Jesus tells Peter he’s about to be “sifted like wheat”—shaken hard, beaten, and agitated until he practically falls apart. Satan’s going to do it. And Jesus is going to allow it, in the interest of showing Peter who he really is. Lawrence uses the simple agrarian metaphor of sifting as a jumping-off point for a rigorously honest, deeply challenging, yet powerfully comforting exploration of the trials that beat us down, the good God who allows our troubles, and the incredible beauty the process of sifting can reveal in us.

    There are no verse references, and Scripture segments are seamlessly woven together with transition text into a single grand narrative. For those intimidated or overwhelmed by the unabridged Bible, The Story helps people understand God’s Word more fully and engage with it more easily.Simple, accessible, and easy to use, churches are finding The Story a powerful way to engage their people in Bible reading like never before. As The Story brings the Bible to life, the broad scope of God’s message will penetrate hearts. People of all ages will be swept up in the story of God’s love and God’s plan for their lives.God goes to great lengths to rescue lost and hurting people. That is what The Story is all about: the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity. Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, The Story sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation. Using the clear, accessible text of the NIV Bible, it allows the stories, poems, and teachings of the Bible to read like a novel. And like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption; and this story’s true! “This book tells the grandest, most compelling story of all time: the story of a true God who loves his children, who established for them a way of salvation and provided a route to eternity. Each story in these 31 chapters reveals the God of grace---the God who speaks; the God who acts; the God who listens; the God whose love for his people culminated in his sacrifice of Jesus, his only Son, to atone for the sins of humanity.”

    As they pursued their dreams, they planted their lives in the city and in their church community. Their son, James, came along unexpectedly in the fall of 2007, and just 6 months later, everything changed in a moment for this young family.On April 21, 2008, as James slept in the other room, Katherine collapsed, suffering a massive brain stem stroke without warning. Miraculously, Jay came home in time and called for help. Katherine was immediately rushed into micro-brain surgery, though her chance of survival was slim. As the sun rose the next morning, the surgeon proclaimed that Katherine had survived the removal of part of her brain, though her future recovery was completely uncertain. Yet in that moment, there was a spark of hope. Through 40 days on life support in the ICU and nearly 2 years in full-time brain rehab, that spark of hope was fanned into flame.Defying every prognosis, with grit and grace, Katherine and Jay, side by side, struggled to regain a life for Katherine as she re-learned to talk and eat and walk. Returning home with a severely disabled body but a completely renewed purpose, they committed to celebrate this gift of a second chance by embracing life fully, even though that life looked very different than they could have ever imagined. In the midst of continuing hardships and struggles, both in body and mind, Katherine and Jay found what we all long to find...hope, hope that heals the most broken place, our souls.An excruciating yet beautiful road to recovery has led the Wolf family to their new normal, in which almost every moment of life is marked with the scars of that fateful April day in 2008. Now, eight years later, Katherine and Jay are stewarding their story of suffering, restoration, and Christ-centered hope in this broken world through their ministry Hope Heals.

    One day at the end of 2009, during a routine eye exam that Nora Gallagher nearly skipped, her doctor said, “Darn.” Her right optic nerve was inflamed, the cause unknown, a condition that if left untreated would cause her to lose her sight. And so began her departure from ordinary life and her travels in what she calls Oz, the land of the sick. It looks like the world most of us inhabit, she tells us, except that “the furniture is slightly rearranged”: her friends can’t help her, her trusted doctors don’t know what’s wrong, and what faith she has left just won’t cover it. After a year of searching for a diagnosis and treatment, she arrives at the Mayo Clinic and finds a whole town built around Oz.In the course of her journey, Gallagher encounters inhuman doctors, the modern medical system—in which knowledge takes fifteen years to trickle down—and the strange world that is the famous Mayo Clinic, complete with its grand piano. With unerring candor, and no sentimentality whatsoever, Gallagher describes the unexpected twists and turns of the path she took through a medical mystery and an unfathomably changing life. In doing so, she gives us a singular, luminous map of vulnerability and dark landscapes. “It’s the nature of things to be vulnerable,” Gallagher says. “The disorder is imagining we are not.”

    From angel appearances in hospital rooms to a mother saved from a would-be assailant in Hyde Park, from a young autistic girl becoming a beautiful ballerina overnight to a young backpacker who walked away from a terrorist attack, It’s a God Thing presents some of the most amazing stories of God’s hand on our lives.Be motivated as never before to look for and witness the incredible ways that God is interacting in your life and the lives of those around you.“With their new book, It’s a God Thing, I believe K-LOVE and my friend Don Jacobson will call friends of Jesus everywhere to look for His capers around the world! Do you know why God involves Himself in our lives? Because God is love and love does!” —Bob Goff, author of the New York Times bestseller Love Does“Every day we all are faced with stress, situations we can’t control and often the fear that we really are all alone. . . . These stories give us courage in times of peril and strengthen us when we feel helpless.”—TobyMac, top Christian artist and Grammy Award winner“In It’s a God Thing true servants of God share how their lives were transformed when their understanding became the Father’s. What a blessing to be a child of the King!” —Missy Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty“There is so much going on around us that we never see. Life is all about perspective, and when that lines up with the hand of God, it is remarkable to witness. This book and collection of stories from my friends at K-LOVE will inspire and encourage you greatly!” —Andy Andrews, New York Times best-selling author, The Noticer and The Traveler’s Gift“Sometimes I’m guilty of looking so hard for God that I miss Him right in front of me. May we all be reminded through It’s a God Thing that some of the simplest moments in life can quite possibly be some of God’s greatest miracles.”—Bart Millard, lead singer of MercyMe“Nothing astonished people in the New Testament more than watching Jesus perform a miracle right before their eyes—and nothing inspires us today more than hearing He did it again! My good friend Don Jacobson, publisher of The Prayer of Jabez, has once again launched the perfect message for today—don’t miss it!”—Bruce Wilkinson, author, The Prayer of Jabez“There is nothing better than hearing others talk about the ways that God has intervened in their lives. Miracles happen every day all around the world. These stories are incredible.”—Robert D. Smith, author, 20,000 Days and Counting“God doesn’t need for us to be aware of the miracles He’s performing, but they’re happening every day! It’s a God Thing, a new book from K-LOVE, is a powerful vehicle to tell the story of a number of those miracles.”—Brandon Heath, 2008 New Artist of the Year Dove Award winner

    Offered by her noble family to the Church at the age of eight, she lived for years in forced silence. But through the study of books and herbs, through music and the kinship of her church sisters, Hildegard found her way from a life of submission to a calling that celebrated the divine mother and the glories all around us. In this brilliantly researched and insightful novel, Mary Sharratt offers a deeply moving portrait of a woman willing to risk everything for what she believed, a triumphant exploration of the life she might well have lived.

    Rita is known as the \"Saint of the Impossible\" because of her amazing answers to prayers, as well as the remarkable events of her own life. Desirous of being a nun, she instead obeyed her parents and married. Her husband was cruel, and caused her much suffering, to which she responded with love and prayers and eventually converted him. After the death of her husband and two sons, Rita was able to enter a convent, where she devoted herself to prayer and penance. She abandoned herself totally to God, diminishing herself as He increased in her. An inspiring story of a soul completely resigned to God\'s will. 132 pgs, PB

    We live in those few moments between the first and the second crow of the rooster: between decision and indecision, between knowing and being known. But do you even care? Small decisions made today establish our path for all time, and yet we piddle with a piece of this and a taste of that. We diet on wisdom from antiquity and gorge on culture that is next month's joke. This story is an opportunity to gorge on Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, in context. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and an opportunity to see for yourself what it actually is, rather than what we mold it to be, and to finally choose whether or not to care. Through small stories and a modern context, this book will help you understand and decide what you believe about the greatest story ever told."

    Until one intense night in the Jamaican Blue Mountains that allowed him to see himself in the mirror of grace, changing everything. The Secret Life of a Fool is Andrew Palau's unforgettable journey of running from God -- and the crushing, freeing experience of coming back to Him. It is a story of getting high, burning up cars, being stranded in Europe, surviving a near-fatal plane crash, and utter despair overcome by simple grace and a father's love, expressed in excerpted letters throughout this book.

    The first was delivered just eleven days after his daughter's diagnosis of leukemia, the second after her first major relapse nine months later, and the third weeks after her death. The final sermon--a reflection on the process of grieving--was preached three years later.With more than a million copies sold, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler is once again available in a hardcover edition, perfect for gift-giving, or for anyone seeking God's comfort in difficult times to read and cherish.

    Russell tells of the lessons he learned and how he was able to witness to those that held him captive. His story is one of which we all can learn from.Extended description The terror began on August 14, 1983. American bush pilot Russell Stendal, on routine business, landed his plane in a remote Colombian village. Gunfire exploded throughout the town and within minutes Russell's 142 day ordeal had begun. The guerrilla fighters explained that this was a kidnapping for ransom and that he would be held until payment was made.Held at gunpoint deep in the jungle and with little else to occupy his time, Russell began to write. He told the story of his life and kept a record of his experience in the guerrilla camp. His "book" became a bridge to the men who held him and now serves as the basis for this incredible true story of how God's love penetrated a physical and ideological jungle.

    As they travel, the boy tries to unlock the secret of his birth and comprehend his terrifying power to work miracles. Anne Rice's dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel, based on the gospels and the most respected New Testament scholarship, summons up the voice, the presence, and the words of Jesus, allowing him to tell his own story as he struggles to grasp the holy purpose of his life.INCLUDES A NEW INTRODUCTION AND A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

    Rejection. Addiction. Anger. Comfort...Must Fall. It’s likely you have a threatening giant in your life…an adversary or stronghold that’s diminishing your ability to live a full and free life. Frozen in the grip of rejection, fear, anger, comfort, or addiction, we lose sight of the promise God has for our lives. Demoralized and defeated, we settle for far less than his best.God has a better plan for you, a plan for you to live in victory. That’s why he has silenced your giant once and for all.In Goliath Must Fall, pastor Louie Giglio uncovers a newfound twist in the classic story of David and Goliath. The key to living free from our giants is not better slingshot accuracy, but keeping our eyes on the one and only giant-slayer—Jesus. Put your hope in him and watch Goliath fall.

    S. Lewis his thoughts on some of the most difficult questions of life? If you could, the result would be Dr. Alister McGrath’s provocative and perceptive book, If I Had Lunch with C. S. Lewis. Best-selling author, prominent academic, and sought-after speaker, Dr. McGrath sees C. S. Lewis as the perfect conversation companion for the persistent meaning-of-life questions everyone asks.What makes Lewis a good dialogue partner is that his mind traveled through a wide and varied terrain: from atheism of his early life to his conversion later in life; from his rational skepticism to his appreciation of value of human desires and imagination; from his role as a Christian apologist during World War II to his growth as a celebrated author of classic children’s literature. The questions Lewis pondered persist today: Does life have meaning? Does God exist? Can reason and imagination be reconciled? Why does God allow suffering?Let McGrath be your insightful guide to an intriguing conversation with Lewis about the ultimate questions.

    And more than helping you find your way out, this book will help you find your way through that place.