Before You Climb Any Higher: Valley Wisdom for Mountain Dreams

With this upbeat guide, McReynolds (Make Room), a Grammy-winning gospel singer, invites burned-out believers to seek comfort in their “true, core identity as a son or daughter of God.” After a hectic year touring the country and producing an album left him feeling like he was “choking alone in the high altitude,” he realized the professional success he’d achieved had come at the expense of relationships with friends, family, and God. He contrasts this achievement-obsessed “mountain mindset” with a “less glamorous but sustaining” valley mindset, in which one finds the “restoration” and “perspective-keeping” needed to live a full life. Tips for accessing the valley mindset include cultivating gratitude, serving others, and connecting with God via prayer, Bible study, or fasting. Despite hammering home his central metaphor a bit too hard in somewhat stilted prose (“Don’t do the climb without doing the time!”), McReynolds’s model of how to balance faith and professional aspirations gains credibility thanks to his candid personal anecdotes and refreshing sense of self-awareness. Christians who want to chase their dreams without forsaking their faith should take note. (Feb.)