DON’T QUIT IN THE DIP by Shaun Nepstad (Worthy Publishing; 2020)

Pastor Shaun Nepstad shares about the ups and mostly downs of life – what he calls “the dip” – and how God makes it possible for His children to not give up and to grow in many ways when the dips in life come. In a winsome and self-effacing manner, Nepstad shares all of the trials and challenges of starting a brand-new church when he was fresh out of college. As one might imagine, there were a lot more dips than highs in the early years of his ministry, but each trial and setback was always an occasion to learn from mistakes, as well as to see the faithfulness and incredible timing of God to bring good things out of troublesome circumstances.

People without Christ face as many dips in life as Christians, but non-believers do not have the resources available to Christians, and so many give up and stay in the dip for months or years. Christians can easily succumb to the difficulties of a fearful and defeatist attitudes like the rest of the world, but with a willingness to humble themselves before God and to seek for His help, a hope can be ignited in the heart of any believer who is willing to use whatever little faith they have and then see God go to work.

The dips in life can be personal, vocational, relational, financial, medical and spiritual. This book is very clear in communicating that these dips are not perhaps all due directly to sin on the part of the believer, but the Bible never promised that life for followers of God would be easy and successful in worldly terms. But believers can be sure that God sees every event in the lives of His children, and can use even the biggest and most prolonged dips to redeem and strengthen His people. For Nepstad, the bottom line is that if a person is in God and is not yet dead, then God has not and will not give up on us, and we should not give up our hope in God. A recommended book for those looking for assurance of the goodness and faithfulness of God.