But God: Changes Everything (2024)

Rating 3.5 Stars

But God is the two most transforming words in the bible and when put together, they change everything. Reading Herbert Cooper’s testimony and witness, you will begin to see the “but God” encounters you have in your own life. As I was reading, I was surprised by his honesty, his determination, and his 180 turn.

Written conversationally and pragmatically, Cooper takes you thru his walk that led to his “but God” encounter. Coming from a dysfunctional family and sexually abused as a teenager, he was wounded and on a destructive path. It was through reading God’s word, prayer and worship that his life began to change. He shares how his identity began to be wrapped around God’s purpose, advancing the His kingdom, sharing the gospel and serving others.

Our “but God” encounters start becoming God revealing encounters. That God reveals a better way. That leads to hope and increases our faith. I appreciated Mr. Cooper’s testimony and his zeal for the Lord and the Lord to be known. In our zeal, we have to be careful about portraying the prosperity Gospel. I think that his testimony could be border-line prosperity. It becomes a matter of believing in God’s goodness and not what he can do for you. Many people, me included can come to God wanting our lives to be cleaned up and that is not a bad thing, however, what happens when it does not. Where does our hope lie? God/Jesus becomes a means to end. Do we lose hope when God does not meet our expectations?
A special thank you Zondervan, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A special thank you to Zondervan and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 Stars

Herbert Cooper delivers an eye-opening story of his personal journey with BUT GOD. How God transformed his life, showing up in the middle of a desperate situation, offering hope, love and forgiveness.

During his youth, Herbert Cooper was headed down a very different road, living a reckless lifestyle that would have destroyed him in the end, but God had a different plan. There was alcoholism and abuse, and parent’s divorce which shattered his world. He felt angry, confused, isolated, and lonely—devoting his life to sports, especially football. However, he was unhappy.

Cooper tells his own story of pain and redemption in BUT GOD. As he reiterates, we all have to admit we need God. We have to acknowledge our fear, unhappiness, and loneliness, and recognize that we are lost.

The “But God moments” are when God comes in and offers a new path and hope for our lives. These moments occur when we are at are lowest, and turn our down-trodden worlds around for the better. It is up to us to recognize and seize these moments when they occur and follow the renewed path God offers.

In each case, it’s the difference between a human perspective and God’s viewpoint. What looks impossible to us becomes not only possible but easy for God. When you have a “but God” moment in your life, what follows that moment will be drastically different from what came before it.

Sometimes God intervenes and everything literally changes in a single moment. Other “But God” transformations occur over time – days, weeks, months, even years and require ongoing faith as God fulfills his promise.

Sometimes God meets us in a dramatic revelations and we experience a “but god” moment instantly. Other times we simply experience the quiet assurance of His presence, protection, and provision during difficulties and challenging seasons of life. Often we don’t even see God’s intervention until we look back. In hindsight, we see how God showed up, sustained us, helped us, healed us, directed us, led us, and provided for us. The change possibly does not occur overnight, but God definitely shows up and transforms our situation and draws us closer to him in the process.

We all get to a point where our lives have to change and sometimes we rarely see beyond our immediate circ*mstances to envision a solution. Especially when we are at our lowest and have nowhere else to turn. At this point we cannot imagine anything positive ever coming from what we are currently facing. But no matter how bleak, boring or bitter your life may seem right now, your story is not over yet.

Herbert heard the gospel at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting, at which he was not even supposed to be in attendance; he gave his life to Christ. Two words changed Cooper’s life: But God. No matter if it happens instantly or takes years to recognize a “but God” experience changes everything!

An honest testimony filled with compassion, scriptures, parables, prayer support, and inspiration for all ages and faiths.

Judith D. Collins Must Read Books

Herbert Coopers book was an easy read. His style was easy and the points clear. He writes a good book on how God changes lives, including his own. Pastor's, like the rest us, are hit by the same struggles that we encounter. It's humbling, yet faith building, when a Pastor writes openly and honestly about their own day to day struggles with insecurity, temptation and well... life. It's easy to forget that God can ..... and does change lives, we especially forget that he can change our own. Our past is our past... Nothing we do can do to change that...BUT GOD changes everything! He can change a past into a God-purposed future.

No matter where you are in life, you can have a But God moment. Throughout this book, Pastor Cooper uses examples from his own life to illustrate how God can use something going on to change you. I think that everyone can experience these “but God” moments, and may not even realize that’s what it is at the time. Cooper came from a dysfunctional background that included sexual abuse, and feeling angry at the world, until his “but God” encounter at 17. This book was a good explanation of how God changes our lives.