Jennie Allen has long been a follower of Christ and has devoted her life to Him. With her popular Bible studies Stuck and Chase, and her books Anything, Restless, and Nothing to Prove, she’s helped bring countless women to the Lord. Happily married, with three children and a thriving ministry, Jennie felt so blessed – but she also felt a longing for something more. She knew she had built up walls that only Christ could bring down. One night, determined to break down those barriers and build an even deeper relationship with Christ, she, along with her husband, prayed the most radical prayer she could think of: “I will do anything for you. Anything.” After that night, everything changed – and her relationship with God was never the same.
A thousand small deaths accompanied this simple prayer of surrender as God instilled profound transformation and a focused passion within Jennie, her family, and even her church. Her first book Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul is a testimony of Jennie’s soul-deep transformation brought about by the Spirit of God.
The message “live radically” floats around in churches and Bible studies today, but what does that actually look like? Jennie admits that God “wrecked her life,” and challenges women to consider what surrender looks like in their own lives without making it a competition or guilt-trip. Maybe God is asking you to radically change your plans or maybe He is simply asking for your obedience where you already are. For Jennie and her husband, Zac, one of the results of their anything prayer was to add to their family of five with the adoption of their youngest son, Cooper, from Rwanda.
Jennie is passionate about seeing women accept God’s invitation to take part in His work as she captures the beauty (and trials) of accepting His invitation through surrendering. Let the simple, yet life-changing thought that if God is really real and we are going to live with Him forever, shouldn’t He be the only thing? awaken you to what God is up to in your life and what He is asking of you, Jennie says.
Although Jennie graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters in Biblical Studies, she claims that she is “really just a mess of a girl, trying to figure out God, and why I seem to keep struggling with the same invisible issues I had in kindergarten.” Jennie’s refreshingly authentic style of speaking and writing enables her to walk alongside women as a friend. Her passion through her writing and speaking is to communicate to women everywhere that God is bigger and worth the cost of complete surrender.
J) had the pleasure of sitting down with Jennie before a recent conference to talk about her story of surrender, the obstacles in getting there, and how God used it to unlock her relationship with Christ so she would become totally His.
Jennie Allen
JBU:
Tell us how you came to Christ?
Jennie: I was raised in a Christian home, but it wasn’t until I was seventeen that I really saw Christ and truly came to Him. I was at Kanakuk Kamp. I’d been there several times, and each time they had this reenactment of the day Christ died. But that one night when I was seventeen, it was different. For the first time I truly saw Christ. I saw my sin, and I saw that it put Him there. I saw the true cost. I saw His true loving mercy. And my heart just opened so wide. Everything changed. That’s when God became real to me – truly real. My “plastic God” was gone, replaced by something real and tangible and amazing.
JBU:
Tell us what led up to your “anything” prayer, specifically Katie Davis’ influence.
Jennie: I learned of Katie Davis from a friend of mine. We were out to dinner and she started telling me about Katie. How she had all these great things – a nice car, a nice boyfriend, that she was a great student and had a strong faith – but she felt this call to go to Uganda for a year before she went to college. That year totally changed her life. She came back to the States, but nothing was the same, and she felt called to go back. Now she’s living in Uganda with thirteen adopted children! I was just blown away by her story, her faith, and her willingness to obey God.
That night, I came home and grabbed my computer and started reading Katie’s blogs. It just “wrecked” me. Everything I had built up came crashing down. The life I thought I’d have, what I’d do – everything. I grieved it all, because they were all my plans, not necessarily God’s. That night I wept and said, “From this point on, everything changes. I will do anything You ask.”
JBU:
How was this time of surrender different than any other time you surrendered to the Lord?
Jennie: Everything just broke. All my walls came down. All my ideas and plans were gone. I literally got rid of all of that. I was totally ready to do anything God wanted. It didn’t mean I wasn’t scared! But I was ready.
JBU:
What happened when you and your husband prayed that prayer and surrendered all?
Jennie: We started hearing from God in a big way. All our walls were down. We started seeing His direction for us more and more. We sought His counsel on things like, “Should we sell our house and move overseas for ministry?” and “We have an empty bedroom – how should we fill it? Should we fill it?” Our hearts just opened so wide and suddenly everything was so clear. We were seeing God lead us in both big and small directions. A big direction was adoption. God led us all the way to Africa. And now we are the proud parents of a little boy from Rwanda – our Cooper.
JBU:
How did this prayer affect other people in your life – your children, friends, church, and marriage?
Jennie: I think it had different effects on people. People were supportive, but I think at first it freaked some people out! What would “anything” mean? What would it look like? But it really had a domino effect, especially at our church. We saw people giving more – not just financially, but personally, emotionally, and spiritually. They were putting themselves in situations outside of their comfort zones because they felt led. They were ready for their own “anything.” That didn’t mean everyone had to sell their house and give all their money away…everyone’s “anything” is different. But I saw people acting on it and it was amazing.
JBU:
What things did you have to die to as a result of this prayer?
Jennie: So many things. All my dreams of what I thought I should have and those things I wanted. I never wanted a “normal” life, but I did like having a comfortable life! It’s great to have a nice house, a nice car, and a Starbucks nearby. It’s hard to let those things go! It’s hard to let go of what’s comfortable and step outside of your comfort zone. But that’s what I had to do – I had to give it up to God. I had to say, “If you want it, take it. Show me where you want me to be and do.” To some things we offered up, He said, “Nope, not that,” but there were other things He said yes give that up. I like to say there were a thousand little deaths, but the life we were given – this renewed joy and relationship and life in Christ – it is so worth it.
JBU:
How do we get to a place of trust as we surrender our all to Christ?
Jennie: We have to begin with asking ourselves, “What do we believe about God?” We have to trust His nature, His goodness. We have to lay our hands and future in His hands. It’s a big decision to trust an invisible God entirely. It’s hard for me; I fear He’ll make me suffer,or make me or my family give up the things we love. But then I realize that He’s not here to punish us. It’s for our own good. When I prayed my “anything” prayer, I found there is a peace in letting go that I’d only heard about. In Scripture, God promised freedom and that our yoke would be light, but a lot of us aren’t experiencing this because we’re still living as if He doesn’t have us.
It makes me think of those spinning rides at the carnival. The ride spins, but then you sit in cars that you can spin, too. My kids always want to spin the car more, but as the adult, I want to hold back! We all try to take the wheel as if we can get a handle on it, but our whole lives are set in motion by a sovereign God. He’s got us; He’s moving us. We can rest and trust in that.
JBU:
Once kids come along and all that’s involved in living life, why do you think women’s passion for the things of God fades?
Jennie: We get distracted. It’s not something evil, it’s just that we get so busy, and everyone needs us – kids, husbands, schools… We all have a lot on our plate. I don’t think God’s always telling us to take something off or not put more on. Instead, I think we need to shift the way we view our plate.
God wants to be present in our week. Part of our fear and our wrestling is that He’ll call us to uproot and move, but more than likely He’ll just call us to a daily walk with Him through our lives. We need to abide. We need to change our view, even if we’re doing something as simple as sweeping the kitchen floor. As we walk, He helps us see opportunities as we go. God asks of us things both small and big. But if we truly look and listen, we can find this in things we were doing, instead of God ordaining every step.
JBU:
How do we make our lives become small so God can become big?
Jennie: By not pushing Him into boxes and instead let Him get big. As He gets big, we get small. It helps us see that our lives are really just a few years here. In knowing God, He gets bigger and the things of this earth grow strangely dim.
JBU:
How do we become willing to give God everything when we don’t want to?
Jennie: I don’t think we ever don’t want to. On a spiritual level, we were made to do so. Some of us ache to do so. In Ecclesiastes it says God writes eternity into the hearts of men. There is some storyline that’s beckoning us: live for this, live for Me, trust Me. But I think we’re wired, especially as women, to control. We want to control because we think we can do better. Instead, we have to say “You got this God,” and let go. They are little words – so easy to say, yet it’s so painful and hard to let go. But the rewards are worth it.
JBU:
How did you overcome your fears when God called you into the public ministry of writing and teaching?
Jennie: Even though I’ve worked on my fears, I still feel fearful at times. Every day I feel like I am waiting to get over that. I’ve done it long enough that I realize I won’t! But I do it anyway. I do it because there’s a God that wants to get to His people, and He wants me to play a role. I want to play that role for His sake. And in the meantime, it’s exciting to be part of the story of God wherever I am. It could be getting my kids’ clothes for school so they can thrive or speaking to an auditorium of women. No matter what I do, it’s fulfilling. I know God more because I am so afraid. I cling to Him because I’m so aware that I can’t do it alone. In fact, my hands still shake! But it serves as a reminder that I’m not “all that” – but He’s doing this through me. He’s my strength and my courage.
JBU:
What needs are you seeing in women today? What keeps them from a place of really giving all to God?
Jennie: I see a few big needs. One is a sense of purpose. We recognize we’re not here long and want to spend our lives in the way God had ordained us to. We have a great vision, but we are so busy with work, kids, travel…it’s difficult to pull away from life and think about gifts and purposes and passions and how we should be spending our time. I think women need a space to dream about their purpose.
I think women also need community – a safe, caring community that provides freedom and grace to wrestle with the Word of God. Women need a safe space with friends who offer grace – a place where they are not being judged. A place where they are able to process doubts and fears. It’s in that struggle that we truly build our relationship with Christ.
I also think women are starving for deep theology. They want to understand the Bible’s depth of who God is. They’re saying “Don’t hold back – bring it! Even if it’s hard, even if I need to wrestle with it, I want it. Because this helps deepen my understanding and brings me closer to God.”
JBU:
How do we deal with the attacks from the enemy that will ultimately come when we choose to be all about God?
Jennie: Understand that attacks will come. They’ve come for me and everyone I know that has surrendered. We are all fighting our battles in different forms. So don’t fear it. Instead, expect it, put it in its place, and understand it is part of obedience and is not punishment. God said if you follow Me, you will have persecution, suffering, so do expect it. We need to almost embrace it as part of our life here.
Remember, there are multiple purposes in allowing these attacks: for us to change, to see Christ, to want heaven more, and to fight evil more. We take our place in His story in a bigger way when our appetite for this world diminishes. We just need to expect these attacks, prepare for them, and cling to God when they happen.
JBU:
How do we continue to pray the “anything” prayer?
Jennie: Pray it daily. Some days, you might have to pray it moment to moment! Know that there will be big markers and daily markers. You’ll be able to look back and say, “On that day, God did something big.” One marker for me was on the first day I prayed the “anything” prayer. That was a huge shift and my life hasn’t been the same since. But to be fair, the same sins, struggles, and temptations are still there. My life didn’t become perfect after that prayer. We need to understand that it’s a shift, not a fix, and we need to keep praying the “anything” prayer because of that.
We need to make decisions based on heaven and not just this life. We need to realize we’re living for something greater, even when we’re doing something like sweeping the floor. Nothing is small, nothing is mundane. Seeing not just this life on earth, but knowing there is eternal life with our Father in heaven changes the way we do life every day. It’s a good reminder to us that we need to keep praying the “anything” prayer daily.
JBU:
If you could tell women one thing about your own experience with the “anything” prayer, what would it be?
Jennie: It’s worth it. It’s worth it! There is a freedom on the other side that I didn’t know existed. There’s joy and purpose and more of God. In it was a thousand little deaths, but it has also unlocked peace and joy and freedom that I had only read about in Scripture before. And it’s still continuing, each and every day.