Thursday, May 03, 2012

anything... a review

What would happen if I surrendered it ALL?


What would happen if I would pray, "God, I will do anything.  Anything."


Jennie Allen and her husband, Zac, did just that a few years ago.  Tired of empty pursuits, they offered all that they had... their very lives... to God.  In a simple prayer of "God we will do anything. Anything" their life, as they knew it, radically changed.


Anything chronicles Zac and Jennie's journey of reckless abandon and heart-wrenching surrender of their earthly lives, through Jennie's lens.  Deep and raw are Jennie's words as she shares her heart's struggle to live out the prayer that she prayed.  She neither sugar-coats her struggles nor does she take herself too seriously as she allows her reader to see into her struggles to discover the joy that she uncovered in her quest for anything.


Praying the prayer of anything changed Jennie's perspective on everything.  No longer content to coast through life, God brought her to the place of recklessly living for Him... daily surrendering to His desires, His will, His plan for her life.  


In Jennie's words...


All my life I thought I had God's stamp of approval because my life wasn't going badly.  Now I was faced with the fear that it might actually be the opposite.  What if my life was going so beautifully because I wasn't chasing after God?


Even though the thousand problems in my soul had shifted toward one goal and one hope and I felt free, I had one new problem:  life was getting hard, the pace was picking up, and I felt reluctant. (Anything, pg 108)


Last fall, I reviewed Jennie's first Bible study, Stuck, through my affiliation with BookSneeze.  While I enjoyed that study, and have since suggested to several others, Stuck doesn't even come close to Anything... Anything is just that good.


Jennie Allen's words, her struggle, her desire for more resonate deep within me.  I understand her discontentment with the mundane... I can relate to her questions of the purpose of her life... I know the feeling of craving more.  I've been there.  I am there.  


Do I have the courage to pray "God I will do anything. Anything?"  


I don't know yet...


Anything is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ChristianBook Distributors and other major retailers.  
*****
disclaimer... I was sent a complimentary copy of Anything through Shelton Interactive for my honest review of this book.  I received no other compensation.

2 comments:

  1. I just ordered this. . . Gonna read it with a friend. Can't wait, especially now!

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  2. Oh my goodness. This book sounds incredible. Do you get to keep the books that they send to you or do you have to send them back? I would love to borrow it if it's possible. If not, that's okay too. Maybe I know what I'll buy for my birthday later this summer....

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Thank you for your kind words!