Whole: Restoring What Is Broken in Me, You, and The Entire World

Beautifully written, and the honesty in its pages invites the reader’s honesty—which is, in my view, one of the best things a book can do.

Steve Wiens is a writer unique in my experience of reading books, and I have read a lot of them. What is unique about Whole is that he inserts you (me!) into the biblical story in a way that makes the story convincingly contemporary with us. His children (he has boys), his wife (one wife), and his friends (he has many) become authentically biblical, and we find ourselves living in our own backyards what we previously had only read about.

If you are looking for a simplistic solution to the brokenness you see in the world (and in yourself), this book won’t be helpful. But if you’re willing to leave the known for the unknown and if you dare to ask the soul-enriching questions found in Steve Wiens’s imaginative work, you just might find your-self on the road to wholeness.

I’ve been lucky enough to sit around a fire in Steve’s backyard and talk into the night, and I left that evening feeling as though I’d been breathing fresh air into my lungs. You will feel the same when you read Whole. Steve has a gift for telling stories that connect at the deepest level to your own story. This is inspired and compassionate writing that invites us to step into our own promised land.

Many authors who brave the subject of brokenness lead us down one of two paths: One glosses over the pain with sugary anecdotes or bulleted prescriptions. The other leaves us wallowing in the pain a bit too long, with perhaps no hope for redemption. Rarely does an author show us another way. Steve Wiens does just that—carving out a new trail where brokenness meets beauty, where humility is a catalyst for becoming whole.

Steve Wiens’s book Whole stopped me in my tracks. It is a timely, prophetic message not only for the culture and church at large but also for every individual seeking a life of shalom on a deeply personal level. This book forced me to look at others with compassion and gentleness, grace and potential. But more important, it forced me to look inwardly at myself with that same gentle spirit. I’m so grateful for this book, and I look forward to handing out copies to everyone I know along the path to wholeness.

Steve reminds us that it is in the ordinary of everyday life that we are daily invited to experience and participate in the extraordinary. Not extraordinary in the sense of superheroes, but in the simple journey of living into who we were created to be all along. We are the restored ones, and in the sacred mundane of everyday life, we are invited to participate with God in restoring our broken world. This book is not only a reminder of who we are but also an invitation into our collective healing. Let’s get after it together.

I am a huge fan of pastor Steve Wiens and his savory new book, Whole. I tore into it, huge chunks at a time, hoping that his words would heal the hunger in me. Instead, he convinced me that hunger is the lifeblood of being human and that questions are, like bread crumbs, the path to wholeness. If you, too, need fresh perspective on your story, Wiens is a salty sage worth reading.