To Be Told: Know Your Story, Shape Your Future (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for To Be Told
“This is a book worth reading. Because this is a journey worth taking. To know who you are. To make sense of your life. To discover the role God is giving you in His story. That is a life worth living. Thank you, Dan, for a wonderful book!”
–John Eldredge, bestselling author of Wild at Heart and Epic: The Story God Is Telling and the Role That Is Yours to Play

“Dan Allender’s books brim and sizzle with stories–many poignant, many hilarious, and many both. This book takes us to the deepest stories of all–our own stories, the ones that haunt when they are kept secret and liberate when they are told and known. To Be Told is a treasure to be read slowly and with your closest friends.”
–Brian McLaren, pastor, author of A Generous Orthodoxy and A New Kind of Christian

“The concepts in this book have helped define my life in magnificent ways. By further exploring my own story, I discovered God’s story. And it is a beautiful picture of clarity, purpose, knowledge, and celebration. Thank you, God, for giving us Dan Allender.”
–Kathy Troccoli, singer, speaker, and author

“When Dan Allender tells stories, prepare for three things: laughter, tears, and piercing insight. Allender is a great storyteller because he knows that stories are for redeeming, not just passing the time. This book, about story and full of stories, will help you find your own place in the greatest story ever told.”
–Daniel Taylor, author of Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories

“In To Be Told, Dan Allender creates an intimate, safe place where we feel free to join in the discussion and dive, with a sort of careless courage, head-first into our own stories. I wept as I rediscovered the sacred and divine in my own story, and began to find the connections between my own story threads, an understanding of my long-aching need to be heard, and the glimmers of a holy redemption.”
–Renee Altson, author of Stumbling Toward Faith

“Dan Allender confronts us with the truth that we are storied people, that each of us is a story, and that we are in fact writing our own stories. With humor and grace, Dan invites us not only to write our stories metaphorically, but literally to begin to write our stories. He promises that in so doing we might just possibly find God, with whom we are co-authoring our stories; and we might actually connect in vital and healing ways with ourselves and with each other.”
–Stanley J. Grenz, author of Rediscovering the Triune God and A Primer on Postmodernism

Product Description

Would you willingly overlook clear direction from God that speaks directly to you and where you are in life right now?

God’s guidance is near at hand. He is not only your Authority, he is also your Author. As God writes the stories of your life, he uses your past to open up your future.

It is your privilege to listen to your own story so you can live boldly for the sake of the Greatest Story, the good news of Jesus Christ. God reveals himself to you–and to others–through the story he has written in your life.
In this insightful and compelling book, Dr. Dan B. Allender shows you how to read the stories of your life. He helps you understand the meaning that God has written into every detail of who you are. As a result, you can share your story with others and listen to their story, revealing unique aspects of God’s hand at work.

Starting today, you can find deeper meaning in your story–a story To Be Told.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press (February 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578569486
• ISBN-13: 978-1578569489
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,962 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful guide for living an intentional Christian Life, March 2, 2005

By	FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

In his latest book, TO BE TOLD, Dan Allender encourages readers to examine their lives in a search for the story that God is telling through their existence. Allender says we often don't know our own stories because we doubt their existence, dismiss their importance, or we're distracted.

"Too many people are missing their story because they're watching the stories of others. We live vicariously through television, sports, magazine, and talk shows. Such stories may occasionally educate us, but most often they sedate us. They free us from admitting that our own life is dull and lifeless. They attract us because they offer life without risk. They are deathly safe."

Fans of John Eldredge's writing, especially THE SACRED ROMANCE, will find similar themes of brokenness, revelation, desire, and narrative redemption here.

"Something must awaken us to the fact that we are asleep. And what awakens us is usually a moment of exposure when we see that the conventions that guide our steps and promise us a good life are nothing more than illusions."

"The stories told in most families are a kind of propaganda."

"You must listen to the heartache and hope that etched in the narrative of your life. And you must find the meaning God has written there."

"Your plight is your redemption."

"Desire is both our greatest frailty and the mark of our highest beauty."

Allender has a humble and disarming tone that is humorous and relatable. It can be hard at times to wade through the jargon of "story" --- feasting on story, editing together, writing your destiny ... what does all that mean? But the effort to truly understand what Allender is getting at is worth it. In essence, he's trying to get people to remember. It sounds simple, but it's not given that so many people have a dysfunctional relationship with the past. Whether good or bad, it can be hard to deal with, and so people tend to forget. But by entering into the past, Allender says that we can understand the present and help write our futures.

"God is the Potter, and we are the clay. Even the word human --- derived from the Latin word humus, meaning "dirt" --- shouts loudly about our origin. We are dirt. The name Adam (Hebrew 'adama) means "red," the color of clay. God shaped, molded, and formed us to reveal something about himself. He is a Being who loves to reveal and who invites us to join the process of revelation by calling to ask, seek and knock. God always intended for his children to join him in completing creation. We are no inanimate entities that merely reveal glory but living stories that are meant to create glory."

In other words, by seeing and understanding the stories God is telling through our lives, we can be more alive.

TO BE TOLD will provide insight for just about everyone interested in living an intentional Christian life. In addition to his wise observations about life, Allender gets practical in his suggestions for knowing one's story, including fasting, prayer, and of course, writing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a bit of a memoir-writing fad ensues. And frankly, if Allender is right, we'd be better off for it.

--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended!!, March 17, 2005

By	PhilThreeten "philthreeten.blogspot.com" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Dan Allender in his book, "To Be Told" presents both the tools and the inspiration for each of us to understand the stories that God has written in our lives. By understanding the story that God has written in the past, he contends that it will help us to understand the direction that God would have us to take for the future.

Allender does a great job in this book of presenting a method for understanding the difficulties of our past. His sharing of his own difficult background shows that he personally knows of that which he speaks. And since he keeps it simple it is accessible to anyone.

One area that I wish Allender had done a better job of was to broaden the application of understanding our stories. Although dealing with the past and understanding the direction for the future are both important applications, I think that there may be a whole host of others.

However, that small difference aside, Allender's book is well-written and includes powerful practical ideas on how to understand how God is writing your life. I highly recommend it and the accompanying workbook.

For a longer review, go to the blog listed in my nickname and click on the 'Reading' category.

(...)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story writing tool, January 18, 2008

By	Donna J. Crowell "dream coach" (penisula, va) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Workbook for To Be Told (Paperback)

I am helping people review their lives, and assess how their story made them who they are. This book is awesome. The questions are aimed at this goal. What a resource