5 nonfiction books and why you should read

 

5 Books to read when you're feeling lost in life

When you want to make a big change in your career, you usually undergo a period of soul-searching as well.

You feel lost. You wonder who you are, why you’re doing what you’re doing, and how you’ll ever get to the next place. At times like this, it really helps to have a community, but it’s also nice to have helpful books to read when you’re soul-searching. Here are some of my favorites. 

I love books. I’ve been an avid reader for my whole life, and while I love a good fiction novel, my tastes have slowly evolved over the years.

Right now, in this current stage of life, I prefer books that are going to inspire and encourage me to live my best life.

Reading is a great way to learn from others who practice what they preach.

It doesn’t take a lot of time or money, and books can teach you some invaluable lessons.

Today, I’m sharing five books that changed the way I live my life.

Find more time to read

If you always have a book on hand you can read while you’re sitting in the car line waiting to pick your kids up from school, during your morning quiet time, or in the evening before bed instead of scrolling through social media. 

If I find a book that captivates me, I usually don’t have any trouble finding the time to read.

The books mentioned below have each inspired me on a personal level, and I’ve listed how each one has helped me specifically.

You will find that a couple of the books have the same author. Once I find an author/teacher I love, I tend to grasp on to anything they have to offer.

Don’t let that deter you. Each one of these books has a different purpose and each one is as important as the next.

If you are seeking purpose or looking to live life with intention I know these books can help you just as much as they helped me. They truly have changed the way I live my life.

1 // Make It Happen

By: Lara Casey

Synopsis {from Amazon}: You were created for a purpose, and it’s time to make it happe n.

Make It Happen is the story of how I surrendered my fear, took the leap, and got a life. In my case, a perfectly imperfect, fulfilling life as a mama, a working woman, and a grateful wife. This is the story of how I chose to make “it”―a greater purpose than mine―happen, and how you can too.

Make It Happen is for

• women who find themselves worried, anxious, and completely overwhelmed by the constant chase for perfection

• those seeking the courage to jump into a new venture

• working women who are struggling to “do it all”

• weary wives and moms looking for relief from burning the candle at both ends

• anyone who dreams of a life lived not by accident, but on purpose

Your time has come to take a leap of faith. Join me as we surrender our fears, end the chase for perfection, and say yes to cultivating the meaningful lives God desires for us.

How it helped me: The author of this book, Lara Casey, is the creator of one of my most favorite goal-setting tools, Powersheets. If you’ve been around here long, you’ve heard me talk about them. If you’re reluctant to try the Powersheets, or it happens to be a time when they are no longer available {they only release twice a year}, you can read all about Lara’s goal-setting process in this book. Make it Happen will walk you through the philosophy behind the Powersheets and guide you through the process on your own. Reading this book and going through the process myself taught me how to set meaningful goals and inspired me to take the steps to implement them.

2 // Cultivate

By: Lara Casey

Synopsis {from Amazon}: A flourishing life is possible—no perfection required!

Women often feel like they have to have it all together in order to live a meaningful life. Instead they feel inadequate, overwhelmed, and exhausted as they to figure out how to do it all. Author, business owner, and mom to three Lara Casey offers sound and grace-filled advice: “We can’t do it all, and do it well. But, we can choose to cultivate what matters.”

Welcome to the journey of getting messy in the rich soil of possibility—embracing imperfect, grace-filled progress to grow a life of joy.

Written as part encouragement anthem and part practical guide, Cultivate offers wisdom from God’s Word alongside lessons Lara has learned in her garden. Woven throughout is her personal story that helps release readers from the pressure to achieve and gives them freedom to move from planning to planting a meaningful legacy. “It’s in the imperfect—the mess of the dirt–that good things grow,” Casey reminds readers. “Peonies grow through the dirt, and so do we.” Readers will learn to embrace the season they’re in, finding balance as they interact in fresh ways with their current life scenarios, with God, and in the communities where they are planted.

Special features include

Actionable Cultivate It prompts throughout the book

A ten-week Cultivate Together discussion guide with questions for small groups

“Grace from the Garden” vignettes provide encouragement and inspiration

Find the joy and the freedom that comes in cultivating what matters, little by little, with God’s transforming grace.

How it helped me: While Make It Happen gave me an inside look at Lara Casey’s goal-setting process, Cultivate took it one step further by teaching me how to continually make progress on my goals. Lara’s story and testimony are so inspiring. She gives practical tips on how to live with intention and how to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed.

3 // Anything 

By: Jennie Allen

Synopsis {from Amazon}: What if you told God you would do anything . . . and he took you up on it? Jennie Allen, founder of If: Gathering, shares the prayer that changed everything. *Now with Bible study questions!

In the years since the initial release of Anything, God continued to stretch Jennie Allen and her faith because of the courageous prayer of surrender that she and her husband, Zac, prayed, “God, we will do anything. Anything.” Previously caught in the dizzying haze of worldly happiness and empty pursuits, Jennie went on to begin living out the adventure God had written for them—to include becoming the founder of IF: Gathering, an organization to gather, equip, and unleash the next generation to live out their purpose.

Anything is a prayer of surrender that will spark something. A prayer that will move you to stop chasing things that just make you feel happy and start living a surrendered life that matters.

This newly revised edition is updated throughout to include a new introduction and an in-depth Bible study component for those who have been wanting to lead a study on this topic.

Join Jennie on an adventure to discover your anything, those things that actually mean nothing until you know the God truly worth giving it all up for. And when you do, that will change everything.

How it helped me: This book showed me what it truly means to live for Jesus. Living for Jesus is important to me because this is what ultimately equates to living a life of purpose and intention. I believe I was created with a divine purpose and plan for my life, and all it takes to fulfill that purpose is surrender to my creator. I believe that for you too, by the way.

4 // Restless 

Restless: Because You Were Made for More

By: Jennie Allen

Synopsis {from Amazon}: Do you feel like you’re missing something? Jennie Allen, founder of If: Gathering, directs you on how to find the best way to use your spiritual gifts.

What if this feeling wasn’t a bad thing? It could be a longing for more of God and a catalyst to living the life that was designed before the foundations of the earth were laid.

A lot of us, if we’re honest, are afraid. We hold our dreams close to our chest. But our passions have a purpose—they were engineered for God’s greater plan and he intends for us to use them for his glory and purposes.

In Restless, Bible teacher and fellow struggler Jennie Allen explores practical ways to identify the threads of your life and how to intentionally weave them together. She explains how your gifts, passions, places, and relationships aren’t random; they’re deliberate and meaningful. And your suffering—it’s possible it has produced the very thing you want to give back to the world.

Using the story of Joseph, the dreamer, Jennie explains how his suffering, gifts, relationships—all of the threads of his life—fit into the greater story of God and how our stories can do the same. What would happen if God got bigger than your fear and insecurity, and you spent the rest of your life running without reservation after his purposes for you? You were created for more.

How it helped me: This is the second book I’ve read by Jennie Allen, and I was equally as impressed. Sometimes when you’re chasing after a dream, even a dream that God placed in your heart, you begin to wonder if dream chasing is acceptable for your season of life – especially as a wife and mom. This book reminded me that God put those dreams in my heart for a reason, and it is absolutely okay to chase after them.

5 // You are a Badass

By: Jen Sincero

Synopsis {from Amazon}: You are a Badass is the self-help book for people who desperately want to improve their lives but don’t want to get busted doing it.

In this refreshingly entertaining how-to guide, bestselling author and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word, helping you to: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, create a life you totally love, and create it NOW.

By the end of You Are a Badass, you’ll understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can’t change, how to change what you don’t love.

How it helped me: I read through this whole book in 48 hours, and I loved every minute of it. Outside of being entertaining and encouraging, this book showed me how powerful our thoughts can be when it comes to achieving our dreams. The most important thing I gleaned from this book was how to control my mindset regarding everything from managing my day-to-day life to dreaming about the future. Your mind is super powerful, and this book showed me how to use it to my advantage.

Now it’s your turn

Like I said before, I love to learn from others by reading books. I also love sharing my favorite books with you. I’ve linked to each of these books below on Amazon.

• Make it Happen
• Cultivate
• Anything
• Restless
• You are a Badass