Jen Wise - The Bright Life: 40 Invitations to Reclaim Your Energy for the Full Life

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In our frenetic, stress-filled, work-drunk culture, Jen Wise offers a hope-filled way forward. Rest. Space. Health. Stillness. Quiet. These are ingredients in the recipe for true life in Christ.

Jens charming stories and warm writing style make this book easy to engage with, but her direct challenge to live a counter-cultural life by embracing the unforced rhythms of grace reminds us it will be costly. But as Jen also reminds us: its worth it.

J. R. BRIGGS, AUTHOR OF FAIL: FINDING HOPE AND GRACE IN THE MIDST OF MINISTRY FAILURE;

FOUNDER, KAIROS PARTNERSHIPS

This book is for anyone who needs to take a step back, regroup, and find God in the messiness of life. Jen as a narrator is both refreshing and honest, leading us into a full conversation about grace, health, and a vibrant life. Take forty days to read this book and watch your attitude and energy change.

HANNAH BRENCHER, AUTHOR; FOUNDER, MORE LOVE LETTERS; ONLINE EDUCATOR

ZONDERVAN

The Bright Life

Copyright 2018 by Jen Wise

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Epub Edition November 2018 9780310351122

ISBN 978-0-310-35111-5 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-35113-9 (audio)

ISBN 978-0-310-35112-2 (ebook)

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

Interior illustrations: iStock Photo/mashuk

Cover design: Micah Kandros

Cover photo: zamurovic photography

First printing October 2018 / Printed in the United States of America

For Ellington & Breckin

May you always shine bright

T his one goes out to the women whose work is never finished. To the women who are tiredrunning too hard. To the ones who feel that what they have to give is never enough, that they are not enough. Im with you.

We can so clearly see the life we want. We get glimpses of how things could be, but theres this relentless, discouraging gap between how things are, and how we want them to behow we know they should be. We see it in our homes, our families, our world, and maybe, most alarmingly, in ourselves.

So we chase it. We try harder. We cram more into our daywaking early, staying up late. If only we could be a bit more efficient, make no mistakes, then wed be able to get our homes in order, our careers in order, our families in order, our world in order.

But there are just so many problems. Its overwhelming and heartbreaking. Countries rage, communities rage, families ragebut we know we can help. Were healers. Were not afraid of hard work. Were brave and full of big love. Yet the problems are just as big. And no matter how much we love, and how hard we work, we never see the healed and whole world we long forbut we try, we give, we pour ourselves out.

And we dont skip a beattheres no grace for ourselvesbecause if we falter, slow down, take a break, everything will fall to pieces. Well fail. Well lose our spot in our social circles. Well be left behind in our careers. Our children wont thrive. The world will burn. And well never achieve that life we want.

Is it any wonder were crumbling under the pressure? That our minds, bodies, and relationships are running on fumes? We just cant go on this way. I know this is true because Ive seen it all come crashing down.

A few years ago, my husband, Jon, began experiencing a growing, inexplicable pain that moved through his limbs. With no answers, his symptoms continued to worsen over a period of eighteen months until one night in January the pain levels skyrocketed. He could barely move, barely get out of bed. I helped him dress to get to the hospital where the doctors told us it was a flare upof what, they werent sure. It will be a long week waiting this out, they said, but its just a week.

Jon didnt get any better that week. Instead, he stayed at such a high level of pain for the large majority of that year that he essentially limped out of bed in the morning, worked, hobbled back into the house, and rested until bedtime. On top of this, he experienced a constant parade of side effects and complications associated with the many trial-and-error medications. We had no end in sight, no progress, no proper diagnosis. We were utterly terrified.

Toward the end of that year, we finally got an appointment with a top-level specialist. He took Jon off all of the medications (pills, shots, weekly infusionsthe works), and gave him these instructions: get full nights of sleep, go to yoga and swim, take long weekends away, go to counseling, quit one of your jobs, take up a hobby, and reduce stress. This was the actual prescription. Unreal.

Heres the thing: I had been talking about, writing about, and caring about holistic faith for years. I believed wholeheartedly that our faith in Jesus infiltrates all parts of our lives, not just the traditionally religious elements. Somehow though, it really only manifested in our lives in ways that kept us insanely busy, giving too much of ourselves, and running on empty. We were hospitable to a fault, trying to make a difference like we were the only hope of the world, lacking boundaries of any sort, and sleeping only four or five hours a night in order to fit everything in.

We took the doctors advice and within a couple weeks we saw improvement for the very first time. Groundbreaking.

Since then, its been a slow and steady climb to health with some bumps and missteps along the way. Somehow, for Jon and I as for many of us, taking care of ourselves is not as second nature as it should be. We tend to gravitate toward overwork, toward trying to get ahead, toward earning approval. The natural way of life is surprisingly unnatural.