Weekend Reads: Chaos Can’t by Allen Arnold (Desiree)

HELLOOOOOO!! Ah, I’m SO EXCITED to be joining the list of contributors for Lands Uncharted! It’s an honor to come alongside these lovely individuals in the pursuit to serve the fantasy writer/ reader community. 

I can’t wait to visit with you! So feel free to pull up a virtual chair and let’s gush about this week’s Weekend Read. 

Quick Backstory 

As with all readers, I have an ever-evolving TBR pile full of fictional adventures begging for me to join them. (Those beauties have become rather demanding of late!) However, like other creatives, the writer in me has been struggling over the course of the last few years. 

A wrestling of sorts had erupted over any art I would attempt to create. More often than not, I’d crumbled under the weight of fears, heartache, anxiety, depression, etc. The beginning of each new creative adventure would start off well, but then would fizzle out before I even reached the middle’s threshold. *face-palm* 

I have a computerized trove of unfinished stories. No joke! I feel like Ariel with her collection of thingumabobs. :-) 

The emotional rollercoaster had become too much of a trend. Too much of an ongoing distraction steering me further and further away from the person God had destined for me to become. 

There had to be a way off the crazy ride—a permanent exiting from the chaotic ebb and flow of life. Thankfully, God had a plan that was much bigger than me. :-) 

The thing about Chaos

Chaos Can’t: Overcome What Comes Against You in This Shaken World 

by Allen Arnold 

326 pages 

I actually had the opportunity to hear Allen Arnold speak at a writer’s conference in 2018. His session thoroughly blessed my creative heart, and I immediately dove into his book Story of WITH shortly after the conference.

And while his latest book, Chaos Can’t, isn’t a sequel by any means, it does build further upon the concept of journeying with God rather than focusing on working for God. This book explores the healing, victories, and fullness that comes with building that oneness with God, the Father.

It might just be me, but I can’t help feeling a sense of providence over the fact Allen had been working on this book, for individuals in all creative walks of life, to be available in the midst of a global pandemic. This wasn’t something he just whipped together because of the dumper-fire known as 2020. This had been planned in advance, to equipped those ready to become overcomers.

But the thing about Chaos is that it’s always going to be present. Whether it’s a pandemic, a family health crisis, addiction, a broken marriage, job loss, overdo bills, etc.

Chaos lurkers around every corner, ready to devour everyone who walks past unaware. Not only that, Chaos will also launch strategic attacks against any who seeks to use their gifts to bring light into this word.

Because, as Allen talks about in his book, Chaos brings an atmosphere of void and death. But Christ has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly [ref. John 10:10]

The best part?

Chaos Can’t isn’t a TEDTalk kind of thing. This book is a resource to equipped creatives of all kinds to overcome Chaos for good. The book my little heart has been needing!

Yet it isn’t designed to just pat you on the back and send you on your way.

Chaos Can’t is packed full of SO MUCH wisdom, inspiration, and applicable tools that can help you journey with God to climb out of the hole Chaos threw you into.

The applicable lessons will—if you put in the work—help you stay out of the hole longterm. [insert cheering here :-D] God is inviting His children to encounter a freedom beyond anything we’ve ever envisioned having in life.

I won’t claim this book will change anyone’s life. Only God can do that.

However, if you’re like me—an empathic writer who pours so much emotion into her writing—then the tools and deep thoughts shared within Chaos Can’t will be an investment you won’t regret making. :-)

We can be vessels of light who co-create with God to bring life into the areas Chaos has caused darkness and death. And I don’t know about you, but I think our world could use a lot more goodness and light.

(p.s. I’m actually on my way to finishing one of those gems in my story trove!! Eeee! Take that Chaos. #micdrop)

(p.p.s what’s a book releasing this year you can’t wait to get your hands on? I kinda have to dive into my TBR pile, but I’m always on the lookout for new reads to add to the list!)