Overwhelmed Book

Are you overwhelmed with life?

I didn't even know I was overwhelmed until I read Perry Noble's new book-Overwhelmed!

Sound a little like a spiritual hypercondriac? Maybe. Or maybe not. More on that in Reason #6.

Here are five, nay six, reasons this book should be in your hands:

1) Vulnerability: Perry Noble gets vulnerable (like talking about looking at porn vulnerable). Something you've shown me in the last three years of blogging is that you connect with the vulnerable. Pastors aren't supposed to be depressed. What with the love of Jesus and a direct phone line to God and all. Noble gets vulnerable opening up about his struggle with depression and anxiety. No one wants to talk about those things, but he does openly and honestly with you.

2) Practicality: Don't you hate it when someone declares a problem, but never propose any steps to solve it? Or worse yet, they make suggestions, but they are totally inadequate. This book has practical teachings that help you move forward. You won't be left asking, "What the heck do I do next?"

3) No Scriptural Beat Down: You won't get a scriptural beat down that leaves you feeling like crap. Noble uses scripture that will guide you. He doesn't say just memorize these promises in the Bible and your life will be peachy keen. He put several well-known biblical accounts in a context that you probably haven't heard before. If you're overwhelmed, you'll see that it doesn't make you a sinner, but that many biblical figures struggled with feeling exactly the same way.

4) Humility:  Christians love to trump each other with our horror stories. Don't believe me? Just listen intently at your church's next prayer request time. Before long, you'll witness the downward spiral of terrible circumstances that eventually ends in someone requesting prayer for their son's girlfriend's grandmother's cousin, twice removed, who just experienced something that had to have come straight out of a Hallmark tearjerker! If you have a good story, we have a better one. Have a bad story? We have a worse one. This isn't the spirit of this book. Noble isn't about self-promotion (or deprecation), but he lays it all out on the line, humbly, in order to help you connect to the text.

5) No "Sugar Coating": I'm not a prosperity gospel kind of guy. I hate it when preachers preach a weak message of no troubles and easy fixes. Life is messy. Noble doesn't promise that the chocolate is going to melt in your mouth. He knows it's going to melt on your hands. It's messy. If you are overwhelmed, there isn't a magic pill you can take to get yourself out of it. It'll take work. Reading this book is a step.

6) Relieving: There have certainly been seasons in my past that I have been incredibly overwhelmed and I never dealt with it well. This has had lingering effects in my life that I never realized that I was dealing with. Because of the work God is doing in me through this book, I'm starting to heal. Maybe you aren't overwhelmed, but you know someone who is. Buy this book for them. I'm buying a few to give away to people who are struggling, that's how much I believe God will use these words to help thousands who are searching for relief.

Overwhelmed doesn't go on sale until April 1st (that's no April fools). However, you can go ahead and pre-order a copy (the book title is linked so that you won't be "overwhelmed" looking for it).  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  Also, look for a chance to win a copy on Christian Gravy in the next few weeks.

Question:
Are you overwhelmed? What overwhelms you?