Have you ever picked up a book, just for the "fun of it", and then a couple of
chapters pages paragraphs into it you realize that after reading it your life will not, cannot ever be the same? (It's at this point that you wonder if you should keep reading, or perhaps just tuck that precious little book away for another day.) That is what this book:
did
for to me.
God bless you
Jen Hatmaker. I'm pretty sure we would be bff's, if only we didn't live 5 states apart.
And in case you are unfamiliar with her
(I feel sorry for you), here's a little info:
Jen Hatmaker is the author of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess and A Modern Girl's Bible Study series. With a heart for her generation, she speaks at conferences around the country. Jen resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Brandon, and their five children.
I started with her book
7: an experimental mutiny against excess and when that didn't rock my world enough(insert sarcasm), I moved on to
Interrupted. And my whole world shook. This is not a warm-fuzzy book, or one for the faint of heart. It hits home, and it hits hard.
You are going to want the following items with you
if when you sit down to read this book:
-Pen/pencil
-notebook
-highlighter
-kleenex(for when you cry because your heart is breaking, and for when you cry because you are laughing so hard)
-a nice quiet place to just be you, every sniffle-nose and runny mascara part of you
I underlined and/or highlighted about 90% of the book, all while feeling God nudging me to move. Jen touches on how to go from being essentially on the top of the economic ladder to falling to the bottom, to serve those at the bottom. The challenges keep coming, one after the other. Making you question if you are really doing enough for God. Here is one beautiful quote:
When Jesus told us to "take the lowest place" (Luke 14:10), it was more than a strategy for social justice. It was even more than wooing us to the bottom for communion, since that is where He is always found. The path of descent becomes our liberation. We are freed from the exhausting stance of defense. We are no longer compelled to be right and are this relieved from the burden of maintaining some reputation. We are released from the idols of greed, control, and status. The pressure to protect the house of cards is alleviated when we take the lowest place.
(page 72-72, emphasis added)
About nine months ago, God started interrupting my journey, and challenging me with the same question Jen has challenged all of us with...What would you struggle to give up if Jesus wanted to use your life to make a difference in the world?
Well, there's shopping, spending money on useless things, finding comfort in material possessions, and maintaining a certain reputation...just to name a few. After my 6-month shopping fast I was thinking that perhaps God was actually done interrupting my life, but as it turns out, He wasn't. I read Jen's first release of Interrupted in January, and then along came this awesome opportunity to read and review the revised version of it, and I could just hear God saying, "Dear naive one, you have so, so, so much to learn yet. What you think you have loosened your grip on, you are still holding onto way too tightly. And things are about to get real. Enjoy the ride."
God spoke to me through Jen time and time again in this book...in regards to American consumerism, Jen had this to say:
Americans living in excess beyond imagination while the world cries out for intervention is an unbearable tension and utterly misrepresents God's kingdom. While the richest people in the world pry to get richer, the rest of the world endures unimaginable suffering with their faces pressed to the window of our prosperity...and we carry on, oblivious.
(Page 31)
Listen, dear, lovely readers, we(meaning you and me) are included in those Americans living in excess. Sorry if that stings a little. But I'm not really. I have food to feed my family of 6. I drive a bus that gets about 14 miles to the gallon on a great day with a strong tail-wind. My kids go to an amazing school that is loaded with above-average teachers, and it's clean. My family drinks clean water, right out of our tap. My house is almost cold inside on a 90 degree humid Iowa day. My life is cushy...and there are people living "out there" whose aren't.
And to that Jen says:
The blessed and the lost will be separated based on one principle:
the care of the oppressed.
The end.
(page 103)
I mean, just let that soak in. And I am in NO way trying to guilt-trip you here. I think it all goes back to the idea of "blessed to be a blessing." And rather than just blessing the blessed, because honestly, it's quite easy to do that, take it one step further and bless the least, for whatever category renders a person least in our minds--bear the face of Jesus.(page 106) It's amazing how different this can look for each of us too. Are the least living in your town? In your neighborhood? In your state? In another country? Serve them wherever they are...wherever God has placed a passion. Serve there. And perhaps not just with money, but with your hands, as Jen talks about:
I'd like to be great because we battled poverty with not just our money but our hands
and hearts. I desire the greatness that comes from seeking not only mercy
but justice for those caught in a system with trapdoors.
(Page 83)
You guys, I cannot say enough good about this book. Jen loves, she steps up to the plate, and then she challenges. And if you are not up for a God-awakening challenge, then please do not even think about reading this book. But if you are ready to step out, to do something far beyond yourself, if you are ready for God to interrupt you, like He
Interrupted Jen, and like He is doing to me, then please, please, please read
this book. And watch God work in your life.
So, again, the question:
What would you struggle to give up if Jesus wanted to use your life
to make a difference in the world?
Leave your answer to that question below for a chance to win a free copy of Interrupted.
{1 winner will be chosen at random by my cute editor}
Please note that if you want to read her book, but don't think you want to really buy it, I have exactly 2 things to say...1) You can't borrow my copy because it's so marked up you wouldn't even be able to read it, and I'm just not really into sharing, and 2)You might as well just buy your own copy because if you are lucky enough to find it in-stock at your library, you will have to pay for it after you are done reading it because you too, will highlight all of it.
