I have a confession to make, I knew I would like Amy Sullivan’s book before I read it. This is because God sent me half way around the world in March to build houses in the Philippines. Before I even knew about the missions trip, my heart was already being plowed for the seeds of servitude. Like you, I had my handsome, hardworking husband, a cute little house with a hefty mortgage, two decent cars, three awesome kids, and a career in news casting–and did I mention two cute, albeit naughty little dogs? Life was bliss–or so I thought. Something was missing. Something was wrong but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Little things started to keep me awake at night, passages in the Bible like Matthew 25:35-36:
For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.
Or the fact we had all this stuff accumulating in our basement, clothes I didn’t like anymore, old coats, shoes, toys, home decor. And still I couldn’t explain why it irked me so much to see the insane amount of money friends were spending on french doors for their garage. Let’s not mention how much it drove me up the wall when my kids discarded toys nonchalantly as if we could purchase new ones whenever we wanted.
Slowly my eyes were opened to the overwhelming needs in the world–but how can I help? How could I change my kids’ attitudes from being obsessed with the latest toy or Iphone to having a servants heart and that’s when Amy emailed me about her new release.
To sum it up one sentence…GET THIS BOOK. Okay, okay, the real review:
In today’s cozy and comfortable world, families have been lulled into comfort and complacency as they quietly build their American Dream all the while asking, “What’s missing?” Amy not only puts a finger on the very thing we can’t quite name but also takes us by the hand and guides us to “other-centered living.” She opens our eyes to living outside ourselves through a servant’s heart. When More is Not Enough will ignite a passion within your family to open the doors and serve others. The book offers practical ideas to grow your family’s hearts and ideas to serve needs in your community, your family can start small while growing to love others.
Amy talks about practical ways to get your family involved in serving, this includes being generous in using your skills, how to be generous with strangers, being generous with forgiveness, being generous with time and money; this book also includes many great additional resources including a list of other books that inspire action, a letter from “Dad to Dad” for your spouse, and quality time activities your kids actually want to do.
I also had the chance to visit with Amy and ask her about some practical ideas you can use now to begin cultivating a servant’s heart.
When More is Not Enough: 8 Start-This-Very-Second Activities to Promote Generous Living in Your Home
I’m a sucker for books about world changers. I gulp down tales of people following God’s great call to love others better, but a couple of years ago, our little family of four felt stuck.
What could an average family do for others? What could an average family do for God? We simply had no idea.
Over time, our family moved from doing nothing (not good) to doing everything (equally not good) to finding our grove and discovering more.
No, not more selfies and gadgets and stuff. More prayers cried out, more compassion for others, more engagement with strangers, more of the same kind of love Christ showed us every day of His life.
When More is Not Enough is a short book loaded with practical, start-this-very-second activities, which promote generous living in families. Here are a few of my favorite features, ideas, and activities stolen straight from the book.
- Dinner Table Dialogue. Each chapter of the book contains a list of Dinner Table Dialogue questions to jumpstart conversations about serving others at your house.
- Family Service Inventories. Adult, teen/tween, and child service inventories pinpoint specific chapters and potential areas of service. Each question on the survey correlates with a chapter in the book making it easy to jump around and hit chapters which interest your family. Yes, skipping around in the book is not only permitted, but encouraged. Eeek. Your high school English teacher would fall over.
- Online Goodness. The Internet contains heaps of websites, videos, and organizations designed to educate and motivate people to serve others. However, clicking around can be overwhelming. Take a peek at a few of my favorite online stops in the list of Clickty Click Doing Good Online Style.
- Quality Time Ideas. To correlate with the chapter on being generous with time, my ten-year-old daughter penned a list of 50 potential quality time activities your kids will actuallybe excited to do. Idea #1? Pretend you are robots. Oh, and that is just the beginning.
- What about the dads? We can’t forget all the dads in the house! A letter written to a Dad from a Dad is included to encourage Dads who want to serve others, but who also need motivation to get started.
- Grading nonprofits. Dig around Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org), and you will be a smarter giver
- Scripture. Ask God to move your family in big ways and use Scripture to guide you. A prayer guide outlining some of my favorite verses on generosity is included in the book
- Easy ideas. Save your old Christmas cards and create a prayer ring. Leave it in a central location in your house to remind your family to be generous with prayer.
When does this book release? September 22nd. You can order your copy here on Amazon: When More Is Not Enough.
To find Amy on Facebook, visit: Amy Sullivan Writes
About Amy: For the past two years, Amy L. Sullivan looked harder, loved stronger, and discovered more by fixing her gaze on something other than the person staring back at her in the mirror. Amy writes for oodles of print and online publications and loves speaking with groups of any size. Connect with her online at AmyLSullivan.com.
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