lives
The author of Stronger, Clayton King, deserves much praise for his honesty and real-to-life words. He pulls no punches and lets you in to see some of his innermost thoughts, feelings, and pain. I personally know how extremely difficult this is to do. Yet Clayton does, and the reader is much better off for it.
This book came at a perfect time in my life, and spoke volumes to me. I am questioning why I am going through such hard times right now, and why it feels so relentless and never ending. This book opened my mind and heart to the possibility that as the author states for himself, “Jesus was inviting me to join Him on a journey. He was inviting me to walk with Him in a relationship in which I would feel fantastic joy, elation, severe suffering, and real weakness”. And then my next question was, “But why do I have to go through SO much suffering and weakness?” Clayton tackles and answers that question too…
To the author, Clayton King, thank you for writing Stronger. Before I was even finished this book, I had the opportunity to minister to a friend who is twice my age. She’s had a life of hardship, and was asking the question “why?” to me. She trusts my response because she knows that I too have been through very hard times. I was able to use words from your book, plus the words “I understand”, without sounding like I was just trying to give advice. I’ve been there and I have deep scars, she knew that, and Clayton you are right, it’s powerful to help someone in that way.
I am grateful to have received a copy of this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
The message that I came away from this book is not to be afraid of my scars. All of us have scars because we have all experienced pain and setbacks that have left marks, physically and spiritually. But it's our weaknesses and our scars that make us the strongest. Such a counter-intuitive idea. How can weakness be strength? I've learned that it's our weaknesses that draw us closer to God, because it is only in those moments that we realize that we need something bigger than ourselves.
I heard somewhere that there is purpose in pain, and to be honest, there were many years of my life where saying this very idea to me would have earned you a dirty look. I do not believe God causes us pain. It is against His character. The pain we experience comes from living in a fallen world, and often times from our own mistakes. The idea that there is purpose in pain, or that God uses our pain for a greater purpose is a concept that I have only recently come to understand (not completely) over the last few years.
What I know for sure is that there will be pain in this life, and that we will all end up with our fair share of scars. However, there is no pain too great that God cannot bring you through if you place your faith in Him. And in the end, your scars will help tell your story, empathize with others, and help you reach those far from Jesus. That is the purpose in the pain. To leverage it into strength and use it to reach others. God works all things, including our pain, for our good.
I have had the privilege to see Clayton King preach a few times at my church, LifePoint. I like his style and appreciate his humor. The tone of this book is much more serious than what I have seen from Clayton in the past, not that his sermons are not serious, it was just a new level. The narrative of this book is extremely vulnerable and raw. Clayton doesn't sugarcoat his pain or shy away from it. He is honest about it. He exposes his own scars, and in so doing, his pain serves a higher purpose. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to grow in their walk with Jesus.
In the book Stronger by Clayton King, it explains the different things you go through that try to make you weak. King explains about humility and how it had major effects on his family. He explains how his dad had embarrassing things happen to him when Clayton was around, “He asked me to help him up and into the bathroom, and then he had to scrub him” which was something his dad never wanted him to do. Clayton’s dad had to do something that he never wanted to have his son to help it in that way. King talks about how his testimony shows all the scars of his life. To have a life example he talks about what he did to impress a girl, “so I grabbed a hatchet, of course, stood on the edge of our yard cutting limbs off trees, as soon as Angie drove by I tried to it to impress her and hit my knee cap and I had to make a trip to the ER” so it shows how he doesn’t always make the best move. Clayton tries to impress everyone he can especially when he has a crush, but not everything works out. King also talks about how darkness makes everything look different. He explains one time when he and his wife Sharie were driving home to their house in Shelby, North Carolina, how they got home late at night with their 2 boys after being out of town at a speaking engagement, and everything on their street looked totally different as the power had gone out that day due to a major rain storm so they almost missed the turn, he always says “darkness is a distortion” as it makes it look different then what your used to. Clayton king’s book Stronger is a great book and I recommend this read to everyone as it shows how you can reshape your life after a storm.
I really enjoyed this book because it made me think about all of the positives that can come out of the hard times we go through. King is very honest about the struggles he's gone through, especially when he lost his father, who he was incredibly close to. Struggles can be good because they remind us how really weak we are and that we don't really have control. They humble us and hopefully cause us to reach for God. The things we go through can help others who are going through the same things. We can know God walks with us in our struggles and receive His strength. He also points out that God doesn't always cause the hard times, but He can bring good out of them if we let Him. I liked the many examples from his own life he used. There were also many quotes from a variety of people, which I loved. This book definitely gave me a lot to think about and a sense of hope that good will come out of the struggles I go through. It also reminded me not to let them go to waste! I highly recommend it for everyone, because everyone has gone through hard times or will in the future. It's a fact of life.
I received this book free from Baker Books in exchange for an honest review.
Being transparent and vulnerable to the world is not easy. Sharing those moments where you're the most broken is humbling. Doing so in a way that focuses the story on God and not on you is the mark of a true servant. Clayton manages do so beautifully in this book. There are many worthwhile quotes in this book, I just noted few that spoke to me because the show the beauty that their is within our most painful moments:
"The greatest purpose in our weakness is to experience an intimacy in our relationship with God we could never know any other way."
"Scars tell our stories. They connect us back to a painful thing that left a mark on us. They connect us to other people who have scars of their own."
"Weakness is the doorway to understanding, and understanding is the doorway to compassion and ministry"
God calls us first to Himself and then to others. Inevitably, if we love well, we will feel pain -- if nothing more than the pain of grief as some day we must part with those we love. "Stronger" provides an inside glimpse into the power of that grief, and, ultimately, the power of God's strength to see us through.
King had posted on his Facebook how you could get his Ebook for less than a cup of coffee. It was $1.99 so since I had read some of King's other books I figured I would pick this one up.
In this book, King discusses the loss of his parents. He talks about the comfort he received from his faith, and how a close friend really stepped up and ministered to him. King discusses how we go through things to help others. When we are weak we are at our best point to be made strong.
One Quote from the book that I thought was pretty good "It's not how hard we work, it's how well we worship". Another good quote "Pain clarifies what really matters and simplifies what outlasts temporary turmoil"
Throughout this book, King talks about 2 things he really loves, Jesus and his parents. King is very honest about his grief when his parents die, and being as both of mine are still alive I do not know how I would handle the situation so his honesty is very comforting.
I really liked this book. It is a well balanced combination of stories of personal experience and teaching from the Bible. King really helps us understand how we grow and how God makes us stronger. Just as a sailor does not learn to sail well on a calm sea, so we are not stretched when life is calm. I really liked his comments on story and the importance of telling ours. He had another good section on understanding, that is, our benefit of understanding what it means to go through a painful experience. This is a good book for people in pain as well as people like pastors who counsel. See my complete review at http://bit.ly/1McojBg. I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Baker Books in exchange for my honest review.
How does God make someone stronger? By using weakness.
II Corinthians 12:9a reads, "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (ESV)
Clayton King tells of how God used some very difficult times in his life to show forth His power. In moments of weakness and humility God moved in his life and gave him strength when King needed it the most.
This book explores what it is to suffer and be brought low and how God intervenes in such moments. This is not a feel-good book but rather draws the reader to focus on God and call out to Him when you are at your least.
A friend suggested that I read this, and honestly I was expecting the typical "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and "everything happens for a reason" tropes that come with this type of book. I was pleased to find that those cliches were rarely used, and when they were, the discussion was meaningful and empathetic. I've read Clayton King's work before and have seen him speak several times, and I'm always impressed with his ability to communicate in an engaging, authentic, and honest tone.
This book is great as a journaling prompt. I limited myself to one chapter at a time, and after reading each chapter, I spent 10-15 minutes writing down my reactions and thoughts in order to process my response.
An intimate, personal look at how our human weaknesses reveal the power of Jesus within us. It is helpful, but more importantly, it is hopeful. It cuts right to heart of the Biblical reality that life with Jesus is abundant, but rarely free of suffering. Pursuing joy in God isn't a pleasant diversion or "bonus" but vital to enduring and victorious faith. A book like this is essential for any believer of any age who might be tempted to believe the me-centered "prosperity" gospel instead of the God-centered sacrificial gospel.
It never hurts to be reminded that during our darkest times, God is there for us. If we pray and lean on Him and have faith that He will see us through, we will come out the other side closer to Him and stronger. Highly recommended.
I read this book at a timely moment. as a predominantly personal reflection on his relationship and passing of his father it does contain many insights and truths to draw upon in times of trial.