Book Review - Restless

Boy, oh boy has it been a while since I've done a book review. I actually listed this book in my top 3 faith books of 2014 so this is a long time coming! Here it goes:

Restless by Jennie Allen
Ok, so if I'm being honest, it took me a while to get into this one. Once I did get into it though, it really challenged me and got me to reevaluate some aspects of my life, especially my perspective on my schooling and future career.

One of this book's purposes is to guide you in finding the threads (a term she uses a lot throughout the book) in your life that you're passionate about and help you see how these can be used to define your purpose. What the book actually taught me was something a bit different

I sort of went into this book not knowing what I was in for (which may be one of the reasons it took me so long to get into it). I was pretty sure I could name my passions and fit them into what I was (pretty) sure was my purpose. This book - while maybe meant to narrow in on a certain purpose - actually helped me broaden my sense of purpose in a really good way. Often I find that I get too focused on a worldly purpose (ie. my schooling, my future career etc.) and forget my Godly purpose which is to make disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20). Ultimately, I think God can use our wordly purpose as a vehicle for us to interact with unbelievers, but we can't lose sight of the fact that once we're gone our careers (our degrees, our success etc.) won't matter. What will matter is how we glorified God on this earth.

To get back to the book now... I thought that the writing was engaging and thought-provoking. She used a lot of personal stories that really show cased the points she was trying to make, while showing that she wasn't just teaching these ideas but actually learning them in her own life as well. There were also funky little journaling sections which looked fun (although I didn't use them).

I would highly recommend this one to women of any age but I definitely think it's an important topic for teens and young adults to dive into!

Top 3 Faith Books of 2014

Here's my list of top three faith books for the year (in no particular order)!

1. Restless by Jennie Allen
To be honest, the start of this book took me a loooong time to read. Once I got about halfway, however, the honesty and openness of Ms. Allen's words really drew me in. The book is all finding how your gifts, passions, places and relationships weave together into the purpose that God has given us. The writing was refreshingly honest and powerfully convicting. I would recommend this to anyone who is in a stage of their life where they feel like they are moving but don't know what they are moving towards.

2. Chasing God by Angie Smith
This book was a soul-convicting, life-changing one for me. The openness and friendliness that Ms. Smith writes with drew me into a book that changed my perspective drastically. As the title implies, Ms. Smith writes about how she has spent her life chasing God and why that's not the way to go - why we need to stop living with a faith like that. Her honesty and candor make the words she writes refreshing and convicting all at the same time. I would recommend this to anyone.


3. Loveology by John Mark Comer
This book was a bit of a curve ball for me... It's not a book that I would usually pick up, but the cover and the name definitely intrigued me. Just like the title suggests, the book is a study of Godly and Biblical love - how it applies to marriage, to singleness, to being gay, and everything in between. He carefully unpacks each of these areas in a way that convicts but is still loving. I would recommend this one to anyone over the age of 18, but especially to anyone who is engaged or newly married.

Currently reading: The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst - so far so good!