The alarm buzzes. The clock glares a red set of digits, imploring you to start the day. You brush the same teeth, dress in one of your usual outfits, and hurry through breakfast–if you manage to get breakfast, that is. Whether reports, emails, or scrubbing vomit from the floor, tasks pounce onto your schedule early. The chores pummel you from one hour to the next. You might forget to grab a bite for lunch, just like yesterday. Gnawing grows in your gut as the sun sinks low on the horizon. If a rare moment’s quiet lets you pause in the eye of this whirling chaos, you realize no meal can satisfy your profound hunger. Restlessness churns inside you, as if your soul is too big to fit into your ill-suited life. The yearning whispers to your heart.
What if I’m meant for more?
In mere seconds, you choose whether to dismiss the notion or allow it to seize you. The vortex of life whirls in to end the stillness, and the question might vanish as it has before. Instead of escaping introspection, you could drop to your knees in surrender. You can choose to give in to the pursuit of your why, and struggle through the quest for an answer.
Restless opens as we meet Jennie Allen in this moment. “I sat in a room full of women who were hurting, doubting, numb, tired, insecure; and their teacher was feeling all the same things.” No, this author will not glaze issues or fluff answers as if offering readers a doughnut to resolve the soul’s deep hunger. Raw and personal, she draws us into her own tear-soaked struggle with purpose. As we read her words, we hear her heart. Allen shares her dream quest with magnetic passion. Drawing us alongside her on this journey awakens us to realize it is our quest, too.
Restless defines the ache within us. “You have threads of life blowing around, possibly even strangling you–threads that are meant to bind together and become your unique, God-given contribution to a world in great need.” Insights comfort us in the throes of restlessness. We sigh and look forward to untangling ourselves. Learning the whys and hows of our plight offers us hope. Meaningful life glimmers on the horizon.
Allen encourages us to shake the limitations from our dreams. She addresses our obstacles. Fear and its evil offspring of perfectionism cripple us from reaching our goals. “I think in twenty years, we will regret more of the things we didn’t do than things we did imperfectly.”
The author does not pretend we will pursue dreams without struggle, sacrifice, and failure. Any endeavor of value must cost us something. Living out our purpose costs us everything. “We start running the race we were meant to run, and then we realize after mile five that we have accidentally signed up for a marathon.”
Restless doesn’t leave readers to navigate this difficult journey in the dark. The book sections include charts, worksheet pages, and tools to plot out the discovery and implementation of individual purpose. Readers learn to journal their personal stories. Using the journal, charts identify gifts and suffering-hewn passions, as well as places and people within reach of our influence. After linking all of these threads together on a diagram, Allen challenges us with a final work page to map our status and action plan to realize our dreams.
As I parted company with the final page of Restless, a wish lingered along with the book’s fingerprints in my spirit. I wished for an opportunity to thank Jennie Allen. For the courage to bare her soul on the page. For ripping open her heart to invite others inside. Most of all, for offering the world an encouragement to live with meaning. Yes, we can dream again. And it’s a beautiful, messy, priceless life overflowing with immeasurable blessings.
Allow Jennie Allen’s words to encourage you. Find her books on JennieAllen.com, Amazon, or at your favorite retailer. Comment below if you’ve read Restless or Anything. I look forward to hearing from your heart.
Be Encouraged,
Tina
