Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God


Timothy J. Keller - 2014
    But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act.With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader.Dr. Keller’s previous books have sold more than one million copies. His Redeemer Presbyterian Church is not only a major presence in his home base of New York, it has also helped to launch more than two hundred fifty other churches in forty-eight cities around the world. His teachings have already helped millions, the majority of whom pray regularly. And with Prayer, he’ll show them how to find a deeper connection with God.

The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women's Work


Kathleen Norris - 1998
    Definitely not "for women only." +

A Prayer for Orion: A Son's Addiction and a Mother's Love


Katherine James - 2020
    When Katherine James and her husband found out their son was using heroin, their responses ran the gamut: disbelief, anger, helplessness, guilt. As they struggled to come to grips with their son's addiction and decide how best to help him, their home became a refuge for an unlikely assortment of their son's friends, each with their own story, drawn by the simple love and acceptance they found there--"the Lost Boys," James calls them. In this sensitive, vulnerable memoir, award-winning novelist James turns her lush prose to a new purpose: to tell her family's story through the twists and turns of her son's addiction, overdose, and slow recovery. The result is not just a look at the phenomenon of drug abuse in suburban America, but also a meditation on the particular anguish of loving a wayward child and clinging to a desperate trust in God's providence through it all.

Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better


Brant Hansen - 2015
    The idea of our own “righteous anger” is a myth. It is the number one problem in our societies today and, as Dallas Willard says, Christians have not been taught out of it. But what if Christians were the most unoffendable people on the planet?In Unoffendable you will find concrete, practical ways to live life with less stress, including: Adjusting your expectations to fit human natureReplacing perpetual anger with refreshing humility and gratitudeEmbracing forgiveness and beginning to love others in unexpected waysIn a humorous and conversational style, Unoffendable seeks to lift religious burdens from our backs and allow us to experience the joy of gratitude, perhaps for the first time, every single day of our lives—flourishing the way God intended.

Nobody's Cuter Than You: A Memoir about the Beauty of Friendship


Melanie Shankle - 2015
    Yet over the last couple of decades, we've substituted the joy of real friendship with cheap imitations. We settle for "community" on Facebook and Twitter and a series of text messages that allow us to communicate with someone without the commitment. We like each other's beautifully filtered photos on Instagram and delude ourselves into believing we have a community. But real friendship requires effort. It's showing up, laughing loud, and crying hard. It's forgiving and loving and giving the benefit of the doubt. It's making a casserole, doing a carpool pickup, and making sure she knows those cute shoes are 50 percent off. Written in the same comedic style as the New York Times bestsellers Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room, Nobody's Cuter than You is a laugh-out-loud look at the special bond that exists between friends and a poignant celebration of all the extraordinary people God had the good sense to bring into our lives at exactly the right moments. From the friendships we develop over a lifetime to the ones that wounded us and the ones that taught us to love better, Melanie Shankle reveals the influence our friends have on who we were, who we are, and who we will become. And on a day when our jeans feel too tight, our chins have decided to embrace hormone-related acne reminiscent of our teen years, and our kids have tested the limits of our sanity, they are the ones who will look at us and say, "Nobody's cuter than you!"

Miracle For Jen: A Tragic Accident, A Mother's Desperate Prayer, And Heaven's Extraordinary Answer


Linda Barrick - 2012
    Fifteen-year-old Jen suffered multiple skull fractures and severe brain trauma and was not expected to survive the night. But against all odds, she did. As she lingered in a coma, doctors warned that if Jen ever woke up, she would be cursing and screaming in confusion due to her brain injuries. Instead, after five weeks she opened her eyes and began praying and praising God. Jen didn't remember her middle name, recognize her parents, or recall that she had a little brother, but she remembered Jesus and every word to every praise song and scripture she had hidden in her heart before the accident. As any loving mother would, Jen's mother Linda wanted God to heal Jen, make her like she was before. Normal. But a loving God had something else in mind--instead of making her normal, God is making Jennifer and the whole Barrick family--extraordinary, miraculous. Miracle for Jen is the remarkable true story of a family who overcame tragedy and learned to trust God's plan for their lives in a whole new way.

The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World's Most Beloved Neighbor


Amy Hollingsworth - 2005
    He didn't need to." Eight years before his death, Fred Rogers met author, educator, and speaker Amy Hollingsworth. What started as a television interview turned into a wonderful friendship spanning dozens of letters detailing the driving force behind this gentle man of extraordinary influence. Educator? Philosopher? Psychologist? Minister? Here is an intimate portrait of the real Mister Rogers. The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers focuses on Mr. Rogers' spiritual legacy, but it is much more than that. It shows us a man who, to paraphrase the words of St. Francis of Assisi, "preached the gospel at all times; when necessary he used words."

Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free


Nancy Leigh DeMoss - 2000
    And the lies Christian women believe are at the root of most of their struggles. "Many women live under a cloud of personal guilt and condemnation," says Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. "Many are in bondage to their past. Others are gripped by fear of rejection and a longing for approval. Still others are emotional prisoners." In best selling Lies Women Believe, Nancy exposes those areas of deception most commonly believed by Christian women—lies about God, sin, priorities, marriage and family, emotions, and more. She then sheds light on how we can be delivered from bondage and set free to walk in God's grace, forgiveness, and abundant life. Nancy offers the most effective weapon to ounter and overcome Satan's deceptions: God's truth!

Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens: Discover How to Pray God's Purpose for Their Lives


Jodie Berndt - 2007
    This book offers palpable help to pray about the stormy issues your teen faces.It's never been tougher to be a teenager--or the parent of one. Thankfully, from your teen's first date to the next time he or she borrows the car keys, you can take your concerns to God through prayer. Drawing on the power of God's Word, Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens equips you to pray about the difficult issues your teen may face:Relationship challengesDoubts about their faithDepressionRejectionSexualityEating disorders. . . and much moreThis book also guides you in praying about everything from your teen's character and safety to the purposes and plans that God has for his or her future.Filled with engaging historical, biblical, and contemporary illustrations, Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens shows how to make the Bible your source for prayers that can powerfully influence your teen's life. With humor and a warm, personal style, author Jodie Berndt encourages you that there is not a need your teen will face that God has not already thought of, and provided for, in his Word--and that, no matter how far away our kids may be, they are never out of his reach.

Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community


Dietrich Bonhoeffer - 1939
    Giving practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups, Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.

Resurrection Year: Turning Broken Dreams Into New Beginnings


Sheridan Voysey - 2013
    Embrace your broken dream as a chance for a new beginning and see how a “Resurrection Year” can restore your soul. Voysey chronicles their return to life. From the streets of Rome to the Basilicas of Paris, from the Alps of Switzerland to their new home in Oxford, they begin the healing process while wrestling with their doubts about God’s goodness. One part spiritual memoir and one part love story, Resurrection Year is an honest, heart-felt book about recovering from broken dreams and reconciling with a God who is sometimes silent but never absent. A hope-filled story about starting again after a dream has died?an emotive, poetic, and at times humorous discovery of the healing qualities of beauty, play, friendship, and love. “Some dreams come true, but others die a painful death. We can learn from both. In Resurrection Year, Sheridan Voysey writes from experience–there is life after the death of a dream. Your dream may be different, but the road to resurrection will be similar. I highly recommend it.” - Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages

90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life


Don Piper - 2004
    He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace. Back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery. For years Piper kept his heavenly experience to himself. Finally, however, friends and family convinced him to share his remarkable story.

Colors of Goodbye: A Memoir of Holding On, Letting Go, and Reclaiming Joy in the Wake of Loss


September Vaudrey - 2016
    But on that day, with one phone call from the ER, her whole world--everything she knew and believed--was shaken to the core. Katie, her 19-year-old artist daughter, had been in a car accident and would not survive. How does a family live in the wake of devastating tragedy? When darkness colors every moment, is it possible to find light? Can God still be good, even after goodbye?With the depth of C. S. Lewis's "A Grief Observed" and the poignancy of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking," "Colors of Goodbye" offers a moving glimpse into a mother's heart. Combining literary narrative and raw reflection, September Vaudrey walks through one of life's worst losses--the death of a child--and slowly becomes open to watching for the unexpected ways God carries her through it. It's a story of love and tragedy in tandem; a deeply personal memoir from a life forever changed by one empty place. And at its core, "Colors of Goodbye" calls to the deepest part of our spirits to know that "death is not the end . . ." and that life can be beautiful still.

Heaven


Randy Alcorn - 2004
    Randy Alcorn has the answers.In the most comprehensive and definitive book on Heaven to date, Randy invites you to picture Heaven the way Scripture describes it-- a bright, vibrant, and physical New Earth, free from sin, suffering, and death, and brimming with Christ's presence, wondrous natural beauty, and the richness of human culture as God intended it. God has put eternity in our hearts. Now, Randy Alcorn brings eternity to light in a way that will surprise you, spark your imagination, and change how you live life today. If you've always thought of Heaven as a realm of disembodied spirits, clouds, and eternal harp strumming, you're in for a wonderful surprise. This is a book about real people with real bodies enjoying close relationships with God and each other, eating, drinking, working, playing, traveling, worshiping, and discovering on a New Earth. Earth as God created it. Earth as he intended it to be. And the next time you hear someone say, "We cant begin to imagine what Heaven will be like," you'll be able to tell them, "I can."

Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer


Micha Boyett - 2014
    I lost peace. I lost clarity and certitude. My faith was never perfect before my son was born, but somewhere in that first year, somewhere in my distraction and exhaustion, I lost the Spirit-life I had known. I blamed myself.