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U-Turns: Reversing the Consequences in Your Life
Bestselling author and renowned preacher Tony Evans concludes his series of books about God’s direction over our lives. In U-Turns, Dr. Evans shows readers the reality of human freedom, the consequences that come from negative choices, and the way to reverse those consequences.
By aligning your life choices under God’s Word and pursuing an intimate relationship with Him, you can experience the abundant life Jesus has for you. You get to choose whether or not you want that. If you do, you will see how God can reverse the negative consequences of decisions you’ve made.
By aligning your life choices under God’s Word and pursuing an intimate relationship with Him, you can experience the abundant life Jesus has for you. You get to choose whether or not you want that. If you do, you will see how God can reverse the negative consequences of decisions you’ve made.
- GenresChristian
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
39 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Tony Evans
511 books515 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Anthony Tyrone "Tony" Evans Sr. is an American evangelical pastor, speaker, author, and widely syndicated radio and television broadcaster in the United States. Between 1976 and 2024, Evans served as senior pastor at the over-9,500-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas.
Anthony Tyrone "Tony" Evans Sr. is an American evangelical pastor, speaker, author, and widely syndicated radio and television broadcaster in the United States. Between 1976 and 2024, Evans served as senior pastor at the over-9,500-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 30, 2021
Tony Evans has made a name for myself with his preaching, teaching, and writing. He’s been doing it long enough now that when you open a book by him, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. U-Turns is no exception, combining folksy pastor jokes and anecdotes with encouragement and inspiration. This book is all about reversing—recognizing your sin and repenting of it.
The first couple of chapters set that tone, with Evans drawing an interesting contrast between Judas and Peter. Both sinned against Jesus. Both felt deep sadness for their sin. One gave in to worldly sorrow. The other submitted to Godly sorrow and repented. It’s a poignant notion that makes the point that being aware or even being sorry for our sin isn’t enough. We have to be willing to do something about it. I will note that the contrast is perhaps a bit artificial. We’re never told that Judas didn’t repent. I’m not saying it’s likely, but there is enough vagueness for caution here.
The chapters that come after detail how to reverse various types of consequences. All of these seem pretty standard—idolatry, addiction, anxiety, emotional, financial, sexual—but there is a subset of consequences that Evans speaks about that stand out for both good and bad reasons. Evans includes chapters on demonic consequences, generational consequences, and discrimination consequences. Given that the rest of the book is about reversing out of one’s own personal sin, including these three chapters without setting them apart from the rest of the book seems like a structural oversight. Individuals dealing with these consequences are more likely to be dealing with consequences they did not bring on themselves. By putting them in the same section as these other things, Evans incorrectly and implicitly seems to make the individual responsible for them. This isn’t his intent—he writes in the chapter on discrimination that the book is about reversing the consequences of negative behavior “either done by you or to you”—but that’s not how the initial structure the book was set up. Simply moving these chapters to the end and setting them on their own section would have helped this book tremendously.
It’s also worth noting that Evans’ view on demonic influence is fairly conservative and fundamentalistic, even for most mainstream evangelicalism. The chapter can’t decide how deeply to dive into this, moving back and forth between demons-behind-every-tree and demons-as-metaphor. The reality, in my opinion, is much more nuanced and Evans really isn’t equipped to handle that as its own specific chapter.
The rest of the book is…fine. It’s pretty simple, straightforward, conservative Baptist stuff. It reads like a sermon series formatted into a book, which is likely was. It’s a lot of rah-rah encouragement, but not very deep. And I just kept thinking that I wanted more. This book might provide the kick in the pants needed to start a U-Turns, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of practical advice on how to turn around when you don’t even feel like you’re the one driving. It offers a fairly simplistic, superficial view of repentance that doesn’t do justice to the hard, Spirit-led work that repentance actually is. This a book is a beginning but it’s milk, not meat.
The first couple of chapters set that tone, with Evans drawing an interesting contrast between Judas and Peter. Both sinned against Jesus. Both felt deep sadness for their sin. One gave in to worldly sorrow. The other submitted to Godly sorrow and repented. It’s a poignant notion that makes the point that being aware or even being sorry for our sin isn’t enough. We have to be willing to do something about it. I will note that the contrast is perhaps a bit artificial. We’re never told that Judas didn’t repent. I’m not saying it’s likely, but there is enough vagueness for caution here.
The chapters that come after detail how to reverse various types of consequences. All of these seem pretty standard—idolatry, addiction, anxiety, emotional, financial, sexual—but there is a subset of consequences that Evans speaks about that stand out for both good and bad reasons. Evans includes chapters on demonic consequences, generational consequences, and discrimination consequences. Given that the rest of the book is about reversing out of one’s own personal sin, including these three chapters without setting them apart from the rest of the book seems like a structural oversight. Individuals dealing with these consequences are more likely to be dealing with consequences they did not bring on themselves. By putting them in the same section as these other things, Evans incorrectly and implicitly seems to make the individual responsible for them. This isn’t his intent—he writes in the chapter on discrimination that the book is about reversing the consequences of negative behavior “either done by you or to you”—but that’s not how the initial structure the book was set up. Simply moving these chapters to the end and setting them on their own section would have helped this book tremendously.
It’s also worth noting that Evans’ view on demonic influence is fairly conservative and fundamentalistic, even for most mainstream evangelicalism. The chapter can’t decide how deeply to dive into this, moving back and forth between demons-behind-every-tree and demons-as-metaphor. The reality, in my opinion, is much more nuanced and Evans really isn’t equipped to handle that as its own specific chapter.
The rest of the book is…fine. It’s pretty simple, straightforward, conservative Baptist stuff. It reads like a sermon series formatted into a book, which is likely was. It’s a lot of rah-rah encouragement, but not very deep. And I just kept thinking that I wanted more. This book might provide the kick in the pants needed to start a U-Turns, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of practical advice on how to turn around when you don’t even feel like you’re the one driving. It offers a fairly simplistic, superficial view of repentance that doesn’t do justice to the hard, Spirit-led work that repentance actually is. This a book is a beginning but it’s milk, not meat.
May 9, 2021
Evans newest book, U-Turns, is all about the dirty “s” word, that’s right: SIN. This is one topic that makes people cringe, shy away from, and deflect. Evans bluntly, and lovingly, demonstrates that we need to align ourselves with God in order to come into the covenant relationship God wants to have with us. It’s going to be tough, and sometimes, it might be painful, but Jesus promises us in John 8:31-32 that “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Evans points out that sin isn’t simply a mistake, or a “whoops, my bad”, it’s sin. It separates us from God and “calling it sin makes the issue spiritual and much more serious”.
This book is organized in a way where the reader can skip around from chapter to chapter, or can read straight through (which is what I did). Reading the titles of each chapter one might think, “Oh, that’s not for me. I don’t do those sins.” However, I guarantee that you will glean wisdom from each section even if you think the chapter doesn’t has anything to do with you. There are 12 chapters—the first two lay the groundwork of defining sin and how to go about repenting of it. The following chapters cover idolatry, addiction, anxiety, emotional consequences, demonic consequences, generational consequences, discrimination consequences, financial consequences, sexual consequences, and irreversible consequences. Evans effectively uses Biblical references left and right to support his writing, as well as anecdotes and stories to highlight his points. His writing is clear and easy to understand.
This book was a beautiful reminder of what Jesus did for us. He died so that we might have life, and a wonderful one at that. We need to humble ourselves before the cross and repent of our sins. There’s a lot of talk about sin in this book, but Evans points out that repentance is the key to our U-Turns because “[i]t is a process that transforms your heart”. We can execute a u-turn from our sins once we let go of our agenda, obey God’s words, and invite Him in to transform us. Evans ends the book with a simple way to remember what we need to do as Christians: “Repent. Receive. Believe.”
I highly recommend this book for all Christians. Be prepared for some uncomfortable moments where you have to reflect on your own behaviors and humbly come before God. Thank you to NetGalley and B&H Books for providing me with an ARC.
This book is organized in a way where the reader can skip around from chapter to chapter, or can read straight through (which is what I did). Reading the titles of each chapter one might think, “Oh, that’s not for me. I don’t do those sins.” However, I guarantee that you will glean wisdom from each section even if you think the chapter doesn’t has anything to do with you. There are 12 chapters—the first two lay the groundwork of defining sin and how to go about repenting of it. The following chapters cover idolatry, addiction, anxiety, emotional consequences, demonic consequences, generational consequences, discrimination consequences, financial consequences, sexual consequences, and irreversible consequences. Evans effectively uses Biblical references left and right to support his writing, as well as anecdotes and stories to highlight his points. His writing is clear and easy to understand.
This book was a beautiful reminder of what Jesus did for us. He died so that we might have life, and a wonderful one at that. We need to humble ourselves before the cross and repent of our sins. There’s a lot of talk about sin in this book, but Evans points out that repentance is the key to our U-Turns because “[i]t is a process that transforms your heart”. We can execute a u-turn from our sins once we let go of our agenda, obey God’s words, and invite Him in to transform us. Evans ends the book with a simple way to remember what we need to do as Christians: “Repent. Receive. Believe.”
I highly recommend this book for all Christians. Be prepared for some uncomfortable moments where you have to reflect on your own behaviors and humbly come before God. Thank you to NetGalley and B&H Books for providing me with an ARC.
December 14, 2021
Tony Evans is an incredible man of God, and I have enjoyed his talks and videos. I do not always see eye to eye with him, but I cannot deny his faith nor his wisdom. This book is for those who have made poor choices and who are struggling, who wonder if there is any way out of the pit of despair where they now find themselves. Again, I do not agree with all his words or ways, but there is certainly a great deal here that is commendable. I do recognize that his advice may work very well for some, but perhaps not others. Although he does acknowledge that there are real mental issues that are due to biochemical imbalances and have physiological origins, he comes dangerously close to a "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" approach to dealing with depression, anxiety, addiction and despair. But ultimately, he makes that case that life's U-turns can be achieved by getting right with God, and he is forthright in stating how that works. One topic that was especially interesting to me, as I have been saying it all along as our country struggles with political strife, is that the powers of evil persist in keeping us all divided, fighting over race, politics, religion, preferences and platforms, because they know full well that when we are divided, we are weak. (Are you listening, America? The powers that be WANT to keep us fighting each other, so that they can have their own way.) A great deal that is useful, and more that may be more useful to others than to me, but a very interesting take on making life changes that can reverse the consequences of very poor life choices.
January 10, 2021
Another exceptionally excellent book by Dr. Evans.
Our lives are full of regrets. Some of those poor decisions led to more destructive consequences than others. This book clearly points the way to reverse those consequences, but the way isn't easy. It requires understanding that you are free to choose your direction at any time. Stay in the consequences, or work your way out with God's help. Dr. Evans addresses the consequences of idolatry (many kinds!), addiction, anxiety, emotional consequences, demonic consequences, generational consequences, discrimination consequences, financial consequences, and sexual consequences. That's quite a laundry list, and I felt conviction and hope in every chapter. I appreciate Dr. Evans's consistent commitment to Scripture. I highly recommend this book.
I gratefully received a free ARC digital copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest and voluntary opinion.
Our lives are full of regrets. Some of those poor decisions led to more destructive consequences than others. This book clearly points the way to reverse those consequences, but the way isn't easy. It requires understanding that you are free to choose your direction at any time. Stay in the consequences, or work your way out with God's help. Dr. Evans addresses the consequences of idolatry (many kinds!), addiction, anxiety, emotional consequences, demonic consequences, generational consequences, discrimination consequences, financial consequences, and sexual consequences. That's quite a laundry list, and I felt conviction and hope in every chapter. I appreciate Dr. Evans's consistent commitment to Scripture. I highly recommend this book.
I gratefully received a free ARC digital copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest and voluntary opinion.
March 23, 2024
A lot of mostly true and somewhat helpful moralism is tied to the motives of getting your blessing. Dr. Evans uses not losing blessing as the main motivator for repentance over the issues of sinning. Love for God, others as ourselves, and holiness are motives I'd prefer to aim toward and strive for. It's a process and direction and I'm realizing it's not presented in this book. I'm probably being overly critical based on the premise of this book. And yet, I feel there's something better available. One of the most troubling examples was Dr. Evans using I Corinthians 6:9-11 to say practicing sin doesn't stop you from getting to heaven but your blessings and favor from God could be blocked. Continuing and growing in righteousness for God, others, and our own souls seems to be a better aim from these verses.
August 23, 2025
I wish, sometimes, that the rating system could be more nuanced than 1-5 stars, as 4 is too high - but 3 seems too low. The book is good in and of itself, but the problem is that this book, amongst so many others like it, does not do anything to stand out. Yeah, it does have the perspective of a u-turn on a series of issues, but the issues are just the same old same old we find in so many other books of this kind. It may be an important addition to you, for sure - as there is not much wrong in a book like this. We all need to do some turns in our lives, and we all struggle with our issues, and in that case, this book is a pretty solid one.
February 14, 2021
We all sin. We all face the consequences. Tony Evans’ book, U-turns, discusses, in an organized manner, how to reverse consequences of specific categories of these sins through repentance and understanding the Word of God. Although not easy, there is always hope for a turnaround.
This is my first book by the well known Mr. Evans, who is clearly knowledgeable of the Scripture, and a gifted spiritual teacher. This book would make a great Bible study supplement.
~Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher~
This is my first book by the well known Mr. Evans, who is clearly knowledgeable of the Scripture, and a gifted spiritual teacher. This book would make a great Bible study supplement.
~Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher~
March 8, 2021
In U Turns: Reversing the Consequences of Your Life, author Tony Evans discusses 12 areas of life in which we often make poor choices and then experience the damaging results. These areas include Idolatry, Addiction, Emotional Consequences as well as areas not often covered such as Generational Consequences. Even after making poor choices, we are still free to choose our direction, Evans states. This book provides the key to our reversal and practical steps we can take to achieve it.
July 23, 2023
His chapter on anxiety is the weakest link. While he gives a caveat for those whose anxiety is "chemical," he clearly has no one in his life who has dealt with debilitating general anxiety disorder. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book and was convicted over and over.
January 23, 2022
This book is all about taking an inward look at yourself and the sin that we allow ourselves to make. How can we take these situations and make a U-turn from them?
February 27, 2021
In the beginning of the book he says that you can choose to skip around chapters if you want to things that relate to you bc some of those topics might not fit....so when I started I thought oh yea this one is not for me, and this one...but I decided not to skip. And I’m so glad I didn’t! Bc in each chapter so far something has related deeply to me.
And he explains and writes in a way that is so clear and easy to understand and so bluntly that I’m just like wow!! I’ve never thought of that or realized that before. And of course he brings all of his points back to scripture and shows examples through the Bible of how God is in each of these topics.
It’s a book that I don’t want to read bc I know I’m going to be convicted w each chapter, but at the same time I don’t want to put down. And will probably go back and read again and again.
It was such a great book!!
And he explains and writes in a way that is so clear and easy to understand and so bluntly that I’m just like wow!! I’ve never thought of that or realized that before. And of course he brings all of his points back to scripture and shows examples through the Bible of how God is in each of these topics.
It’s a book that I don’t want to read bc I know I’m going to be convicted w each chapter, but at the same time I don’t want to put down. And will probably go back and read again and again.
It was such a great book!!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews