I Don't Wait Anymore: Letting Go of Expectations and Grasping God's Adventure for You Hardcover – May 10, 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.

Years ago I read the blog post that provided the inspiration for this book. Though I was at a different stage of life than the author, her words still challenged me to examine the things in life I was "waiting" for. In this book Thornton shares stories of her friends and travels and through the stories urges readers to consider which dreams they may be placing ahead of their pursuit of God. The book could come across as encouraging young women to stay single, but I don't think that's the intent. Later in the book she even says that if God placed the right man in her life, she would be open to that relationship. Her point is that we can wait so long for our dreams to come true that we miss the life God has for us in the here and now. God wants us to see Him and His glorious plan in everything that touches our lives, and young women will feel both comfort and calling in that message. I don't want to exclude young men or older readers from the audience, but this book definitely has a young and feminine vibe. I would put the target audience as ages 15-35. Readers under 15 probably would have difficulty engaging with the text and readers much older than 35 would probably feel like they've learned many of these lessons. The book itself feels like a gift book, with a thick cover (no book jacket) and glossy pages, and each chapter ends with questions and space for journaling, which is a nice touch. If you have a girl in your life who is graduating from high school or college, this would make a great gift!

Overall, not a bad book. I thought there were some very interesting insights on experiencing God in an authentic way. I appreciated that the author's experience as a 30-something wasn't your cliche boy meets girl story. It showed the sweet and not so sweet parts of life. That said, I had a few concerns. I really enjoyed the book until we got to the Himalayas. I'm sure the author had a specific reader in mind: female, caucasian, educated, and upper middle class, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing (it's based on her experiences after all), but if you're a Christian whose lived among people of different faith backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and upbringings, or you yourself are from a different background or not from the U.S., you're going to feel a little alienated because there was definitely a lack of sensitivity in certain sections of this book. The "American savior" archetype is definitely prevalent. It's always unfortunate when Christians see themselves as holier than everyone else. Everyone is a sinner. Equally. Period.I really didn't care for the section of the book where the author describes her experience with people of the Himalayas, saying you could almost "see their pupils turn into dollar signs" and "they were sharing their tent with an idol," and "darkness enveloped them." Seriously, the author is a guest in their home, eating their food, and judging them. It seems that darkness enveloped the author in that moment, not the people who opened their home to her. It really left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'm not even sure how that got past the editor.I wanted to like this book, and I did for the most part, but man did I cringe in certain areas.

I might be a little biased in that I read this at the perfect time, but I'd highly recommend this book. I'm single right now, struggling with that off and on, and also just trying to figure things out: what am I doing? Why isn't my faith more vibrant? What should I do? Is this all there is?This book really just spoke to all of those questions, and to worries and longings I hadn't even consciously addressed. Now, it isn't perfect. The structure felt a little forced at times, and sometimes I just wanted to say, look, give us the intro to the story, explain everything you want to talk about in this chapter, and then tell us the end. You don't have to bounce back and forth between narrative and explanation eight times, ok? It could have used more editing, and some of the middle could have been streamlined.BUT that being said - it's an emotionally honest book, it's challenging, it's raw, and I want to make people read it so I can discuss it with them. She really captures so much of what I've gone through, what I've seen people going through ... it's so powerful to see these things reflected back at you, and to realize, I am not alone in this. Really wonderful.

I can't recommend this book enough to those who have unmet expectations. Through God's word Grace teaches us that God has a story marked out for us and he wants us to take hold of it and trust him in the here and now and for all that is to come. Reminding us that the best is yet to come!

A very personable, challenging and moving read. Would recommend to anyone facing similar scenarios.

Really encouraging book on how to trust God when life doesn't turn out like you planned

Incredible book💙I want all my friends to have a copy. It arrived quickly too

life changing.