Anything by Jennie Allen

Living in Austin and following Christian bloggers and authors in Instagram, Jennie Allen's name is bound to come up in conversation somewhere. She is the founder of IF: Gathering and the author of both Anything and Restless. 

I own both books and with everything going on, I am finally getting around to reading Anything. I am only half way through but wanted to start writing about it because, wow! The first sentence that really caught me (or caught me enough to pull out a highlighter and start making notes which I never do! I don't like writing in books...) was this 

But we seize more of God when he seizes us through our broken dreams. 

This took me some time to digest. God puts what we see as roadblocks in our way to strengthen us and build us up for something even better. We just need to keep our faith and if we are willing, be ready for whatever he wants to use our lives for in his glory.

I wanted to be right with God at the end of my life rather than right with all the people in it. 

So many of us live our lives in a "well, this person will think less of me if I do this," or whatever other thought processes that keeps us from giving our all to God. We thrive on hearing good things from those around us, but how many of us really and truly ache to hear a message from God based on how we are living for Him? I feel like not many. We may say we want to hear a message from Him, but are we really listening? 

Nothing mattered more to Jesus before he did than God showing himself through him and through us.

This book has made me want to relish my time on Earth and live in such a way that without even knowing me, others know my love of God. I want to live each day for his glory. Dang it Jennie Allen! 

I don't want to sit and go on and on about passages from the book, lots of people have read it and it has been around for over a decade. The version I read was the newer release with the study guide that is amazing and I plan on organizing a group in the future to read this book together as I think it brings up some important points that others who may be lost are looking for in their lives. Jennie Allen writes like a normal person, she admits her mistakes (like wanting to smack her children occasionally), how scary doing "anything" for God is, and overwhelming. Even if she is a Razorback fan; I guess I can ignore this. ;) 

Bible study additional information available through Faith Gateway. 




 I received this book from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest opinion.