blueink Review

Review Date: 2021/09/01

Discover your life’s purpose through this in-depth self-evaluation guide that incorporates biblical teachings with psychology to help you piece together the puzzle of your life’s meaning.

Paul Peters shares stories from his own life and the life of fictitious “Tim” to illustrate how life events are the puzzle pieces to finding our true purpose. He states that “there is something put within us that is meant to meet a need, to fulfill a purpose in our time and in our place in history” but it is our job to discover it. He provides extensive and logical advice on the whys and the how-tos for discovering our strengths, passions, love language, temperaments, personality type, talents and more.

The author opens with the sobering thought that “whatever life [we] lived is reduced to a dash” – the hyphen separating birthdate and death date on our tombstone – and challenges readers to write their own epitaph, life’s purpose, vision, and mission statements to set goals for achieving the legacy they desire.

Peters writes with humble transparency that lets his passion for helping others shine through. For example, he includes his own personality portrait from the New Personality Self-Portrait 25 evaluation to help readers understand the benefits of such tests. His writing feels like a conversation with a relatable life coach.

Chapters on personality and temperament discovery are especially interesting. Peters also provides ample Internet link resources for readers to obtain personalized results and for further study of concepts.

The author is undeniably encouraging and accomplishes his goal of providing doable steps for discovering our purpose in life. However, too many pages are littered with typographical errors and repeated passages, which weaken Peters’ credibility and detract from the book’s impact.

Regardless, anyone desiring to better understand themselves and their purpose in life will find Peters’ book enlightening.

Clarion Review

Review Date: 2022/02/23

"The self-help text Discovering and Embracing Your Life Purpose encourages developing an understanding of God’s personalized plan for each person…”

Foreword Review

Review Date: 2022/05/23

"Inspirational and religious, this self-improvement book is written to help take you one step closer in the discovery of you and why yoiu are here."

Pacific Book Review

Review Date: 2021/09/01

Author Paul Peters approaches a common problem - discovering purpose in life with two simple solutions - finding God, and finding gifts or talents. Discovering and Embracing Life’s Purpose begins with the story of Tim. Paul uses Tim to tell the story of his own struggles throughout his youth as well as later in life as an adult. While a majority of the book is spent on the story, Paul continues to show readers how they can discover their purpose not only by using the gift’s God has given to them, but also through the use of a variety of psychological tests. For someone new to these concepts the various paragraphs at the end of the book can truly open a reader’s eye about their own personality, strengths and weaknesses. It is interesting to see a Christian author discussing psychological concepts as typically these two schools of thought do not overlap. This book can be quite eye opening to Christians and non-Christians alike - not only does he discuss Biblical thought; Peters also gives his own personal life story as well as a great deal of information about the human psyche. Many Christian books focus solely on Biblical principles and do not rely heavily on scientific information. Peters does an excellent job incorporating both schools of thought to show other points of view as well. While at times Biblical Christians can be dismissive of modern science, Peters embraces it. Another wonderful aspect of Peters Christian character is that he does not sound like a judgmental person. Through his writing the reader can see he is loving and accepting, he is generous and kind. His life may have gone through several twists and turns, just as anybody’s life does. Unfortunately, Peters marriages have ended in divorce, but I do not believe this makes him a bad person or a failure. He continues to be a father to his sons and even accepts others into his own home and cares for them. As a fellow Christian who also doubts my purpose in life, I found Peters book to be eye opening and refreshing. After reading the book I realized I have a great deal of introspection to do about my own life and how simple it can be to embrace my gifts and talents and use them to drive my purpose. I am a stay-at-home mom and at times I wonder if it’s possible to accomplish all the things that I need to do every day. When I read the Bible or books such as Peters I see clearly that loving my family and loving my God is enough, at the end of the day I am still forgiven and I am still loved. I think that is an important message many people need to hear, and Discovering and Embracing Your Life’s Purpose is doing a great deal of important work in the world

US Book Review

Review Date: 2021/09/01

"The life we have is ours to live and ours to define."
Non-profit founder Peters begins his book with a challenge: "Write your own epitaph." Defining oneself is a major component of knowing who you are and what you can do. He offers the tale of Tim, brought up in poverty and family strife, who later uses his acquired strengths and religious convictions to help others in difficult circumstances. Peters also interjects episodes from his own life, similar to Tim's since both are involved in mission and charity work.

The author presents numerous methodologies for readers to self-examine their traits and values, including the Clifton Strengths Assessment, Dr. Gary Chapman's Love Language Assessment, psychological exploration of temperaments, the New Personality Self-Portrait 25, and the Meyers Briggs evaluation. Is a person sensitive, aggressive, extroverted, a perceiver, sanguine, choleric, an executor, or an influencer? These assessments will help in determining one's passions and powers. Once readers have arrived at a set of basic personality parameters, they can begin to develop a vision statement, which will then require genuine determination to understand and follow through with their long-term goals.

Peters writes smoothly, with quiet humor and relevant compassion, urging readers throughout the narrative to use the tools he presents to find their purpose and pursue it with diligence. He has a degree in psychology, has served in the U.S. military, operates a case management service for individuals with disabilities, and founded the Nehemiah Project designed to assist people with a wide range of critical needs. From these experiences and the solid knowledge gained, underpinned by thoughtful Christian principles, Peters has had ample opportunity to develop the dynamic steps he recommends to others. His book provides a lively opportunity for self-study or group discussion, focusing on practical, accessible strategies for anyone seeking a new direction or enhancement of an established set of goals.

xLibris Review

Review Date: 2021/09/01

Paul Peters marks his publishing debut with the release of “Discovering and Embracing Your Life Purpose” (published by Xlibris). Inspirational and religious, this self-improvement book is written to help people take one step closer in the discovery of they are and why they were put here on Earth.

This book takes readers on a personal journey by peering into the life of a man named Tim. Tim’s story illustrates how, in his life and mistakes he made, he was able to discover some of the clues or “puzzle pieces” and was able to take pain and turn it into triumph and purpose.

As readers venture through the book, they will begin to discover their own strengths, talents, gifts, passions, temperament, love language, personality style, and personality type. Various assessments and tests have been provided, as well as websites to assist in identifying each of these areas to help them better understand what their purpose is.

“I feel it is my calling to help others find their purpose in order to fulfill their reason for being here on Earth,” the author states. “If others knew their purpose (their ‘puzzle piece’), they would better connect others in their uniqueness.”