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I Don't Wait Anymore: Letting Go of Expectations and Grasping God's Adventure for You
In I Don’t Wait Anymore , Grace Thornton challenges readers to find their calling and purpose from God and go after it with completely committed hearts. Have you been waiting for life to turn out the way you expected?
You’re not alone.
There are lots of us out there who feel that way. Grace Thornton is one. She had dreams, plans, and ideas for what life should look like. For one, she thought she’d be married. She thought she’d have kids. She thought God would bring her the life she’d been waiting for because she knew He was good and she tried to be obedient.
But that’s not what happened. Not at all.
So she found herself wrestling with God. Who is He if He doesn’t bring along the life, husband, and 2.5 kids she thought He was supposed to? And where should she go from there?
When she got brutally honest with herself and asked the hard question, “Why do I think the world has more to offer than God does?” the answer was stunning. Her honesty led to the path God had for her. One that would write a story for her life that was even better than the one she had dreamed for herself.
This positive and encouraging book offers inspiration to anyone who wants to live a fulfilling life right now. Grace decided to let go of her expectations of the way life “should be” and grasp God’s hand for the adventure He had for her.
You can too.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 10, 2016
88 people are currently reading
1378 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
February 16, 2022
I found this book in a bargain bin in 2020 when I was desperately trying to find books to encourage me in my singleness. It sat in a stake waiting for me to read them.
I only wish I had read this book sooner.
This isn't a book about singleness. This is a book about pursuing God with your whole heart. Honestly, I feel a little sad that this is marketed for singles. Grace is a gifted writer and did such a good job of sharing her heart about seeking after Jesus that I feel it should be shared with all women, not just singles. So, if you are reading this review, please consider reading it no matter your relationship status.
With passion, joy, and gentleness, Grace shares her journey from frustration with where life isn't taking her, to living life with passion. Her change is not her circumstance, but finding her joy and reward in God. Not in just living life for Him but with Him.
I underlined so many lines in this book The words are crafted so well. There were so many truths that I needed to hear. It's too easy for us to do the right things and miss pursuing a relationship with God wholeheartedly. I know this book will be one I reread often.
I highly recommend this for all Christian women, but do think that singles will take special joy in this book.
I only wish I had read this book sooner.
This isn't a book about singleness. This is a book about pursuing God with your whole heart. Honestly, I feel a little sad that this is marketed for singles. Grace is a gifted writer and did such a good job of sharing her heart about seeking after Jesus that I feel it should be shared with all women, not just singles. So, if you are reading this review, please consider reading it no matter your relationship status.
With passion, joy, and gentleness, Grace shares her journey from frustration with where life isn't taking her, to living life with passion. Her change is not her circumstance, but finding her joy and reward in God. Not in just living life for Him but with Him.
I underlined so many lines in this book The words are crafted so well. There were so many truths that I needed to hear. It's too easy for us to do the right things and miss pursuing a relationship with God wholeheartedly. I know this book will be one I reread often.
I highly recommend this for all Christian women, but do think that singles will take special joy in this book.
July 3, 2022
Second time through... Just as amazing. Inspiring. Impactful. I read slowly this time as needed, and the Lord always used it to give me the shove in the right direction that I needed. Highly recommend.
* * * * *
I can't give this enough stars! By far one of the best Christian Life books I've read, right up there with my other two favorites Hinds' Feet on High Places and The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine.
You can't fake this. Grace writes in such a down-to-earth, over the coffee table kind of way - it's like a really relatable blog post. Reading this book was wonderful, but it wasn't easy. It was like getting punched in the gut, but knowing you needed it. It's a slap (or number of slaps) of reality that ends up feeling good for the clarity it brings. I loved Grace's style! I'm such an abstract thinker, so I appreciated her stories, pictures of deeper truths; but then I also really appreciated how she gave a parallel helping of just plain logical truth.
This book may look like a book on singleness, but don't let the book blurb fool you! There's so much more waiting for you between these pages, most importantly an adjusted perspective of God and who He really is. The effects of that altered perspective trickle down to change everything else.
I've been recommending this one left and right to anyone who will listen - girl, guy, married, single. Go buy a copy of this book, and read it!
* * * * *
I can't give this enough stars! By far one of the best Christian Life books I've read, right up there with my other two favorites Hinds' Feet on High Places and The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine.
You can't fake this. Grace writes in such a down-to-earth, over the coffee table kind of way - it's like a really relatable blog post. Reading this book was wonderful, but it wasn't easy. It was like getting punched in the gut, but knowing you needed it. It's a slap (or number of slaps) of reality that ends up feeling good for the clarity it brings. I loved Grace's style! I'm such an abstract thinker, so I appreciated her stories, pictures of deeper truths; but then I also really appreciated how she gave a parallel helping of just plain logical truth.
This book may look like a book on singleness, but don't let the book blurb fool you! There's so much more waiting for you between these pages, most importantly an adjusted perspective of God and who He really is. The effects of that altered perspective trickle down to change everything else.
I've been recommending this one left and right to anyone who will listen - girl, guy, married, single. Go buy a copy of this book, and read it!
June 11, 2016
The title and subtitle of this book hooked me from the first time I heard about it so I jumped at the chance to read and review it. It took a while for me to settle into the rhythm and writing style of the author. It felt like she jumped around a bit at first. I was glad once I got past that, though. She has a message for everyone, but especially for all those who pledged before God and man to "wait" and then wore the ubiquitous "True Love Waits" purity rings as a token of their commitment. She has a message for anyone that has waited for God to move in any area of their life, only to be left feeling disappointment with God.
She defines waiting in a way that I wasn't expecting and then makes a case for all of us that are living lives with unrealized expectations, plans, goals and dreams to stop waiting. By the time I was halfway through, I could not wait to see where she was going with her train of thought.
Grace did not disappoint. She tells story after story that make our hearts beat wildly for the kind of life we truly want to live. One where we climb to the mountaintops looking for, and find, the amazing life we know is out there. She reminds us that it is possible.
I wanted to highlight all the good quotes, but realized I would have to stop too often, and my eyes wanted to read the next page instead. My eyes won, mostly because this is the kind of book that is intended to be given as a gift and once I started reading, I thought of several people that I wanted to gift my copy to.
A beautiful book inside and out. The ribbon place marker was a nice touch.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in return for my honest review.
She defines waiting in a way that I wasn't expecting and then makes a case for all of us that are living lives with unrealized expectations, plans, goals and dreams to stop waiting. By the time I was halfway through, I could not wait to see where she was going with her train of thought.
Grace did not disappoint. She tells story after story that make our hearts beat wildly for the kind of life we truly want to live. One where we climb to the mountaintops looking for, and find, the amazing life we know is out there. She reminds us that it is possible.
I wanted to highlight all the good quotes, but realized I would have to stop too often, and my eyes wanted to read the next page instead. My eyes won, mostly because this is the kind of book that is intended to be given as a gift and once I started reading, I thought of several people that I wanted to gift my copy to.
A beautiful book inside and out. The ribbon place marker was a nice touch.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in return for my honest review.
February 22, 2018
When I read a book, I read it literally cover to cover. With a lot of Christian books, that means you get three or four or five pages of testimonials from other authors at the front of the book. Grace Thornton’s I Don’t Wait Anymore is a little different in this paperback edition in that some of those testimonials come from anonymous Amazon readers (the book was originally published in 2017). And there’s a lot of truth to those “blurbs.” On the front cover, musician and author Nichole Nordeman says, “Grace’s writing is generous and conversational, but deeply confessional, in a way that makes plenty of space for her readers to yield to a deep reordering of the soul.”
That blurb is just about 100 percent true! (Yikes, that sentence may sound a bit curt, which I don’t mean it to be. Let me go on … .) I found the book to be deeply conversational, sure, but, like other Christian spiritual memoirs (which this sort of is), it suffers from a case of “The Vagues.” I thought that more detail could have been added about the author’s personal life and the characters she meets. She also zooms from what’s presumably Nepal to Denver, from England to Alabama from chapter to chapter (sometimes within the same chapter) and there’s usually no telling why she made the visit or move to that country or part of the country. I’m starting off with the most egregious sin of the book, just to get that out of the way. I do have to say that Thornton’s work is not nearly as vague as other Christian writers, such as Ann Voskamp (which this tome namechecks at one point), but I was really hoping for more of the author’s personality to shine through.
Read the rest here: https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-r...
That blurb is just about 100 percent true! (Yikes, that sentence may sound a bit curt, which I don’t mean it to be. Let me go on … .) I found the book to be deeply conversational, sure, but, like other Christian spiritual memoirs (which this sort of is), it suffers from a case of “The Vagues.” I thought that more detail could have been added about the author’s personal life and the characters she meets. She also zooms from what’s presumably Nepal to Denver, from England to Alabama from chapter to chapter (sometimes within the same chapter) and there’s usually no telling why she made the visit or move to that country or part of the country. I’m starting off with the most egregious sin of the book, just to get that out of the way. I do have to say that Thornton’s work is not nearly as vague as other Christian writers, such as Ann Voskamp (which this tome namechecks at one point), but I was really hoping for more of the author’s personality to shine through.
Read the rest here: https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-r...
July 14, 2016
This book ripped me up inside and convicted me deeply. It forced me to come to terms with how I view God, and how much I am willing (or unwilling) to follow Him above all else; it sparked a hunger for Scripture that I've simply never had before.
February 6, 2017
Great story! I heard her speak at my church at a women's event and I enjoyed her story. Such truth in this book no matter where you are in life. So glad I read it.
April 17, 2017
I was excited when I saw this title because I certainly had a lot of expectations for my life and I am only now letting go and trying to let God take the lead. As soon as I began reading this beautiful hardcover book, I knew it was for me because of the author's specific struggle with singleness. It was uncannily like my own struggle (apart from the fact that the author used to have a great boyfriend which made her dreams seem more tangible and I haven't, so don't think I'm saying that my dreams tumbled as hard as the author's did!) and really spoke to my heart. I don't know what it is with the books I've been reading and reviewing recently; they are amazing and I keep giving them five stars! To clarify, I don't usually give five stars. But books like this one are necessary and life-changing. '
This book is a mixture of memoir and just a really deep yet easy-to-understand book on faith and living the life GOD wants you to live! I do recommend it for everyone! Read it and be changed.
I don't agree with absolutely everything in this book and the author and I probably wouldn't agree doctrinally but she has many very, very important Biblical truths that I really learned from! I hope to add some wonderful quotes from this book to my review soon.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book is a mixture of memoir and just a really deep yet easy-to-understand book on faith and living the life GOD wants you to live! I do recommend it for everyone! Read it and be changed.
I don't agree with absolutely everything in this book and the author and I probably wouldn't agree doctrinally but she has many very, very important Biblical truths that I really learned from! I hope to add some wonderful quotes from this book to my review soon.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
May 27, 2019
To be honest, I would’ve like this book twice as much if half of it wasn’t there. The theme is about letting go of your dreams in favor of God’s plan, and that last part was brilliant to read. She has such profoundly simple and beautiful insights on God and our relationship with Him that made me wish I could sit and revel in endless worship of Him. But the first part of that idea, not so well executed. I’m sorry, but when the person telling you to let go of your dreams is actually living your dreams, and seems to be taking them for granted, it’s just a little hard to believe and to want to listen further. Her style of starting each chapter with literary prose was distracting at best and frustrating otherwise. She just needed to get to the point, because the point was much more beautiful than the scenery she felt the need to describe.
April 26, 2018
I love this book so much! I don’t re-read a lot of books but this one is in a yearly rotation and sometimes twice a year. Grace writes like you’re sitting down talking to a close friend about your struggles with life and with God. It’s a book I recommend to all graduating college students and those out of college trying to figure out life. Her analogy of us mixing up our dreams with God’s plan for us by keeping our dreams in our heart and God in our pocket strikes home for me. I frequently get that wrong more times then I get it right. Such a good book to help give some direction in the chaos of life.
September 27, 2022
This was such an amazing book that really hits home. It’s very well written and had me thinking the WHOLE time. I went through so many emotions while reading and it really helped me get perspective on my relationship with God. 10/10 recommend!
June 12, 2024
I reread this book every year, it has a special place in my life. Many times it has been a star in the distance to me, a new lens, a nudge forward. Thank you for writing this, Grace.
October 26, 2023
Read this in college and was delighted to find it at goodwill so I could be blessed by it again. So good. Would recommend to any woman wrestling with desiring God and good things — and what happens when those good things aren’t given.
May 21, 2018
I needed this book. The best way I can describe this book is to compare it to sitting down and talking with your crazy lovable aunt. At first the stories seem random and you're not sure where it's going. Then suddenly everything clicks and you realize your aunt isn't crazy but is actually wise and knows exactly what you're going through and is going to help you through it. Thornton is handles a tough topic perfectly. She's open and honest with her own experiences, and while they're not the exact same as mine or yours, you can tell she knows what you're going through. I highly recommend picking this up. It helped me in a time of need and I hope that it may help you too.
July 22, 2023
I’ve had this book on my shelves for years now since I bought it. It’s a lovely book and would be an excellent gift for a young person just starting out in her life. For better or for worse, that isn’t me. I hope that this book will richly bless the life of the person who snags it from the little library I donated it to.
September 4, 2016
it was so encouraging to read a book about a woman who is pursuing the Lord no matter what! Knowing that He is the only one who truly satisfies our hearts.
June 9, 2019
This book is perfectly marketed towards single Christian women, which is indeed the reason I decided to read it, but also touches on topics of career goals, dreams and other ideas that we often find ourselves impatient with. If you’ve ever thought “why hasn’t this happened yet” then Thornton’s book is for you. Even though it took a bit of adjusting for me to get into its rhythm, this book is loaded with Scripture analysis, Thornton’s personal examples and testimony, as well as journal spaces, thereby making it a great one to pick up and help you focus on patience, fulfillment and understanding God’s love for you.
October 16, 2018
A breath of fresh air
I already loved this author before reading her book. Her blog posts have always spoken the words to express what I was going through or had gone through.
This book is not just for people who are single, it is for anyone waiting for the next phase on life. It is an encouragement for people to not put everything into that next phase of life but to instead make God everything.
I will say that if you are a person who is constantly trying to “encourage” your single sister/friend/daughter/niece than you need to read this book asap and help realize the goal is Jesus. Because Jesus is all.
I already loved this author before reading her book. Her blog posts have always spoken the words to express what I was going through or had gone through.
This book is not just for people who are single, it is for anyone waiting for the next phase on life. It is an encouragement for people to not put everything into that next phase of life but to instead make God everything.
I will say that if you are a person who is constantly trying to “encourage” your single sister/friend/daughter/niece than you need to read this book asap and help realize the goal is Jesus. Because Jesus is all.
May 15, 2018
A bit on the fluffy side but I enjoyed the heart of this nonetheless.
July 21, 2024
This is a book about knowing God and knowing that he is completely enough for us. I highly recommend a read!
July 1, 2018
Very encouraging book. I picked it up thinking it would help me with the sadness I had been feeling about my singleness abd it helped with so much more. It doesn't really talk a lot about singless but encourages you in your walk with God to stop seeing him as small and keep following the threads he is weaving in the picture of your life.
July 7, 2022
This is a must read. Grace is so real and genuine in the book. She is grace on every page. I loved this book, I will reread it over and over again, but more importantly I loved that I learned to love Jesus more with every page. I can’t recommend this enough.
May 21, 2018
I love this book! This book really struck a cord for me. The way Grace writes is very engaging and draws you in. You feel like you are there. But it also really met me where I’m at. I feel like it will be the same for most people, no matter your age or season of life. I literally cried during the chapter on Corrie Ten Boom when the book talked about how we can’t see or understand what God is doing sometimes but he’s weaving the details of our lives to make a beautiful work of art. Even if we will have to get distance from some of those details to really see what He’s doing. And that sums up what this book is mainly about: the story God is writing for each of us in our lives. Even through the hard messy stuff.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2016
"I want you to know that what you love now isn't really the Word."
This book was not-quite-memoir and not-quite-Bible study, so I'm not sure if the book accomplished what it set out to do.
While the book is full of anecdotes the stories jump around - there's not a detailed fleshing out of lessons or connecting how these stories relate. I was put off about how a story could start about how a friend adopted a foster child and then suddenly on the next page they were in Denver or England or heading somewhere new. I also didn't like the formatting with some sentences highlighted like magazines between paragraphs that weren't actually quoted from the paragraph below, it was a sort of transition sentence that I guess was to emphasize things.
While the book talks a lot about the importance of a relationship with God it doesn't get into 'how' until the very end. Without a deeper analysis or real digging the book seemed very high level to me (i.e. We broke up and I was sad but then it got better because I had faith!) which is fairly typical of these kinds of stories...I think the how and why is what's interesting. The book does talk about how people mistakenly think they have a better relationship with their Bible than they really do, but some of the stories didn't have the same kind of detail or substance as those explanations did.
Maybe I'm too old to be in the demographic for this book, but I also think I was hoping for something more substantive.
This book was not-quite-memoir and not-quite-Bible study, so I'm not sure if the book accomplished what it set out to do.
While the book is full of anecdotes the stories jump around - there's not a detailed fleshing out of lessons or connecting how these stories relate. I was put off about how a story could start about how a friend adopted a foster child and then suddenly on the next page they were in Denver or England or heading somewhere new. I also didn't like the formatting with some sentences highlighted like magazines between paragraphs that weren't actually quoted from the paragraph below, it was a sort of transition sentence that I guess was to emphasize things.
While the book talks a lot about the importance of a relationship with God it doesn't get into 'how' until the very end. Without a deeper analysis or real digging the book seemed very high level to me (i.e. We broke up and I was sad but then it got better because I had faith!) which is fairly typical of these kinds of stories...I think the how and why is what's interesting. The book does talk about how people mistakenly think they have a better relationship with their Bible than they really do, but some of the stories didn't have the same kind of detail or substance as those explanations did.
Maybe I'm too old to be in the demographic for this book, but I also think I was hoping for something more substantive.
September 30, 2016
My thoughts. This book isn't just for single ladies. It's about letting go and taking what God has in store for us! Don't look at what other people have and think about what you don't -- God has a plan for you. Whether you want a husband, children, a better home.. whatever it may be! Know He has something for you, but rather than sit around and feel sorry for yourself, which it might be something BETTER, you just need to trust His plan and get out there and do His work!
I love books like this and highly recommend it. Lots of good nuggets in here, too many to list. Read it, put in on your bookshelf..
I love books like this and highly recommend it. Lots of good nuggets in here, too many to list. Read it, put in on your bookshelf..
February 5, 2023
3.5 stars. “The Bible wasn’t written for us to apply to our lives like the words of a fortune cookie. We read with the lens of “God, help me understand & know you better.” And as we know Him, he changes our hearts & we hear His voice. And freedom happens.”
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was easy to read & had some great takeaways & offered me a fresh perspective on how to approach my purpose on earth & my relationship with God.
I did feel like the authors stories were somewhat un-relatable & repetitive.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was easy to read & had some great takeaways & offered me a fresh perspective on how to approach my purpose on earth & my relationship with God.
I did feel like the authors stories were somewhat un-relatable & repetitive.
August 21, 2021
"Choose to go. Choose to stay. Choose a thousand different things, but choose what you choose on purpose."
Recommended to me by a friend. It's good for my heart to see a Christian book marketed to girls that values all stories and steers away from putting them on a conveyor belt to promise rings, marriage, and children.
Recommended to me by a friend. It's good for my heart to see a Christian book marketed to girls that values all stories and steers away from putting them on a conveyor belt to promise rings, marriage, and children.
December 18, 2023
Flowery. Encouraging. Hopeful.
This one was good, but it could have been shorter and gotten the same point across. The writing feels flowy, but not in a particularly artistic/poetic way. I enjoyed it overall. There were convicting parts and encouraging parts and all of it helped me think more rightly about my priorities and expectations in light of God's priorities and promises.
This feels like a dumb thing to add, but the book itself is very heavy. there is color on every page and a ribbon to hold your place. It's lovely. I feel so lame, and this is admittedly health-problems-influenced, but the book felt too heavy for enjoyable ready.
Ch 2:
-When I was busy, I didn't feel the cavernous hunger so much, but with every day that failed to fill it, the void deepened and crept into my tea breaks and sleepless nights.
-John Piper said the reason we don't feel the depth of the hunger we have for God is because we've nibbled at the table of the world for so long, anesthetizing our desire with lesser things. Lesser dreams. Lesser love. Those lesser things aren't good enough to kill the hunger pangs, but they keep us just full enough that we aren't desperate enough to put our whole lives on the line and seek out the permanent remedy.
Ch 4:
That pathway to holiness, that journey to truly deep faith is a lot narrower than you think. And it starts, continues, and ends with a definitive love for the Word of God. I want you to know that what you love now is not really the Word. What you love is what other people tell you about the Word. You love emotion an worship songs and books about God and the social aspect of church in college. But you do not love His Word. Not yet. That takes discipline and study and sacrifice...and when it begins to pay off, your faith will grow...because you will get real glimpses of who God is on your own. It will give real strength to your every day because, like A. W. Tozer said, it's when we see Him that we really see ourselves.
Ch 6:
I thought God and I were in a really good place when everything started going so well. But He had never become bigger to me than the tangible desires, so when they all came together perfectly, I let Him sit out a couple of plays. He wasn't the destination; He was the means to it, even though I don't think I could've articulated that. My life with this guy was everything I wanted, and I wanted God to be a part of that life, but I thought it was going to drive itself from here, or that we were going to all drive it together.
It really does feel different when God gets in your heart and replaces your dreams with Himself. Our hearts become blank canvases where He can paint pictures of His love, fill us up with His Spirit, and change our desires and hurts from the inside out. It feels different.
Ch 7:
When you think about giving God all of yourself, everything you have, everything you've ever dreamed of, what stirs in your heart? Is it joy? Because if it isn't, this whole thing isn't going to work. God hasn't become big enough to be worth it yet, and obedience to Him is going to be nothing short of exhausting.
Ch 8:
This path you're on isn't meant to make you lose the will to live. It isn't meant to see if you can survive the subpar life and make lemonade when life hands you lemons. It's meant to write the best ending to your story. And not the best possible ending you can get with the available resources at this point in the game. The best. Period. Better than you could've ever written for yourself.
So when I look forward to the coming year, and the year after that, and the year after that, I don't wonder anymore whether this will be the year that brings something different, like a husband, or a home, or something else along those lines. I wonder instead how I'm going to see God this year. That's what I pray for. God, let me see You this year, let me know You more by the end of this year than I do at the beginning of it.
This one was good, but it could have been shorter and gotten the same point across. The writing feels flowy, but not in a particularly artistic/poetic way. I enjoyed it overall. There were convicting parts and encouraging parts and all of it helped me think more rightly about my priorities and expectations in light of God's priorities and promises.
This feels like a dumb thing to add, but the book itself is very heavy. there is color on every page and a ribbon to hold your place. It's lovely. I feel so lame, and this is admittedly health-problems-influenced, but the book felt too heavy for enjoyable ready.
Ch 2:
-When I was busy, I didn't feel the cavernous hunger so much, but with every day that failed to fill it, the void deepened and crept into my tea breaks and sleepless nights.
-John Piper said the reason we don't feel the depth of the hunger we have for God is because we've nibbled at the table of the world for so long, anesthetizing our desire with lesser things. Lesser dreams. Lesser love. Those lesser things aren't good enough to kill the hunger pangs, but they keep us just full enough that we aren't desperate enough to put our whole lives on the line and seek out the permanent remedy.
Ch 4:
That pathway to holiness, that journey to truly deep faith is a lot narrower than you think. And it starts, continues, and ends with a definitive love for the Word of God. I want you to know that what you love now is not really the Word. What you love is what other people tell you about the Word. You love emotion an worship songs and books about God and the social aspect of church in college. But you do not love His Word. Not yet. That takes discipline and study and sacrifice...and when it begins to pay off, your faith will grow...because you will get real glimpses of who God is on your own. It will give real strength to your every day because, like A. W. Tozer said, it's when we see Him that we really see ourselves.
Ch 6:
I thought God and I were in a really good place when everything started going so well. But He had never become bigger to me than the tangible desires, so when they all came together perfectly, I let Him sit out a couple of plays. He wasn't the destination; He was the means to it, even though I don't think I could've articulated that. My life with this guy was everything I wanted, and I wanted God to be a part of that life, but I thought it was going to drive itself from here, or that we were going to all drive it together.
It really does feel different when God gets in your heart and replaces your dreams with Himself. Our hearts become blank canvases where He can paint pictures of His love, fill us up with His Spirit, and change our desires and hurts from the inside out. It feels different.
Ch 7:
When you think about giving God all of yourself, everything you have, everything you've ever dreamed of, what stirs in your heart? Is it joy? Because if it isn't, this whole thing isn't going to work. God hasn't become big enough to be worth it yet, and obedience to Him is going to be nothing short of exhausting.
Ch 8:
This path you're on isn't meant to make you lose the will to live. It isn't meant to see if you can survive the subpar life and make lemonade when life hands you lemons. It's meant to write the best ending to your story. And not the best possible ending you can get with the available resources at this point in the game. The best. Period. Better than you could've ever written for yourself.
So when I look forward to the coming year, and the year after that, and the year after that, I don't wonder anymore whether this will be the year that brings something different, like a husband, or a home, or something else along those lines. I wonder instead how I'm going to see God this year. That's what I pray for. God, let me see You this year, let me know You more by the end of this year than I do at the beginning of it.
May 22, 2023
"Choose to go. Choose to stay. Choose a thousand different things. But choose what you choose on purpose."
Grace Thornton's raw and vulnerable narrative instantly drew me in. Through her honest and captivating storytelling, she shares her experiences of wrestling with unfulfilled dreams and the longing for a life that seemed perpetually out of reach. Her words resonated deeply within me as I reflected on my own life, realizing how often I had allowed fear and self-doubt to hold me back.
One of the central themes that struck a chord with me was the idea of waiting. Grace Thornton challenges the conventional notion of waiting for the perfect circumstances or the right time to pursue our dreams. She emphasizes the importance of embracing the present moment, taking risks, and trusting in God's plan. This resonated with me on a profound level, as I realized how often I had allowed myself to become trapped in the cycle of waiting, missing out on the abundant opportunities life had to offer.
The author's vulnerability in sharing her personal struggles and doubts created a safe space for me to examine my own fears and limitations. Her journey of surrendering control and embracing God's timing encouraged me to reflect on my own faith and the ways in which I had been trying to manipulate outcomes instead of trusting in a higher power.
Grace Thornton's emphasis on embracing community and investing in relationships also struck a chord with me. In a world that often glorifies individual achievements, she reminds us of the significance of walking alongside others and building meaningful connections. Her stories of finding purpose in unexpected places and the transformative power of community left me inspired to cultivate deeper relationships in my own life.
As I turned the final page of "I Don't Wait Anymore," I felt a profound sense of gratitude. Grace Thornton's words had become a roadmap for my own journey of self-discovery and a catalyst for embracing a life lived without hesitation. Her authenticity and vulnerability reminded me that it's never too late to start living the life we've always imagined.
In conclusion, "I Don't Wait Anymore" by Grace Thornton is a transformative book that challenges readers to break free from the limitations of waiting and embrace the fullness of life. Through her personal experiences and heartfelt storytelling, Grace Thornton invites us to step out of our comfort zones, trust in God's timing, and invest in authentic relationships. This book has left an indelible mark on my heart and has empowered me to embark on my own journey of embracing the present and living a life without regrets.
Grace Thornton's raw and vulnerable narrative instantly drew me in. Through her honest and captivating storytelling, she shares her experiences of wrestling with unfulfilled dreams and the longing for a life that seemed perpetually out of reach. Her words resonated deeply within me as I reflected on my own life, realizing how often I had allowed fear and self-doubt to hold me back.
One of the central themes that struck a chord with me was the idea of waiting. Grace Thornton challenges the conventional notion of waiting for the perfect circumstances or the right time to pursue our dreams. She emphasizes the importance of embracing the present moment, taking risks, and trusting in God's plan. This resonated with me on a profound level, as I realized how often I had allowed myself to become trapped in the cycle of waiting, missing out on the abundant opportunities life had to offer.
The author's vulnerability in sharing her personal struggles and doubts created a safe space for me to examine my own fears and limitations. Her journey of surrendering control and embracing God's timing encouraged me to reflect on my own faith and the ways in which I had been trying to manipulate outcomes instead of trusting in a higher power.
Grace Thornton's emphasis on embracing community and investing in relationships also struck a chord with me. In a world that often glorifies individual achievements, she reminds us of the significance of walking alongside others and building meaningful connections. Her stories of finding purpose in unexpected places and the transformative power of community left me inspired to cultivate deeper relationships in my own life.
As I turned the final page of "I Don't Wait Anymore," I felt a profound sense of gratitude. Grace Thornton's words had become a roadmap for my own journey of self-discovery and a catalyst for embracing a life lived without hesitation. Her authenticity and vulnerability reminded me that it's never too late to start living the life we've always imagined.
In conclusion, "I Don't Wait Anymore" by Grace Thornton is a transformative book that challenges readers to break free from the limitations of waiting and embrace the fullness of life. Through her personal experiences and heartfelt storytelling, Grace Thornton invites us to step out of our comfort zones, trust in God's timing, and invest in authentic relationships. This book has left an indelible mark on my heart and has empowered me to embark on my own journey of embracing the present and living a life without regrets.
January 9, 2022
This book had a slow start for me, and it wasn’t until a few chapters in that I began to see how much I was really going to need it.
Grace, the author, came to a point in her life where she realized her big hearts’ desires left unfulfilled were leaving her empty, and she realized she didn’t have to live that way. Even more than that, she realized she didn’t have to live her life in a waiting period. Her emptiness was really only meant to be filled by God Himself. She surrendered to His Will and He didn’t take away her desires completely, but they became less important and God took His rightful place.
She said it way better than I can. Here is a good quote from the book. To give a background, she was talking about how she had had a purity ring that said “True Love Waits” and she felt the need to stop wearing it. Not because she was done staying pure, but she explained why: “That ring symbolized that I expected something of God that He never promised….was building a golden calf for me, and that’s something it should never do…I wanted Him to know I trusted Him with my story. And I wanted to give Him permission to write it differently than what I’d outlined for myself. I told Him that He was my desire, which brought freedom. Freedom to live without waiting for something to start. Freedom to love Him and hold things here with a very loose grip.”
And this…
“Ask yourself this: If He never fulfilled that desire, would I be able to be content? If I walk a road where those things never happen, would I be filled with joy knowing I would get Him at the end? If the answer is no, I dare you to ask yourself another question: Why does God seem smaller in my heart than this life I want? I dare you to ask Him this question: God, would You please show me who You really are?”
I gave it four stars because it was very thought provoking and convicting, and I related to it. I didn’t give it 5 because I did feel like the book was a bit rambly at times and I had a hard time keeping a timeline of her life’s events in my mind because of the order in which she told them. I realize, though, that they each had a purpose for the point she was making.
Grace, the author, came to a point in her life where she realized her big hearts’ desires left unfulfilled were leaving her empty, and she realized she didn’t have to live that way. Even more than that, she realized she didn’t have to live her life in a waiting period. Her emptiness was really only meant to be filled by God Himself. She surrendered to His Will and He didn’t take away her desires completely, but they became less important and God took His rightful place.
She said it way better than I can. Here is a good quote from the book. To give a background, she was talking about how she had had a purity ring that said “True Love Waits” and she felt the need to stop wearing it. Not because she was done staying pure, but she explained why: “That ring symbolized that I expected something of God that He never promised….was building a golden calf for me, and that’s something it should never do…I wanted Him to know I trusted Him with my story. And I wanted to give Him permission to write it differently than what I’d outlined for myself. I told Him that He was my desire, which brought freedom. Freedom to live without waiting for something to start. Freedom to love Him and hold things here with a very loose grip.”
And this…
“Ask yourself this: If He never fulfilled that desire, would I be able to be content? If I walk a road where those things never happen, would I be filled with joy knowing I would get Him at the end? If the answer is no, I dare you to ask yourself another question: Why does God seem smaller in my heart than this life I want? I dare you to ask Him this question: God, would You please show me who You really are?”
I gave it four stars because it was very thought provoking and convicting, and I related to it. I didn’t give it 5 because I did feel like the book was a bit rambly at times and I had a hard time keeping a timeline of her life’s events in my mind because of the order in which she told them. I realize, though, that they each had a purpose for the point she was making.
April 7, 2021
I could relate to the author as she described her journey, however, for some reason I wished she had gone deeper into details of her experiences because it was somehow pretty vague. Like I can tell how she finally had a breakthrough at some point and saw the need to pursue Jesus above her own longing and desires but a lot of it was talking about how awesome she felt when she rediscovered Him vs how it actually happened for her. I was looking more for of the “how” but I could also try to understand that perhaps it is just really hard to put down everything in words when you have truly encountered Jesus in that deep and personal way.
The one big takeaway for me is the fact that spending time in His word is really the best way to get to know Jesus more and more. We need to really know Him well in order to realise how much He loves us. When we know how he relentlessly pursued us (think of how we feel when we are being pursued by someone exciting), we will naturally be attracted and that is how we will fall in love with Him effortlessly.
This made me realise that having a version of the bible that you like is so important, so I went to the bookstore to get a NLT version as I only recently realised that the NKJV version I’ve had for the longest time hasn’t been easy for me to understand.
The one big takeaway for me is the fact that spending time in His word is really the best way to get to know Jesus more and more. We need to really know Him well in order to realise how much He loves us. When we know how he relentlessly pursued us (think of how we feel when we are being pursued by someone exciting), we will naturally be attracted and that is how we will fall in love with Him effortlessly.
This made me realise that having a version of the bible that you like is so important, so I went to the bookstore to get a NLT version as I only recently realised that the NKJV version I’ve had for the longest time hasn’t been easy for me to understand.
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