Each day readers will enjoy a Scripture verse, a true first-person story told in an informal, conversational style, which shares the ways God speaks to us in the ordinary events of life, and a brief prayer to help focus the reader to apply the day’s message. For those who wish for more scriptural depth, “Digging Deeper” provides additional Bible references that relate to the day’s reading. Enjoy favorite writers like Debbie Macomber, Edward Grinnan, Elizabeth Sherrill, Patricia Lorenz, Julia Attaway, Karen Barber, Sabra Ciancanelli, Marion Bond West, Brian Doyle, and Rick Hamlin, plus two new contributors. In just five minutes a day, Daily Guideposts helps readers find the spiritual richness in their own lives and welcomes them into a remarkable family of over one million people brought together by a desire to grow spiritually every day of the year.

    At first it teaches that the sense of life is incessant fighting against egoistic longings and replacing them with sacrifice and charity. The one who does not do this loses, and suffers in Hell; the one who does it, trusting not in his own, but God's power, triumphs and is happy in Heaven. The work of Scupoli analyses various usual situations and advises how to cope with them, preserving a pure conscience and improving virtue. It emphasizes also the boundless goodness of God, which is the cause of all good. What is bad originates from the human who rebels against God.

    Perhaps that’s because it is so hard to experience lasting happiness.In The Saints’ Guide to Happiness, Robert Ellsberg suggests that some of the best people to show us are holy men and women throughout history—from St. Augustine to Flannery O’Connor, Thomas Merton to St. Theresa of Avila and Mother Theresa.These people weren’t saints because of the way they died or their visions or wondrous deeds. They were saints because of their extraordinary capacity for goodness and love, which—in the end—makes us happy.

    Reprint.

    Dynamic Bible teacher Megan Fate Marshman will help you discover how to stop discounting yourself from a hopeful future, start living in active dependence on God, and find your way to the good plan He has for you. With authenticity and revelatory insights into the character of God, Megan shares an engaging and fresh look at the core themes within the well-loved scripture of Jeremiah 29:11-14. Through winsome and inspiring stories, Meant for Good will show you how to trust God in your daily life and, more importantly, how to trust God's definition of good above your own. You will discover:That your not-enoughness is exactly enough for God, and that in fact, you have everything you need to take that first step into the life God has for you.How to stop counting yourself out, because Jesus never has. God is up to something really good, and He's inviting you to join Him.How to hear and respond to God's voice, and intentionally grow a personal, intimate relationship with Him.How to defeat anxiety, trust God with all you're carrying and worrying about, and experience a life of freedom in relying on God daily.God has a good plan for you--a plan to give you a hope and a future. Are you ready to believe it?

    This devotional is your definitive guide to… • Unpacking the Daniel Fast • A Closer Connection with God • The Four Keys to Powerful Prayer • How Fasting and Prayer Produces Breakthrough The book you’re holding walks you through Pastor Scott Williams’ own discovery of the Daniel Fast and the amazing life change, breakthrough, and success that followed. Since then, he’s done it on an annual basis for over a decade and has taught others to do the same. The results have been staggering! All 21 days come power packed daily dose of... • Scripture • Devotionals • Journal Ideas • Prayers • Fasting Tips Start a journey toward more intimacy with God as you learn to Fast Like Daniel.

    He was baptized a Catholic, but his faith journey led him to Protestant evangelicalism. He became a philosophy professor at Baylor University and president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). And then, in 2007, after much prayer, counsel, and consideration, Beckwith decided to return to the Catholic church and step down as ETS president.This provocative book details Beckwith's journey, focusing on his internal dialogue between the Protestant theology he embraced for most of his adult life and Catholicism. He seeks to explain what prompted his decision and offers theological reflection on whether one can be evangelical and Catholic, affirming his belief that one can be both. EXCERPTIt's difficult to explain why one moves from one Christian tradition to another. It is like trying to give an account to your friends why you chose to pursue for marriage this woman rather than that one, though both may have a variety of qualities that you found attractive. It seems to me then that any account of my return to the Catholic church, however authentic and compelling it is to me, will appear inadequate to anyone who is absolutely convinced that I was wrong. Conversely, my story will confirm in the minds of many devout Catholics that the supernatural power of the grace I received at baptism and confirmation as a youngster were instrumental in drawing me back to the Mother Church. Given these considerations, I confess that there is an awkwardness in sharing my journey as a published book, knowing that many fellow Christians will scrutinize and examine my reasons in ways that appear to some uncharitable and to others too charitable.

    The result, as in all good unions, is mutual enrichment and deeper life. --Jack Shea, author of Stories of God Now available in paperback, this moving and enlightening book presents us with a compelling vision of what can happen when we take the opportunity to connect stories and rituals--a vision of individuals and communities transformed through a deeper sense of connection to our loved ones, our communities, and God. Herbert Anderson and Edward Foley reveal how when stories and rituals work together, they have the potential to be both mighty and dangerous--mighty in their ability to lift us up and help us make these connections beyond ourselves and dangerous in challenging us to learn to live with complexity and contradiction. They show how much more meaningful a baptism, wedding, or funeral can be when liturgy is made to include and recognize the personal stories of those involved. Suddenly, these familiar life-cycle rituals are infused with new life as their participants become connected in a narrative web linking past and present, human and divine. Newly created rituals can also help us connect our stories to the divine story, giving meaning to what we experience and bringing us closer to God. Ministers, worship leaders, and pastoral caregivers can use this approach to storytelling and ritual to find ways to bring together worship and pastoral care, diminishing fragmentation and fostering coherence in their religious communities.

    This book helps readers match who they are--their unique spiritual gifts, passions, temperament, talents, and leadership style--with the ministry area for which God designed them. A practical guide, it takes dedicated Christians step by step through the process of reaching their full potential for Christ's kingdom. This new edition of Maximizing Your Effectiveness puts multiple tools, inventories, and worksheets in the hands of readers to empower them to minister according to God's unique design and purpose for their lives.

    For more than four-hundred years, Introduction to the Devout Life by Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales has been regarded as the essential guide to holiness and loving God. This spiritual classic takes on new life in Lift Up Your Heart, where Rev. John Burns has interpreted ten meditations for the modern reader and distilled them into a ten-day mini-retreat that can easily be completed in the midst of a busy life. This practical book goes right to the heart of helping you kick the habit of floating along on your spiritual journey to start actively pursuing holiness and devotion to God. During the course of the retreat, you'll learn the basics of forming a daily prayer routine, including how to offer yourself to God, meditate on his love, and maintain peace in the face of suffering and clarity in the midst of temptation. The meditations will help you:Adopt gratitude as a daily prayer practice.Examine and reorder your priorities and relationships to better reflect your love for God.Discern between good and evil in your life.Desire to love and serve as Jesus did.In a very real sense, Burns helps you take St. Francis de Sales as your spiritual director for ten days. As you do so, you’ll feel God’s fatherly love and restart your faith life, equipped with the tools to connect with God and live for heaven now.

    Designed to be used daily over thirty days, each prayer provides the opportunity to seek the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

    Her daily tweets about memento mori - Latin for remember your death - contained quotes and insights that have inspired others to remember death daily. Many have found this ancient practice to provide an important perspective on their lives in view of Jesus' call to repentance, conversion, and the hope of resurrection.And now Sr. Theresa Aletheia's series of tweets has led to a memento mori-inspired Lenten devotional. Each day contains a refection written by Sr. Theresa Aletheia based on the liturgy of the day for all of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. The devotional also includes a memento mori examen or review of the day, a daily moment of intercessory prayer, and daily reflections on death from the tradition, including the Church Fathers and many of the saints. Prompts are provided for journaling that can be used along with the Remember Your Death: Memento Mori Journal, also available from Pauline Books.Lent is a time when we remember the death of Christ and the sacrifice he made to give us eternal life. This devotional will help you to meditate on your own mortality and the incredible gift of salvation in preparation for Easter. Whether you get a skull for your desk, a memento mori journal, or a Lenten devotional, it is vitally important to the Christian life to remember the fragility of your life on earth - because one day you will die.

    It is not appropriate in a brief study such as this to discuss that most interesting topic, the Kingdom of heaven—what it is and what the various periods of its development are—but these Beatitudes teach us much about those who belong to that Kingdom, and upon whom Christ pronounced its highest forms of benediction.

    He is all we have, and He is all the next generation need. This little book sets out how it is that we can introduce young Christians, new Christians, and underdiscipled Christian to the Author and Perfecter of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life.

    In this newly translated book, von Balthasar delves deeper into this exploration of what love means, what comprises the divine love of God, and how we must become lovers of God in the footsteps of saints like Francis de Sales, John of the Cross and Therese of Lisieux. Love Alone Is Credible brings a fresh perspective on an oftexplored subject. This scholarly work is a deeply insightful and profound theological meditation that serves to both deepen and inform the faith of the believer.