But what about their hearts? After all, how our children develop emotionally, socially, and spiritually will determine who they become as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, friends and co-workers.Are My Kids on Track? helps you identify and measure 12 key emotional, social, and spiritual milestones in your children's lives. Moreover, you will discover practical ways to guide your kids through any stumbling blocks they might encounter and help them reach the appropriate landmarks. Along the way the authors pinpoint the different ways boys and girls develop, so you can help your child flourish in his or her own way.Filled with decades of experience from three practicing counselors, speakers, and writers, this book provides you with valuable, current research and user-friendly, hands-on practices to make supporting your kids' soul development a seamless part of family life. Don't just raise smart kids--raise courageous, compassionate, resilient, empathetic, and smart kids.

    We’ve got plenty of churches without them!” “The church brought another one of their campuses near us. It’s totally unethical what they are doing.” “We can’t reach young families. They all go to the big church that has all the children’s and student stuff.” “We don’t have the money or the people the other churches have.”   Bestselling author Thom S. Rainer (I Am a Church Member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church) has heard comments like these hundreds, if not thousands, of times. They are statements of hopelessness. They are statements of despair. They are statements of defeat.   Church leaders don’t want to feel this way. They desire to break out of the mediocrity of the same, lame, and tame existence of their churches. They want their churches to make a difference.   There is hope. God’s hope. God’s possibilities.  What does a scrappy church look like? Let’s take a look together.

    But where do we start?This little guide is both deep and do-able. Melissa Kruger helps us step out of the busyness of family life and pray for our children's spiritual growth and character development in 21 key areas. For each chapter, there are five short prayer prompts drawn straight from the Bible. Because when we pray in line with God's priorities as found in his word, our prayers are powerful and effective (James 5 v 16)—and that's a truly thrilling prospect.Use this book in any number of ways: work through it as part of your daily quiet time, or pick it up whenever a particular need arises. It will help you to pray meaningfully for your child, grandchild, godchild, or kids in your church—from tots to teens, and every age in between.

    Bill Thrasher believes we suffer from fear and a lack of understanding about the nature of prayer. In A Journey to Victorious Praying, he teaches readers that prayer is simply coming before Christ with an attitude of helplessness, opening up our needy lives to Him. Filled with practical insight, this book will give readers renewed enthusiasm for embarking on this essential journey.

    Lisa's heartfelt and straightforward approach, in addition to her biblical knowledge mixed with personal insight, makes this a wonderful devotional experience to become the woman your heart longs to be.

    By studying the biblical character Ruth, women learn the characteristics that every woman of God should develop. This expanded edition of the original best-seller includes a personal journal and study guide.You hold in your hands a fresh and exciting way to enhance your personal life and enrich your spiritual journey. This expanded edition of Lady in Waiting includes: Original text of the best-selling book - complete and unabridged!Complete Study Guide - Learn how to apply the principles taught in Lady in Waiting. These questions, quotes, thoughts, and teachings will help you to become the woman of God that He designed you to be. You can also record your spiritual growth in a specially designed journal section. Don't miss this opportunity to become God's lady in waiting!Forty-Day Meditational Journal - This section offers profound motivational truths from some of the greatest women of God in the history of the Church, with meditative readings to help you live in the presence of the Lord every day. Quiet meditation, contemplative prayer, and careful study will help you receive the full benefit from spiritual truth - and this new edition assists with all three. When you give yourself to the Lord through the pages of this book, the spiritual truths you gain will bring you to new places in your experience with God and prepare you for deeper levels of loving relationships!

    Houston desires that each of his readers come to know the cause of Christ. His Cause, he says, is the key that opens us to new places of vision, passion, strength, and reason for living.

    But for those who pray, how many truly understand its power? In her straightforward and profound style beloved by millions worldwide, Joyce Meyer reveals the incredible force that comes through the simple act of prayer. By explaining the keys to unanswered prayers, the hindrances to prayer's effectiveness, and the Bible's role in prayer, Joyce gives readers a new perspective on how best to communicate with God. She reveals that through prayerful conversation comes the ability to be successful in life, strong at heart, and sincere with others. Simple prayer, powerful results.

    Chrystal knows how that feels and shares her own relatable journey through the challenges and joys of deepening her prayer life. Showing up to pray just one day at a time, Chrystal found a simple yet powerful practice that made consistent prayer amazingly doable. A warm and encouraging writer, Chrystal shares the same supportive help she found for talking with God specifically and intentionally throughout the day. With stories and Scripture, this prayer journey offers three prompts each day to guide you through an easy yet intimate prayer experience. From giving thanks, hearing God, and making requests, to simply knowing what to say--Chrystal gives practical explanations and easy steps for each aspect of prayer. Most of all, this book will strengthen your faith and transform your life with the profound experience of communicating with a loving God. Whether you are new or well-versed in communication with God, this hopeful and supportive guide will help you experience God's presence in ways you never have before through the practice of meaningful prayer.

    Weaving a narrative about his experiences while seeking a prayerful life, he demonstrates how prayer can enter the fabric of one's existence so that life itself becomes prayer. In the manner of Madeleine L'Engle and Kathleen Norris, Benson makes the ordinary events of life seem mystical and the mystical seem ordinary. He illustrates the full power of prayer, illuminates the reasons we are drawn to pray, and bears witness to the grace of leading a life attuned to the voice of God.

    Self-criticism is often our default setting. But we can have a more gracious posture toward ourselves. We can practice disciplines of self-kindness. Editor and spiritual director Cindy Bunch calls us to self-care through greater compassion for ourselves. She helps us pay attention to the frustrations that bug us in order to identify negative thinking about ourselves or others. As we do so, we can discern what we need to let go. This allows us to lean into the things that bring us joy. Each chapter is filled with spiritual practices and creative exercises for reflection and celebration. Be kind to yourself. And discover new opportunities to embrace joy.

    It can also save our lives.Author Brennan Manning has laid out a month of honest prayers to God, whom he affectionately calls Abba, in an easy-to-use format that can guide your own prayers. Each day contains morning and evening prayers coupled with Scripture and excerpts from Manning’s contemporary spiritual classics.DEAR ABBA is a modern-day collection of psalms, complete with cries for help, expressions of wonder, and invitations into the comforting mercy of God.

    Dr. Alicia Britt Chole guides you through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s realities, and journey cross-ward and beyond.Containing readings, refection questions, daily fasts, ancient quotes, and more, each day offers a meaningful consideration of Jesus’ journey and then invites you into a daily fast of heart-clutter—the stuff that sticks to your soul and weighs you down. You can begin your forty-day journey any time of the year, but you may find it especially meaningful as a Lenten preparation to live in awe of Jesus’ resurrection.Each daily, 1000-word entry includes a:Devotion based on Jesus’ lifeReflection question to guide journaling or group discussionHeart fast to inspire a tangible responseThought-provoking Lenten quoteOptional sidebar into the historical development of LentSuggested reading that takes you from John 12 to John 21Journaling space for reflectionIn the same way self cannot satisfy self no matter how long it feasts, self cannot starve self no matter how long it fasts. Decrease—like increase—is only holy when its destination is love. Dare to live awed by Christ’s resurrection!

    Winner has written an engrossing reflection of literary grace and spiritual wisdom with Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis.As she lives through a failed marriage and the loss of her mother, Winner finds her Christian faith slipping away. Through reading religious works and tomes and being counseled by leaders of the church, she learns she must find the courage to trust in God in order to to find His presence.Elegantly written and profound, Still offers reflections on how murky and gray the spiritual life can be while, at the same time, shows us how to see the light we do encounter more clearly.

    The Imperfect Disciple is for the rest of us--people who screw up, people who are weary, people who are wondering if it's safe to say what they're really thinking.For the believer who is tired of quasi-spiritual lifehacks being passed off as true, down-and-dirty discipleship, here is a discipleship book that isn't afraid to be honest about the mess we call real life. With incisive wit, warm humor, and moving stories, Jared Wilson shows readers how the gospel works in them and in their lives when- they can't get their act together- they think God is giving them the silent treatment- they think church would be better without all the people- they're not happy with the person in the mirror- and much moreWilson frees readers from the self-doubt and even the misplaced self-confidence they may feel as they walk with Jesus down the often difficult road of life. The result is a faith that weathers storms, lifts burdens, and goes forth to make more imperfect disciples.