With all your heart by Christine Hoover

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With All Your Heart: Living Joyfully Through Allegiance to King Jesus - By: Christine Hoover

Living Joyfully through Allegiance to King Jesus

This book stabbed me in a few uncomfortable places. It's the most fun to read books that just agree with how you are living life; it's less easy, though more worthwhile to read books that challenge you and convict you.  This book did that. Am I bowing to King Jesus or to self-allegiance? Do I have false allegiances that I am clinging to because it's too scary to give them up? Why is it so hard to give full allegiance to Jesus and to trust Him to meet all my needs.

Christine tackles some common areas of self-allegiance: control, escape, approval, comfort, and  more.  But can't you see in those four how this book might be applicable? I like approval, I certainly like to be comfortable. If I can be in control, I can feel a sense of security that I can handle what life is bringing my way. But none of these things leave room for Jesus to be the King on the throne of my heart and so they must go if I truly want to love God and serve Him with all my heart.

"Tears may flow in lament and trust before God, but they also may flow because we desperately crave what we believe others are withholding from us that we think will fulfill us."   Ouch!!  That's what I wrote behind this quote when I wrote it in my book journal.  Tears of lament are very different from tears of grasping.

"The lie of anxiety is that God is not capable of all-presence, but we ourselves are; that God won't provide but we can provide for ourselves."  In my sane moments, this is so ridiculous, but how often do I live like this?

This book was really good and I highly recommend it. At the end of every chapter is a practical section of questions, ideas, and ways to work through the chapter to help you see the areas you need to change. I didn't take the time to go through those slowly, but I think they would be extremely beneficial to better evaluating my life.

I received this book from Baker Books and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

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