Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People


Bob Goff - 2018
    The path toward the liberated existence we all long for is found in a truth as simple to say as it is hard to do: love people, even the difficult ones, without distinction and without limits.Driven by Bob’s trademark storytelling, Everybody, Always reveals the lessons Bob learned--often the hard way--about what it means to love without inhibition, insecurity, or restriction. From finding the right friends to discovering the upside of failure, Everybody, Always points the way to embodying love by doing the unexpected, the intimidating, the seemingly impossible. Whether losing his shoes while skydiving solo or befriending a Ugandan witch doctor, Bob steps into life with a no-limits embrace of others that is as infectious as it is extraordinarily ordinary. Everybody, Always reveals how we can do the same.

The Message


Lance Richardson - 2000
    While his body was being kept alive by medical support equipment, his spirit passed into the world beyond. In "The Message," Lance describes his experience in the world of spirits and delivers to us a message giving a greater understanding of the importance of families and the future of America. He was also taught concerning a most important principle of their society of peace, which, if followed by the people of this great nation, would rescue us from self-destruction.

When You Can't Do It Alone


Brent L. Top - 2008
    But what happens when you experience challenges and difficulties that leave you so spiritually exhausted that you can't see God's hand in your life? As a newly called mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, author Brent L. Top experienced a severe emotional and spiritual crisis. Desperate for help, he discovered that knowing where to turn is not enough; we must allow the Savior to rescue us. With remarkable candor, this gospel teacher shares a deeply personal story as he describes six essential ways to survive whatever trials we face. With compassion and understanding, he offers practical suggestions on how to say focused on Christ and take hold of His outstreched hand when the storms of life are raging. This insightful and encouraging book is a must for anyone dealing with adversity.

Joseph Smith the Prophet


Truman G. Madsen - 1978
    This one the product of Truman Madsen's deep love for the subject and years of research illuminates specific facets of Joseph Smith s greatness. The topics discussed include Joseph Smith's First Vision; his personality and character (including perspectives on his family life); his spiritual gifts and attributes; his varied trials; his Kirtland Temple experience; doctrinal developments in the Nauvoo era; and the last months and martyrdom. The book is filled with fascinating detail about key events in the Prophet's life and his impact on people. The result is a vivid, riveting portrayal of this remarkable prophet. Those who knew Joseph Smith best testified that he lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people. This wonderful book by a beloved scholar will serve to confirm and strengthen that conviction for Latter-day Saints today.

Mary, Martha, And Me: Seeking the One Thing That Is Needful


Camille Fronk Olson - 2006
    We understand that Marthas are certainly useful and necessary, but it's usually Mary that gets the halo. Author Camille Fronk Olson brings unique insights and perspectives to the biblical story of two sisters, Mary and Martha, who serve Jesus in different ways. Exploring the mixed messages in daily life, she discusses the motives and focus that determine our choices and the problem of comparing our gifts and contributions to others. In her warm, engaging style, the author brings to light the lessons Mary and Martha learn from each other and the "one thing [that] is needful" for both.

Resisting Happiness


Matthew Kelly - 2016
    and how to start choosing happiness again!Are you happy? It may be the wrong question. Most of us think we are relatively happy, while at the same time knowing that we could be happier—maybe even a lot happier. Ordinary people and the finest philosophers have been exploring the question of happiness for thousands of years, and theories abound. But this is not a book of theory. Resisting Happiness is a deeply personal, disarmingly transparent look at why we sabotage our own happiness and what to do about it.Are you overwhelmed? Do you procrastinate? Do you sometimes feel like you are your own worst enemy? Are you ignoring your dreams? Have you lost the courage to truly be yourself? Do you feel that your life lacks meaning and purpose? Do you find yourself avoiding the real issues in your life and focusing on the superficial?We all experience these feelings and doubts from time to time. But do you know what to do when you experience them? In this fascinating book, Matthew Kelly, uses his signature combination of the profound and the practical, to help us understand why we feel these things and how to rise above them.Breaking through resistance, Kelly tells us, is essential to becoming the-best-version-of-ourselves and living with passion and purpose.What is resistance? It's that sluggish feeling of not wanting to do something that you know is good for you. It's the inclination to do something that you unabashedly know is not good for you. It's the desire and tendency to delay something you should be doing right now.It is resistance that stands between you and happiness. In these pages you will learn not only what it is, but how to recognize and conquer it in your own life.

Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy


Stephanie Nielson - 2012
    She quickly attracted a loyal following that was captivated by the upbeat mother happily raising her young children, madly in love with her husband, Christian (Mr. Nielson to her readers), and filled with gratitude for her blessed life.However, everything changed in an instant on a sunny day in August 2008, when Stephanie and Christian were in a horrific plane crash. Christian was burned over 40 percent of his body, and Stephanie was on the brink of death, with burns over 80 percent of her body. She would remain in a coma for four months.In the aftermath of this harrowing tragedy, Stephanie maintained a stunning sense of humor, optimism, and resilience. She has since shared this strength of spirit with others through her blog, in magazine features, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, in this moving memoir, Stephanie tells the full, extraordinary story of her unlikely recovery and the incredible love behind it—from a riveting account of the crash to all that followed in its wake. With vivid detail, Stephanie recounts her emotional and physical journey, from her first painful days after awakening from the coma to the first time she saw her face in the mirror, the first kiss she shared with Christian after the accident, and the first time she talked to her children after their long separation. She also reflects back on life before the accident, to her happy childhood as one of nine siblings, her close-knit community and strong Mormon faith, and her fairy-tale love story, all of which became her foundation of strength as she rebuilt her life.What emerges from the wreckage of a tragic accident is a unique perspective on joy, beauty, and overcoming adversity that is as gripping as it is inspirational. Heaven Is Here is a poignant reminder of how faith and family, love and community can bolster us, sustain us, and quite literally, in some cases, save us.

Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers


Anne Lamott - 2012
    And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals.It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas.

Visions of Glory: One Man's Astonishing Account of the Last Days


John Pontius - 2012
    Visions of Glory is a mesmerizing and fascinating read that you will not be able to put down.

A Quiet Heart


Patricia T. Holland - 2000
    Inside the temple is a daughter of Zion. Inside the daughter of Zion is a quiet heart. Inside the quiet heart is God's sanctuary.

The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth


M. Scott Peck - 1978
    "Psychotherapy is all things to all people in this mega-selling pop-psychology watershed, which features a new introduction by the author in this 25th anniversary edition. His agenda in this tome, which was first published in 1978 but didn't become a bestseller until 1983, is to reconcile the psychoanalytic tradition with the conflicting cultural currents roiling the 70s. In the spirit of Me-Decade individualism and libertinism, he celebrates self-actualization as life's highest purpose and flirts with the notions of open marriage and therapeutic sex between patient and analyst. But because he is attuned to the nascent conservative backlash against the therapeutic worldview, Peck also cites Gospel passages, recruits psychotherapy to the cause of traditional religion (he even convinces a patient to sign up for divinity school) and insists that problems must be overcome through suffering, discipline and hard work (with a therapist.) Often departing from the cerebral and rationalistic bent of Freudian discourse for a mystical, Jungian tone more compatible with New Age spirituality, Peck writes of psychotherapy as an exercise in "love" and "spiritual growth," asserts that "our unconscious is God" and affirms his belief in miracles, reincarnation and telepathy. Peck's synthesis of such clashing elements (he even throws in a little thermodynamics) is held together by a warm and lucid discussion of psychiatric principles and moving accounts of his own patients' struggles and breakthroughs. Harmonizing psychoanalysis and spirituality, Christ and Buddha, Calvinist work ethic and interminable talking cures, this book is a touchstone of our contemporary religio-therapeutic culture." -- Publishers WeeklyKeywords: MIND & BODY PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY RELIGION

House of Glory: Finding Personal Meaning in the Temple


S. Michael Wilcox - 1995
    Michael Wilcox explains the eternal significanceof temple work, and, more than that, he explains he blessings that temple work brings to our ordinary, everyday lives.He discusses the temple as a house of learning, "the Lord's university, where we can understand the most powerful principles of the gospel and receive inspiration for ourselves and our families. He also explains how to understand the symbolic teaching in the Lord's house and how we can individually hear the voice of the Spirit through those symbols.He discusses the temple as a house of refuge, where we can go to escape the trials and troubles of the world.He discusses the temple as a house of order, where we learn the covenants of the Lord, how to keep them, and how we are blessed as we do so.He discusses the temple as a house of glory, describing the wonderful spiritual experiences that come to those who serve there, and especially to those who labor for their kindred dead.Finally, he discusses the temple as a house of thanksgiving, where we come to appreciate the importance and power of the blessings we receive there.President Howard W. Hunter directed the Saints to "establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants."House of Glory explains how we can make the temple the focus for every aspect of our lives, how we can find greater joy and meaning in the house of the Lord.

Lighten Up


Chieko N. Okazaki - 1993
    Each chapter is filled with insights. Sister Okazaki's straightforward, practical, and cheerful view of life has brought strength to people all over the world. A leader with both feet firmly on the ground and a twinkle in her eye, she believes without equivocation that the gospel is good news.

I Am a Mother


Jane Clayson Johnson - 2007
    Jane's fascinating personal story and unique insights will inspire women to raise their awareness and perception of this important--and often difficult--role.

Defined by Christ: Seeing


Toni Sorenson - 2010
    Using the scriptures, words of prophets, insightful analogies, and stories drawn from poignant personal experiences, author Toni Sorenson illuminates the pathway toward opening the gift of divine love and finding lasting peace by focusing on God's goodness rather than our own weakness.