you're not enough (and that's ok) by Allie Beth Stuckey

Popular Christian podcaster and public speaker, Allie Beth Stuckey, takes a look at the prevalent mindset of today's culture in which almost every self-help guru, mommy blogger and public speaker/motivator preaches a message of self-love and if we would just love ourselves enough everything would work out and be a-ok in our lives.  She challenges the concepts that have even cropped up in today's politics and churches,  that tell us if we loved ourselves enough that we would be successful, complete and secure pointing out that in putting so much focus and emphasis on ourselves is in fact causing us to hit dead ends and to struggle with inadequacy and insecurity as we can never reach that ultimate goal.  She argues that we are not enough in and of ourselves, and that that is ok and that constantly trying to become enough has led us to become a culture of self-obsessed people.   This book points to God being the One who is enough and that in releasing the constant chasing of perfection to Him we can embrace the not being enough and rest in His purpose and calling.

I did this book in a study with a friend.  It is a short, easy read and led to some really good discussion.  It is definitely a book that goes counter to popular culture.   The book is broken into 5 myths of today's culture:  You are Enough, You Determine Your Truth, You're Perfect the Way You Are, You're Entitled to Your Dreams, and You Can't Love Others Until You Love Yourself.  Each chapter takes a look at these myths, how they affect us today and how they stack up to the Word (the bible).  She argues her case in each chapter by relating her own story and mixing in stories of others along with some scripture references.  

I enjoyed parts of this book and a few parts not so much.  While it does make it hard to review this book,  it did lead to really good discussion with my friend which was a good thing.  It had a lot of story telling and I found while some of it was relevant to her point, some of it just became rambling.    I even skimmed some of the stories.  The author was honest on how she came to her conclusions that a lot of what is presented as a solution to woman today actually compounds stress for women and takes on some tough issues with a black and white boldness.  I did find that a few times the black and white courage came from her political viewpoints and crossed over into sounding very unsympathetic or harsh towards certain issues.  In attempting to answer the question "Is your quest to love yourself more actually making you miserable?" I think that at times she veered into commentaries that in the end were her strong opinions and not necessarily bible study material.      It seems to be a book either one hates or loves according to ratings on amazon.  Those that complained it's too religious and constantly points to God apparently didn't read the publisher's description because it does not hide in the least what it is about and that is pointing to leaning on God to make us enough.  

I rated it 7.5/10

Reading Goals Met:  Read at least 3 non-fictions