The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You Paperback – November 4, 2014

You know a book is great when you read it twice and it hits a home run each time. The first time I read The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg was on a plane flight from San Diego to Chicago. The extra hour waiting for the plane to take off provided a good time to sit down and enjoy a good book, and a good one this one is. By the time we landed time had indeed flown by as I was committed to living life out of the flow of the Holy Spirit.The second time I read The Me I Want to Be was as part of a staff devotional study -- a chapter a week for 22 weeks. That sounds like drudgery to a speed reader like me, but even at a slow, deliberate pace there was that moment each week I sense the Spirit speaking, found myself laughing and learning. Because that's why I love John Ortberg's books, he makes me laugh, he leads me to learn, he calls me to the great life that God intended.My only criticism of The Me I Want to Be is the title. I like the subtitle better: Becoming God's Best Version of You. The title puts the focus on me, while the subtitle puts the focus on God. The Me I too often want to be is a cheaper cut of becoming God's best version of me.I give The Me I Want to Be 5 out of 5 stars. It is a great read, even more it is a life transforming read. As John says, "God wants to redeem you, not exchange you." Or my favorite word of the book God wants to make you, "you-ier". This is a great book for individuals and small groups. As one person in our all staff study put it, "Some times I don't understand the books you pick, but this one was your best ever." I agree. I think you will too. Check out a sample of The Me I Want to Be here. Even more pick up a copy of the book and become God's best version of a you-ier you.

I've been on this intimacy journey these past 12 months as God keeps drawing me to Himself. I've read many helpful books along the way and John Ortberg's book is a refreshing practical guide to walking an intimate life with God.Ortberg emphasises we all have a unique journey which is important to reflect on. How many times are we drawn to have our prayer times along the beach, or spend days fasting, or doing such and such, just because we've heard these practical ways have helped others to develop greater intimacy with God? Seek out God in our own individual way, He'll lead us, if we have the desire and the will to find it.Ortberg takes us through various aspects of our life: thought life, temptation, worrying, spiritual life, relationships and work. He adopts a good mix of sound scripturally-based instruction, psychology with research results (yes, there are lab rat results provided in some chapters), analogies, examples and practical steps to step us through how we can enhance each area of our life to draw closer to God.The book starts strong and continues in that vein for the majority of it. I found it flattened out a little through the middle, however, that maybe because he covered similar themes to that which I've spent a lot of time thinking through already. But the book ends with a bang. The last 2 chapters in particular dealing with trials and "asking for mountains to climb" are just superb. The life story of a Evelyn "Granny" Brand is wonderfully inspiring.If you are someone who has a longing to be "alive with God, to become the person God made you to be, and to be used to help God's world flourish" and am seeking some instruction on how to achieve such, then buy this book, devour it and start putting into practice some of the ideas Ortberg proposes. I've already started implementing some, particularly, those relating to my thought life.Congratulations John on a terrific book filled with such insight, passion and desire to help others achieve intimacy with God.

At one time in my life I believed that if I wanted to grow spiritually it meant praying for an hour each day. For a while I attempted this practice. Each morning I would arise with my outline and a watch. For a while I was able to successfully pray through the outline for an hour. Some days were all right. Other days I didn't think the hour would ever end. Overall, I would say the practice was not helpful. It did not create more love, joy, or peace in my life. It did not open me up to God's spirit in my life. In the end, I was glad I could check it off my to-do list. Even though it looked good (Hey! I prayed an hour!), it was not forming me into the person God had created me to be.During that season of my life I needed a book like Ortberg's. If I would have been able to read The Me I Want To Be, I would have discovered that because of my personality, such a practice probably wasn't helpful for me. I had to discover that for myself, but it took much time, frustration, and guilt.One of the most important points this book makes is that what we find helpful for spiritual growth is connected to who we are. In other words, there isn't a one size fits all spirituality program. Some people will find praying through an outline for an hour something that causes the spirit to flow. I did not. What I have find helpful, others will not.Ortberg does a wonderful job of removing guilt from our formative practices. Just because we can't pray for an hour, or find other classic spiritual disciplines meaningful, does not mean we are bad Christians. It only means that certain practices are not aligned to our personalities. Once we can remove guilt and the practices that are not helpful, we are free to discover and engage in practices that allow the spirit of God to flow in our lives so we might flourish, or become who God has created us to be.I feel the title is unfortunate however. To me, the title seems more in line with a self-help book, which this book is not. This book assumes that the "me I want to be" is who God created me to be. Spiritual practices serve to create space in our lives where God's spirit can move, helping us to move closer to who we really are.I recommend this book even though I view it more of a "first step" toward something greater. I wish Ortberg would have been able to discuss more spiritual practices and how they line up with various personality temperaments. Hopefully, after you read this book, you will have a greater desire to find practices that open you to God's presence and love!