Kristen Strong knows about change--especially the kind you didn't choose. Over the years, she's fought hard to learn an important truth: change is not something to be feared but something to be received as a blessing from a God who works through it, not in spite of it. In this hope-filled book, Kristen invites you to see all the ways you are loved and cared for in the midst of change. She walks alongside you as a friend, gently ushering you toward a new view of change, one that meets you at the crossroads of your own sense of anxiety and God's sense of purpose. With practical advice for coping in every part of life, she draws from her own experiences, the stories of others, and stories from Scripture to help you find contentment, purpose, and renewed strength.

    As Shinabarger reminds them, defining “enough” is more than a responsibility—it is an opportunity to give hope.

    This author and teacher who's opened the riches of Scripture to millions has longed for you to be free as well. To know the Love and Presence that are better than life--and the power of God's Word that defies all darkness.Her journey out of the pit has been heart-rending. But from this and the poetic expressions of Psalm 40 has come the reward: a new song for her soul--given by her Savior and offered to you here, friend to friend. It is Beth's most stirring message yet of the sheer hope, utter deliverance . . . and complete and glorious freedom of God: "I waited patiently for the Lord""He turned to me and heard my cry""He lifted me out of the slimy pit""He set my feet on a rock""He put a new song in my mouth"""It is a story, a song--a salvation--that you can know too.

    After years of tragedies, Katherine learned that God could do more in her life than she ever imagined if she trusted Him and believed. She discovered that He wants to change lives through us and bless us in the process. Whoever we are, wherever we came from, God can use us to make a difference in someone’s life. Katherine’s story begins with tragedies, but God touched her heart at a crusade and led her to Uganda as a missionary to the children. Leaving her prestigious job and home, she went to a land of mud huts and polluted water. In the midst of sickness and poverty, she loved and cared for the orphans of the war-torn country, as she faced witch doctors and Muslim agitators. Katherine shares her life story to help us know that we can all make a difference – if only we let God . . . About the Author Katherine has been a missionary in Uganda for over 20 years and has been working in a village called Kamonkoli. She has worked to make a difference in the lives of children and has seen many grow into strong Christian leaders. This is a girl who says she was a “Nobody” but to God she was “Somebody.”

    Bianca Juarez Olthoff is your guide (minus the cargo shorts and tacky hat) to becoming today who you aspire to be tomorrow.Packed with lessons Bianca learned from her own mistakes and heartache, this field guide will help you avoid unnecessary detours on the path to your best self. With her signature wit, engaging stories, and brilliant insights from a counselor friend, Bianca gives spot-on advice for adulting, career, relationships, and faith. Following the biblical story of Ruth and Naomi, Bianca's humorous and honest anecdotes will empower you to create a successful life and discover all you can be.This curated manual for the modern woman will help you:Connect with a mentor, let go of bad friendships, and find a relationship worth keepingTrust the goodness of God even in loss, betrayal, and unanswered questionsTake initiative, do hard things, and achieve meaningful successFall in love with God's Word and see the Bible come aliveThe perfect cocktail of sass and down-to-earth guidance, How to Have Your Life Not Suck is just the book you need to navigate your way to the life you want to live. More than that, Bianca will show you that though life is tough, you are too.

    In this classic, J. Oswald Sanders illustrates biblical leadership principles through the lives of David, Moses, Nehemiah, the Apostle Paul, David Livingston, and Charles Spurgeon.This world needs more leaders who are guided by God and devoted to Christ. Christianity needs to put forth a powerful voice to be heard above the cacophony of immorality and deception in much of today's leadership. Spiritual Leadership will encourage you to place your talents and powers at His disposal so you can become a leader used for His glory.This timeless classic will equip leaders of all generations to press on in service for Jesus Christ. Spiritual Leadership has easy-to-understand modern language and a study guide to assist each leader as they grow and successfully apply the principles in this book. Prepare to be stretched, challenged, and motivated to apply the leadership principles of character, passion, and especially godliness. Spiritual Leadership is a necessary tool for today's leaders.

    The vocation of monastic men and women is to physically withdraw from the world. But the principle is equally valid for those of us who cannot go off to monasteries. Certain vocations offer the same kind of opportunity for contemplation, and provide a desert for reflection. In ten brief and powerful chapters, Fr. Ron explores how monastery life can apply to those who don't live in a cloister: • Monasticism and Family Life • The Domestic Monastery • Real Friendship • Lessons from the Monastic Cell • Ritual for Sustaining Prayer • Tensions within Spirituality • A Spirituality of Parenting • Spirituality and the Seasons of Our Lives • The Sacredness of Time • Life’s Key Question

    Hope is more than a feeling; it’s the by-product of seven key factors. When these are present in your life, they cause hope to thrive.Factor 1: Recharge Your Batteries Nobody does well running on empty.Factor 2: Raise Your Expectations You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you expect.Factor 3: Refocus on the Future It’s time to throw away your rearview mirror. No one goes forward well when they are looking back.Factor 4: Play to Your Strengths Be yourself; everyone else is taken.Factor 5: Refuse to Go It Alone Never underestimate the power of support. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.Factor 6: Replace Burnout with Balance Burning the candle at both ends isn’t as bright as you think.Factor 7: Play Great Defense Avoid these five toxic hope killers that can threaten your future.Using seven years of research, powerful biblical illustrations, and compelling human-interest stories, Ray Johnston explains how these seven essential factors will support, sustain, and strengthen your hope. And when consciously built into your life, how they will unleash hope in your marriage, your kids, your career, your church, your community, and the world.Discover your HQ level, the most important contributor to your overall success, and then learn how to improve it. Because when hope rises—everything changes. FLAP COPY: Hope: It’s the one thing that can change everything!When you have hope, eleven things are unleashed in your life: You have more satisfying relationships. You’re more productive. You’re less affected by stress. You’re more successful. You’re more satisfied. You’re more compassionate. You’re more willing to help people in need. You’re physically healthier. You hold yourself to higher moral and ethical standards. You’re more likely to assume leadership. You’re more likely to see God as loving, caring, and forgiving. This book will help you discover your HQ level and learn the seven key factors that, when built into your life, unleash hope. When you have genuine hope—not trite, pious platitudes but authentic hope that produces inner strength and confidence—anything is possible.

    I want to help you if I can." With those words, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland invites every reader of his latest book to become a friend, to receive instruction and encouragement, counsel and comfort.Elder Holland addresses these powerful messages "to my friends who love the Lord," "to my friends who want to change," "to my friends who face opposition," and more. Each chapter begins with a beautifully designed quotation to help convey the message in an artistic way, making the book a lovely gift for friends to share. Throughout, Elder Holland's powerful witness of the Savior shines through, for, as he writes, "I am grateful for the greatest friend any of us could ever have, in time or eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ."

    See how the spiritual disciplines--including prayer, worship, and meditation--can take your spiritual health from fair to excellent.

    We can write a check to feed starving children or hold signs in the streets and feel like we’ve made a difference without ever encountering the faces of the suffering masses. In this book, Shane Claiborne describes an authentic faith rooted in belief, action, and love, inviting us into a movement of the Spirit that begins inside each of us and extends into a broken world. Shane’s faith led him to dress the wounds of lepers with Mother Teresa, visit families in Iraq amidst bombings, and dump $10,000 in coins and bills on Wall Street to redistribute wealth. Shane lives out this revolution each day in his local neighborhood, an impoverished community in North Philadelphia, by living among the homeless, helping local kids with homework, and “practicing resurrection” in the forgotten places of our world. Shane’s message will comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable . . . but will also invite us into an irresistible revolution. His is a vision for ordinary radicals ready to change the world with little acts of love.

    So with pen in hand, she embarked on a journey that forever changed her—and many others around the world. In these powerful pages are the words and Scriptures Jesus lovingly laid on her heart. Words of reassurance, comfort, and hope.  Words that have made her increasingly aware of His presence and allowed her to enjoy His peace. Jesus is calling out to you in the same way. Maybe you share the author’s need for a great sense of “God with you”. Or perhaps Jesus seems distant without you knowing why. Or maybe you have wandered farther from Him that you ever imagined you would. Here is a year’s worth of daily readings from Young’s journals to bring you closer to Christ and move your time with Him from monologue to a dialogue. Each day is written as if Jesus Himself were speaking to you. Because He is. Do you hear Him calling?

    Robert Wolgemuth presents this inspiring, practical book for people who want to have a Christian home.So, what's so great about a Christian home? There's redemption. There's forgiveness. There's hope. Laughter and genuine happiness. There's discipline and purpose there. And there's grace . . . lots of grace.The Most Important Place on Earth covers eight answers to the question "What does a Christian home look like?" It's filled with stories and practical ideas that will convince any reader that a Christian home is not an elusive stereotype. It's something that really can be achieved. And it's something worth having. You'll see.

    Emphasizing the need for obedience, he urges us to practice-just as we would practice anything we hope to improve-our communication with the Holy Spirit. Understanding that prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue, Bevere encourages us to listen at the Father's feet. Study questions in each chapter offer opportunity for reflection, and a "How to draw near to God" section offers practical steps toward developing true intimacy with Him.

    Major W. Ian Thomas takes a refreshing look at the pure thrill of living victoriously as you embrace the living Savior’s presence within you. The more you become genuinely and relentlessly available to Christ, the more He can take over so that your Christian walk becomes vibrant and effective! This inspiring devotional, along with the application questions at the end of each reading, will help you focus consistently on Jesus Himself so you can serve and enjoy Him at an entirely new level and dimension. You can try to steer clear of sin. Avoid temptation. Refuse to steal, lie, or use drugs and alcohol. You can indeed try to be sinless. But that is still you. And you are still trying. Jesus Christ was not holy because He focused His efforts on avoiding sin. Instead, “He refused to allow there to be any possible explanation for the quality of His life but the Father, as God, dwelling in Him, as Man,” writes Major W. Ian Thomas. So whom do you want dwelling in you? More of you? Or all of Christ? Story Behind the BookMajor W. Ian Thomas was twelve years old when he accepted the Lord with a simple prayer. But by nineteen, “I had been reduced to spiritual exhaustion,” he says, “with no hope or reason for going on.” It was then that he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the living Lord Jesus Christ. God gave him a message through Galatians 2:20, where he learned to say, “Lord Jesus, I can’t—You never said I could—but You can, and always said You would. That is all I need to know.” Major Thomas came to understand it was Christ Himself living through him who would do His work. This is the message he has been passionately proclaiming all his life.