Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul [Paperback]

Jennie Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2012

Safe. Comfortable. Happy.

Words we all love. Feelings we want. Even crave. We may love God, but being that he's invisible, words like comfortable seem to feel better faster.

We are all chasing something. Our hearts were made to run hard and fast after things that move us. But as a generation we are all beginning to stir and wake up, identifying that these words don't satisfy for long, especially when compared to God. If God is real, and we are going to live with Him forever, shouldn't He be everything?

Caught in this familiar haze of worldly happiness and empty pursuits, Jennie Allen and her husband Zac prayed a courageous prayer of abandonment that took them on an adventure God had written for them.

"God, we will do anything. Anything,"

Anything is a prayer of surrender that will spark something. A prayer that will move us to stop chasing things that just make us feel happy and start living a life that matters. A life that is...

Surrendered. Reckless. Courageous.

If we truly know a God worth giving anything for, everything changes.

From Publisher's Weekly:
"Bible teacher Allen (creator of the new Stuck DVD Bible study) comes out of the gate strong, displaying accessibility and purposefulness in her first book. With an eye to the fears and doubts teeming beneath the surface for many female churchgoers, she compels her audience to figure out what’s stopping them from using their God-given talents, and to be willing to do anything that God asks of them. By giving readers a glimpse of her own introspection and the interior life she’s revealed on her personal blog, she employs heartfelt honesty to connect with readers. Tales of loved ones who have taken the “journey to total abandonment” show how giving one’s life over to a higher purpose can “wreck” comfortable lives—and allow people to seize more important opportunities. Though the book is aimed at women who must balance their calling against more practical tasks like finishing the laundry and shopping at Target, Allen’s friendly yet urgent messages will have the wheels spinning in the minds of all audiences and may be the tough medicine that propels them to action."

"Jennie Allen is a visionary, a girlfriend, and a Jesus-chaser. I can't think of three qualities I appreciate more in a woman. I loved this book from cover to cover and have been really contemplating the way a one-word prayer can affect one's heart and ministry in this life. I want to be an 'anything' kind of girl, and I appreciate and respect the example Jennie has set in pursuing God and what he desires in us. It's just a word on a paper, but it's a lifetime choice that can make all the difference. You in?"
- Angie Smith
Speaker, Women of Faith
Author, I Will Carry You and What Women Fear

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jennie Allen's passion is to communicate a bigger God through writing and teaching. Winner of the 2013 New Author of the Year Christian Book Award, she graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a masters in biblical studies and is blessed to serve alongside her husband, Zac, in ministry. They have four children, including their youngest son who was recently adopted from Rwanda.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (April 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849947057
• ISBN-13: 978-0849947056
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.5 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My passion is to inspire a new generation of women to encounter the invisible God. I love words and I believe God uses them to heal souls and to reveal Himself to people. I am blessed to be working with Thomas Nelson to publish several studies and trade books, engaging women's minds and hearts toward Christ. The first study, Stuck released in the fall of 2011, and the book, Anything released Spring 2012.

I graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters in Biblical Studies. And while all that sounds pretty fancy... I am really just a mess of a girl, trying to figure out God, and why I seem to keep struggling with the same invisible issues I had in kindergarten.

I am so blessed to serve alongside my husband Zac, in ministry in Austin, Texas. We have 4 children: Conner 11, Kate 9, and Caroline 6 and our youngest son, Cooper 4, recently adopted from Rwanda.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#99 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#99 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and Convicting May 3, 2012

By Dustybug

Format:Paperback

The subtitle of this book says it all: The prayer that unlocked my God and my Soul. That's a magnificently powerful statement to make on the cover of a book, or anywhere else for that matter. Anything. How many of us pray genuinely to God that we will do anything for Him? Not a surface prayer that we back out of while sputtering excuses to justify our fickleness (and weakness in our resolve) when that anything becomes something too hard, but a deep heartfelt, on our face surrendering of our entire lives to the Lord without reservation.

It seems terrifying almost, at least to me. What if he calls you to sell everything you own and move to a third world country? What if he asks you to do something that for which you feel utterly unequipped? What if anything means you go through the worst trials of your life all for His glory?

Here in America, Christians have the luxury of comfort, relative safety and the freedom to live their lives however they see fit. Even the poorest among us our leaps and bounds ahead of most of the world. We're raised from birth to work hard to attain our "American dream." While there is nothing wrong with seeking to provide well for our families and to be successful in life, has this focus on climbing ladders both social and financial caused the modern day American Christian to avert their eyes from our true purpose---to spread the love of Jesus throughout the world.

We've also begun to fit our faith into our own little labeled boxes, with lists of rules and principles taped to the side. A Christian is...followed by a laundry list of traits that we ought to exhibit to be a "good Christian woman." While there are definitely outlines and directives in the Bible that we should follow to the best of our ability with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, sometimes we linger too long on that list rather than on our actions. We can't be the arms, hands, and feet of Jesus if we are trapped in our own boxes. Church, and Christianity for that matter, is so much MORE than the four walls of our house of worship. Jesus didn't intend for us to separate into different cliquish bands and denominations, arguing over who is right and who is wrong over how long our hair should be or whether a woman should work or not. He wanted us to work and fellowship alongside one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, honoring Him while teaching about the wonderful news about how He had come to save us all. He wanted us to give our lives to Him, and be willing to do anything to further His cause.

This book is hands down the best book that I have read in quite some time. There's nothing inherently extraordinary about it at first glance. It appears to be another title in a long list of Christian living books on the shelf, but then you open it. It could just be that God placed this book in my life right now because I'm at a vulnerable place where I feel boxed in by emotions, relationships, and ideas that I've been taught my entire life. I am dealing with some personal struggles that are both making a desire well up in me to draw ever near to my Savior, but also pull away because of pride and stubbornness. Our self will is a difficult thing to conquer. This book opened my eyes that I CAN look beyond the walls of the box, but first and foremost, I must turn to the One who made me, the One who holds me in the palm of His hand, waiting patiently for me to look outside myself and give it all to Him. We know how to behave like Christians, but do we really know Jesus?

Jennie Allen has hit a poignant message home using her own life as an example of what it really means to give up control of ourselves. We should not chase after the things that the world tells us will make us happy. We must rely on Him. We must realize that we were never promised a life without difficulties and terrible hardships, but we are promised rewards in Heaven if we will only lay down our lives and pick up our own crosses to follow Him. We must be willing to do Anything.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, I'll do anything! May 14, 2012

By Tiffany Malloy

Format:Paperback

Anything wins the award for the best book I've read in the past year. However, it wasn't because I learned something new or was introduced to an idea that I hadn't heard before. It's because it caused my heart to be sifted...allowing those nuggets of passion, God-honoring risk, and non-complacency to rise to the surface.

It's easy to lose passion and desire for risk. Kids come along and it's not as easy to take a risk for the sake of the Kingdom. It's easier to do things in such a way that, in general, there is a known outcome.

However, this book showed up at my doorstep at a good time. Through it, God reminded me of who we're living for, what our purpose is here, and to not give up just because it's hard. Of course it's hard. But being soft-hearted and willing to say `yes' to the voice of God, even if it doesn't look "normal" is worth it. It's what I signed up for when I said "yes" to Jesus.

In her book, Jennie does a great job of telling her family's story of how God shook up their hearts and lives a little bit, and how He has used their willing, surrendered hearts to change the life of the people around them. She also does a good job of showing that saying to God, "we'll do anything", doesn't mean you move to Africa. Sometimes it looks like moving closer to home to take care of a sick mom. Other times it looks like adopting or fostering children in your community or across the world. Sometimes it looks like staying put, and being more intentional in living simply and giving generously to those around you in need. But she reminds us that following Jesus certainly does cost something.

One chapter in particular sticks with me. She talks about a friend in college who started a scrapbook of what she wanted life to look like - husband, kids, house, bedroom decor, vacations, jobs, etc. Jennie laughed at that friend, but she admitted that she had those kind of things too- but in her head. But life doesn't always (ok, rarely) work out like the mental scrapbooks show. When they don't, we have the option of trying to get them to do so (or at least a closely related version), or we can let go and ask God what it is that He wants with our lives. If we said- yes, I'm willing to do anything- willing to give up or start anything- to God, would he ask us to live that scrapbook life?

This book is filled with grace, encouragement, challenge, and risk. Lots of things are underlined and circled, but I'll give you a taste of some of the quotes that I'm still thinking on:

"As I stand back and look at myself as I was, sitting in the counselor's office whining and crying after years of chasing things that were supposed to work for me, that were supposed to make me happy here, that God was supposed to do, I see that my ache was actually his mercy showing me that everything I loved other than him was never going to work. It was never supposed to work. (p. 71)

"Somewhere in my life I picked up the idea that if things did not feel right or fall perfectly into place, God was not in them. (p. 107)

"In America, we've learned the art of being verbally passionate but highly unresponsive Christ followers. (p. 111)

"God's priorities are beautiful, and they trickle down into invisible spaces...into neighborhoods and families and friends and strangers. He will call us to pour our lives into the cracks around us, and sometimes into cracks far from our doorsteps. But wherever he calls us, we pour, not wishing for a larger crack or a more noticeable one, or even the one we were expecting. (p.122)

These are only a few of the sentences that made me stop and think, go back to and mull over. Jennie is living this journey and we can learn a lot from how God has worked in and through her and her family.

Thank you to Shelton Interaction and Thomas Nelson publishers for their generosity in offering me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Life changing April 17, 2012

By Mandy Fritsche

Format:Paperback

I love this book!!! It opened my eyes to see how I had been holding back in an area of my life where I didn't want to. If you believe in God but aren't seeing Him move in powerful ways in your life, please consider reading this book. It's a wonderful story of the author's willingness to hand over the reigns of her life to God. Many of us have faith and even a relationship with God, but reading this challenged me to give Him everything, and let Him do ANYTHING He wants with my life. My life couldn't be more richer as a result of this simple but difficult act of faith. He is an adventurous, loving, exciting, deep, personal God who is pleased when His children trust Him with anything and everything.