Genre: Nonfiction
Length: 336 pages
Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 56 minutes
First Published: 2012
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Publisher’s Description
Do you feel trapped in the machine of excess? Jen Hatmaker was. Her friends were. And some might say that our culture is. Jen once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but after she was called “rich” by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted and a social experiment turned spiritual journey was born.
7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of materialism and overindulgence: food, clothes, possessions, media and technology, spending, waste, and stress.
So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends a social experiment to become a radically better life. Revised and updated to reflect newer challenges of modern life, 7 is funny, raw, and not a guilt trip in the making, so come along and consider what Jesus’ version of rich, blessed, and generous might look like in your life.
Quotes from 7
Usually the things we think we need become the very things we need a break from.
Teaching by example, radical obedience, justice, mercy, activism, and sacrifice wholly inspires me. I’m at that place where “well done” trumps “well said.”
The dangerous part of our social media and technologically saturated world is not its existence but what it distracts us from.
I don’t need to have the most, be the best, or reach the top. It is okay to pursue a life marked by obscurity and simplicity. It doesn’t matter what I own or how I’m perceived.
If we all raised others up instead of raising ourselves a little higher, there would be few needs left on earth.
About Jen Hatmaker
Jen Hatmaker is a Christian speaker, blogger, and author. Her books include For the Love, 7, and Of Mess and Moxie, and Fierce, Free, Full of Fire. She also starred in the HGTV series, My Big Family Renovation. She currently lives in Austin, Texas. Visit the author’s website →