Each story is accompanied by scripture, prayer, and discussion exercises designed to remind readers of Mary of Medjugorje's intercession on their behalf and God's personal love for them. Watkins gives nationwide talks and workshops and works as a spiritual director in the Bay Area, in addition to maintaining an active website and e-mail newsletter.

    Many are driven to just try harder. Others feel a growing sense of failure and distance from God. But for all involved, it's a frustrating cycle. What can we do when trying harder isn't working?Author and pastor Alan Kraft invites us to be still.still enough to hear the twin melodies that comprise the good news of the gospel-brokenness and faith.  These core strains have the power to lift our exhausted heads so we may experience life to the full as Jesus promised. Discover the power of a broken spirit, embrace the wonder of living by faith, and experience the joy found when you just stop trying.

    Have you ever felt your relationship with God isn't as vibrant as you want it to be? Have you ever felt like God seemed far away -- even in the midst of devotions, prayer, and church?We Were Created for WonderYou were created and designed to experience wonder. Woven into the fabric of our humanity is an innate ability and desire for the wonder of God. It's felt in the moments when you watch the sun melt behind the horizon, when you reach out to cradle a baby and smell the sweet scent of new life, when you can't help but smile as you witness two wrinkled souls renew their vows to each other. Such moments remind us we were made for something more than deadlines and debt, carpools and coffee breaks. Yet despite such wondrous moments, we can still find ourselves going through the motions of faith.Whether you're:A long time follower of Jesus or still figuring Him outUnemployed, overly-employed, or an entrepreneurA creator, innovator, or conformistGrumpy, ebullient, grey-haired or bed-headAn average Joe or have-a-gym-membership-but-never-goA superhero (of any era), supermom, superdad, super grand, super great grand, or don't feel particularly super at allNo matter who you are or where you've been -- if you've lived a life where you've seen it all, done it all, or feel like you're past it all -- God still longs to take your breath away.Isaiah 29:4 records God's desire for you: "Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder."Do you see it?God is busting at the seams to display His glory, power, and might in your life. And He wants to give you the greatest gift of all -- Himself.Yet why do we pass by the wonder of God unaware?

    But what do we do when challenges stop our forward momentum? What’s the next step when we fall into a pit of despair with the determination knocked right out of us? On his way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus traveled through Samaria, a broken place everyone knew to avoid. In Samaria he stopped in Shechem, where evil had gained such a foothold of power that it eventually reigned. Yet the place once condemned as somewhere no one wanted to visit—let alone hang out in for a while—was the location of one Samaritan woman’s most hope-filled encounter with the Savior. The In-Between Place offers deeply important insights to anyone who feels stuck and can’t see a way forward. It is for the person who feels that if she looks left, her face will be scraped by an immovable boulder, and if she looks right, she’ll see nothing but hard to handle. It’s for the person who feels lost and is not sure she is worth the effort to be found, for the person who feels overlooked and unfulfilled. Because sometimes Jesus saves our greatest spiritual breakthroughs for our in-between places.

    This inspiring, popular book has been speaking to the hearts of men for the past 10 years, and its words are still relevant. Using engaging illustrations, scriptural wisdom, practical suggestions and study questions, Kent Hughes offers a frank biblical discussion on major areas of Christian manhood: family, godliness, leadership, ministry and more. This newly revised edition is for every man who wants to know what it means to be a Christian in today's world.

    What he found challenged everything he believed about "the good life" and equipped him to rebuild an even better life based on God's timeless design. Filled with scripture and practical application, Saved from Success is the book millions of burned-out and bedraggled Christians have been waiting for.

    The great king of Israel, Solomon, though the wisest man, was not immune to their song. But at the end of his life, Solomon, in all of his God-given wisdom, stopped to contemplate on all that competed for his attention. He wrote his conclusions in the Book of Ecclesiastes.Tommy Nelson continues his study of Solomon's writings by taking an in-depth look at Ecclesiastes. In a world such as ours, where the search for meaning and purpose propels mankind to try everything under the sun, Solomon's conclusions ring louder than ever for a people who need answers more than ever.

    For missing it. For succumbing to the danger and idolatry of forcing God into preconceived ideals. What if there were a better way? What if Jesus came not to help people escape the world but rather to restore it? Best-selling author and spoken word artist Jefferson Bethke says that Christians have the greatest story ever told but we aren t telling it. So in this new book, Bethke tells that story anew, presenting God s truths from the Old and the New Testaments as the challenging and compelling story that it is a grand narrative with God at the center. And in doing so, Bethke reminds readers of the life-changing message of Jesus that turned the world upside-down, a world that God is putting back together."

    The You Utopia where your home, place of work, and even your place of worshp, is customized to your discerning tastes. A super-exclusive club where Self and Pride party, and Sacrifice and Humility can't get past the velvet ropes. A place where it's all about you.But is life supposed to be this way? Author Daivd Zimmerman takes us on a hilarious and honest trip through Me-Ville, while sharing the escape routes that lead out. David traces our self-loving lineage and examines prideful people in Scripture who were changed through God's power. Throughout, you'll encounter the powerful, progressive redemption from self that only Christ can offer.

    . . right?People like to say, “Prayer works.” But what does that mean? Prayer works for what? Getting the answers from God that we want so much?While God certainly cares for your deepest needs, Skye Jethani wants you to know that prayer is so much more than a two-way transaction with a heavenly vending machine. Jesus didn’t pray like that. And with a pastor’s heart, Skye wants to take you deeper into what Jesus, the lover of your soul, had to say about talking with God.In What If Jesus Was Serious . . . About Prayer?, you’ll benefit not only from Skye’s words of wisdom but his doodles that help the visual learner connect with spiritual truth. Prayer isn’t about getting answers, but getting God. We need more prayer in our lives—not because God can give us what we crave, but because He offers himself to us in love.

    Peterson speaks to Christians who realize the necessity for prayer and yearn for it but who find their prayer unconvincing and unsatisfying. Addressing the causes of this dissatisfaction, Answering God offers guidelines for using the Psalms as dynamic tools for prayer.

    Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

    Cordeiro gently but directly shows how to move from spiritual routine to relationship with God by learning to hear Him speak through the Bible.

    It is this second half of our conversation with God that is so important but that can also be so difficult. How do we hear his voice? How can we be sure that what we think we hear is not our own subconscious? What role does the Bible play? What if what God says to us is not clear? The key, says best-selling author Dallas Willard, is to focus not so much on individual actions and decisions as on building our personal relationship with our Creator. In this updated classic, originally published asIn Search of Guidance, the author provides rich spiritual insight into how we can hear God's voice clearly and develop an intimate partnership with him in the work of his kingdom.

    It provides a glimpse into the life and spirituality of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, who has often been called "The greatest mystic of the 20th Century." More than thirty individuals, all who had met Padre Pio, were interviewed for this first edition book. The author and her husband, Deacon Ron Allen, have traveled to many parts of the United States in order to record the personal testimonies of Padre Pio's friends from near and far.