Hope in Front of Me: Find Purpose in Your Darkest Moments by Danny Gokey - Starting September 2, 2016

[Megan]

Stepping onto the American Idol™ stage just weeks after his first wife’s unexpected death, Danny Gokey experienced both the pinnacle of hope and the depth of despair. But his story began long before that. Danny’s dreams began to form when he was a child, only to take a turn he never could have predicted. As life unfolded, he learned that true purpose is found in relationships, and destiny is sometimes born out of our darkest moments.

Now Danny wants you to embrace that same promise of hope. In this book, he shares his experiences in the high and low moments and offers compelling, hard-won wisdom to help you reach beyond your greatest challenges. Whether you struggle with relationships, loss, anger, self-esteem, or doubt that your dreams can come true, Danny’s down-to-earth encouragement and positive outlook will transform your life and reveal how you can move toward hope and take the next step to truly making a difference.

[Melanie]

Page 10

(view spoiler)["Our quality of life is heavily influenced by our attitude; every day we make a decision to either embrace joy or give in to sadness." A good quote! (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

Page 28

(view spoiler)[Don't agree with the whole "follow your heart" thing or "Discipline simply means you've predecided that your default mode of living will rest within the desires of your heart." (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

Page 47

(view spoiler)[This is interesting, and yet it is also quite sad to read. (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

Page 94

(view spoiler)["We are all different and unique in our own way. We need to learn to appreciate the beautiful differences in one another." I like that quote. (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

Page 113

(view spoiler)[Huh. I learned something new about how the auditions worked on AI. (hide spoiler)]

[Megan]

Melanie wrote: "Page 10

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(view spoiler)[That is a good quote - so true! (hide spoiler)]

[Megan]

Melanie wrote: "Page 28

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(view spoiler)[I didn't like the "follow your heart" either. Every time I read it this verse popped in my head: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9), so I thought it was odd to have that phrase in a Christian published book. (hide spoiler)]

[Megan]

Melanie wrote: "Page 94

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(view spoiler)[That is good! (hide spoiler)]

[Megan]

Melanie wrote: "Page 113

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(view spoiler)[Haha, me too. I never realized they had four auditions, spread out like that, before making it to Hollywood. (hide spoiler)]

[Megan]

Finished (view spoiler)[This was an okay story with a good message, but it became very repetitive which made it kind of a chore to finish. I enjoyed learning more about Danny's life, both the trials and blessings he has had. I was kind of disappointed that there weren't any pictures included, but that's not too big of a deal. (hide spoiler)]