Week 1: Introduction — The Treadmill We Can't Quit

1.Jennie Allen opens by describing a pervasive exhaustion among Christian women — a sense of striving that never quite delivers the peace it promises. Does her diagnosis resonate with your experience? What does your own version of 'striving' look like?

2.Allen argues that many of us are living as if we have something to prove — to God, to others, and to ourselves. Which of those three audiences do you find yourself performing for most often, and why?

3.The book's core claim is that we are 'not enough — but Jesus is.' Why is the first half of that statement (admitting we're not enough) so difficult for many Christians to actually believe and live out, even if they'd affirm it theologically?

4.Allen contrasts a life of striving with a life of 'overflow' — a soul so full of God that contentment and joy spill out naturally. Have you ever experienced seasons of that kind of overflow? What did they have in common?

5.Jesus's invitation in Matthew 11:28–30 is to come to him for rest, not to work harder for him. How have you understood that invitation in the past? Has your practice matched your theology?

6.Allen's own story involves public ministry and the unique pressures of visibility. Even if your life looks nothing like hers, where do the pressures of comparison and performance show up in your ordinary, daily world?

7.What do you hope to gain from this study? What would it look like — concretely, in your relationships and daily rhythms — if you finished this book with 'nothing to prove'?