The Grace of Enough

Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture

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Pub Date 22 Sep 2018 | Archive Date 14 Jan 2022

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Description

Do you ever feel caught in an endless cycle of working harder and longer to get more while enjoying life less? The Stewart family did—and they decided to make a radical change. Popular Catholic blogger and podcaster Haley Stewart explains how a year-long internship on a sustainable farm changed her family’s life for the better, allowing them to live gospel values more intentionally. 

When Haley Stewart married her bee-keeping sweetheart, Daniel, they dreamed of a life centered on home and family. But as the children arrived and Daniel was forced to work longer hours at a job he liked less and less, they dared to break free from the unending cycle of getting more yet feeling unfufilled. They sold their Florida home and retreated to Texas to live on a farm with a compost toilet and 650 square feet of space for a family of five. Surprisingly, they found that they had never been happier.

 

In The Grace of Enough,Stewart shares essential elements of intentional Christian living that her family discovered during that extraordinary year on the farm and that they continue to practice today. You, too, will be inspired to:

 

live simplyoffer hospitalityrevive food culture and the family tablereconnect with the landnurture communityprioritize beautydevelop a sense of wonderbe intentional about technologyseek authentic intimacycenter life around home, family, and relationships

 

Drawing from Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’,Stewart identifies elements of Catholic social teaching that will enhance your life and create a ripple effect of grace to help you overcome the effects of today’s “throwaway” culture and experience a deeper satisfaction and stronger faith.


Do you ever feel caught in an endless cycle of working harder and longer to get more while enjoying life less? The Stewart family did—and they decided to make a radical change. Popular Catholic...


A Note From the Publisher

Haley Stewart is a Catholic author, podcaster, and speaker who previously served as publications specialist and project coordinator at The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University. She also worked as a ballet instructor and rehearsal assistant at the South Georgia Ballet.

Stewart coauthored Feast! Real Food, Reflections, and Simple Living for the Christian Year with her husband, Daniel. She has contributed to America magazine, Verily, Catholic Exchange, The Art of Simple, and Aleteia. Stewart has appeared on CatholicTV, Relevant Radio, The Catholic Channel on SiriusXM Radio, Iowa Catholic Radio, and Real Life Radio.

Haley Stewart is a Catholic author, podcaster, and speaker who previously served as publications specialist and project coordinator at The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University. She also...


Advance Praise

“The collective conscious of our culture is desperately crying out for this message. Haley Stewart shows how to practically and bravely embrace the profound simplicity of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Stewart’s book connects with our longings for living the simple but abundant joy of Christ.”

Leah Darrow
International Catholic speaker and author of The Other Side of Beauty

“An antidote to throwaway culture; a blueprint to living a fulfilling life.” 

From the foreword by Brandon Vogt
Content director of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and author of Why I Am Catholic


“If you’ve ever yearned to make radical changes to your life that will bring you lasting satisfaction, this is the book for you.”

Jennifer Fulwiler
SiriusXM radio host and author of Something Other Than God


“We loved this fantastic story of faith, family, and discovering the joy of living on less. This book is a spiritually inspiring reminder to pause and reflect on how we can step away from the throwaway culture.”

Michele Faehnle and Emily Jaminet
Authors of Divine Mercy for Moms

 

“What sort of life is God calling you to live? That’s the question Haley Stewart’s delightful, yet challenging, new book invites you to consider. Though your answer may be different from hers, her honest sharing and insightful suggestions will invite you into a rich reflection on your own experience that will help you recognize that God is always enough.”

Mary Elizabeth Sperry
Author of Making Room for God

 

“Not everyone may follow Haley Stewart’s family’s example of selling their house and moving to a farm, but her mediations on the subject sharpened my hunger for the goods she was chasing, some as simple as the whole family being able to share lunch.”

Leah Libresco Sargeant
Author of Arriving at Amen

 

“Prophets wake us to our true state, call upon us to be better than we are, and demand that we think hard about the life we are living. And thus we shy away from prophets. Haley Stewart, however, won’t let us escape so easily. Hers is a genuinely prophetic voice, but one so full of fun and the sheer joy of living that she thoroughly charmed and convinced me. A wonderfully wise book for our confusing and misguided era.”

Paula Huston
Author of One Ordinary Sunday


“Our culture has proposed that the path to freedom entails working harder in order to have more. Our faith proposes a radically different idea. In this lovely book, Haley Stewart explores the idea of living simply—and it’s an idea that has the power to change the world.”

Tommy Tighe
Editor of The Catholic Hipster Handbook

 

 

“The collective conscious of our culture is desperately crying out for this message. Haley Stewart shows how to practically and bravely embrace the profound simplicity of living the Gospel of Jesus...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781594718175
PRICE US$16.95 (USD)

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Featured Reviews

In "The Grace of Enough," Haley Stewart does a great job of connecting the current trend of minimalism with Christian ethics. She tells the story of moving out of a suburban house in Florida to truly minimalist digs on a farm in Texas (compost toilets included). Lots of references to Catholicism, but perfectly appropriate for folks of other faith traditions as well. Great for church book clubs or adult discussion groups.

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Absolutely loved this book. I'm going to go back through it to take notes and write a more thorough review, but this book left me feeling an incredible amount of PEACE in this crazy world. It also left me inspired to think more about "throwaway culture" and how I can play my part both in the way I treat things and the way I treat people.

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Reading "The Grace of Enough" finally made me feel like I found another member of my tribe. In a highly commercial-oriented society like the U.S., deciding to opt out is a real countercultural decision. I liked the way the author described her decision-making process and some of the changes she and her family went through along the way. I also appreciated that reading the book challenged me to examine my own lifestyle but did not do so in a way that felt like I was being judged.

I also enjoyed the fact that you could clearly see how Catholic values informed their philosophies and decisions, but it wasn't heavy-handed or like it was trying to be a sermon. I would love to find more books like this -- and find more families like this in my area.

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A wonderful book; one that I am going to have a buy a hard copy of so that I can underline and make notes! It made me realise that Im not crazy to question our society's obsession with 'stuff'. A handbook for social change- highly recommended.

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Part memoir, part meditation on modern consumer culture, this is a lovely book for readers, regardless of religion. Christians will be inspired by the author's family's decision to live more faithfully by making do with less. Anyone tired of the race to accumulate more things will take her messages of simplicity and family to heart.

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Lovely book on finding God in going small and living on less. She made me laugh and think about how to make better decisions on how to treat God's earth and his people.

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The Grace of Enough by Haley Stewart is a wonderful call to live simply and deeply. Ms Stewart is a Catholic writer and explains her ideas in light of Catholic teachings. I am personally not Catholic but I still found her book very relevant to my faith and the way I want to live with my family. This book is a reminder of what is really important and what we really need. It does not take much for us to have enough. I highly recommend this book as one to keep and re-read often. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

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When Haley Stewart and her husband and children moved to a 650-square-foot apartment on a working farm with no flushing toilets in central Texas, many friends thought that they were mad. They were going a long way from friends and family, and they were leaving a house for a small apartment. Daniel was going to receive much lower pay. How would they cope?

However, life in the city was a struggle. Daniel was working long hours at a job he didn't like and didn't believe in, and Haley was working part-time while homeschooling. Daniel missed out on the children's bedtime, and Haley was considering increasing her working hours. In the end, they worked out that it was an expensive way to live, because they were eating out or getting fast food more often. Family time was declining.

Moving to the farm was the best thing they ever did. Haley combines the story of their move and how they regained what was essential in life with suggestions for readers in an interesting way. She has many lessons to share about the importance of simple things, such as eating with the family, involvement with the community, and sharing with others. This is about how to avoid the throwaway culture no matter where you live.

It is not just a decluttering book, and I must admit to being pleased that Haley and Daniel don't like the idea of parting with books!

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

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My family drastically downsized and simplified to live in an Airstream travel trailer. I was drawn to this book to read about someone else with a similar experience. I enjoyed this so much. I've suggested it to friends already and got so much out of it personally. It's written in a way that doesn't feel condemning as some books on simplifying can be. The first-hand stories of what their family's experience was like are funny, inspiring, and so much more. Loved this book!

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After reading The Grace of Enough, I'm now convinced that I need to read more Catholic writers, past and current. I very much enjoyed this book. It's simple, practical, and Stewart's ability to present her family's story as descriptive, rather than prescriptive is sadly all too rare in this type of book. As a single woman, I'm deeply appreciative of the repeated mention of unmarried people throughout the book and the dismissal of the idea that marriage is the ultimate goal. The thing that struck me most was the consistent reminder that the simple life she describes is not lived out solely for our own benefit, but for the benefit of our families, friends, neighbors, and communities. I'll be recommending this book regularly.

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