The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God's Goodness Around You


Shannan Martin - 2018
    Where do we even begin?Shannan Martin offers a surprisingly simple answer: uncover the hidden corners of our cities and neighborhoods and invest deeply in the lives of people around us. She walks us through her own discoveries about the vital importance of paying attention, as well as the hard but rewarding truth about showing up and committing for the long haul, despite the inevitable encounters with brokenness and uncertainty. With transparency, humor, heart-tugging storytelling, and more than a little personal confession, Martin shows us that no matter where we live or how much we have, as we learn what it is to be with people as Jesus was, we'll find our very lives. The details will look quiet and ordinary, and the call will both exhaust and exhilarate us. But it will be the most worth-it adventure we will ever take.

Get Wise: Make Great Decisions Every Day


Bob Merritt - 2014
    But with many decisions, there's a certain amount of danger. One wrong decision can destroy a career or a marriage. A string of wrong decisions can derail a life. So how do we know if our decisions are wise ones?Pastor Bob Merritt has found that the best way to get it right is to cultivate godly wisdom. In Get Wise, he takes God's best wisdom as found in the book of Proverbs and applies it to the top decisions every person has to make--decisions about education, work, family, friends, sex, parenting, money, and more. Topic by topic, he shows readers how to make choices that result in long-term benefits in health, reputation, peace, and finances.

Odd(ly) Enough: Standing Out When the World Begs You To Fit In


Carolanne Miljavac - 2018
    Authentic. Relatable.That's Carolanne Miljavac in a nutshell. And those qualities are just what her nearly half a million social media followers adore about her. Her Odd(ly) Enough is a message that your heart needs to hear: It's time to embrace the "you" God made you to be. Tune out the naysayers of the world and jump into His loving arms. He'll walk alongside you as you passionately pursue your God-given purpose. With chapters like “Who Do You Think You Are?,” “Control Freak,” and “Mistakes and Grace,” you will find yourself becoming a little more courageous. . .and a lot more confident about God’s purpose for your life.

Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns


Marian Jordan - 2008
    Whether it’s relationship drama, the constant pull of our sinful nature, a health issue, or any variety of unmet dreams, Jordan turns readers to God’s Word as the ultimate wilderness survival guide.Conversational and self-deprecatingly confessional in her delivery, this young writer finds ways to have fun with delicate subject matters, using wilderness analogies to great effect in chapters titled "Drink Plenty of Water," "Seek Shelter," and "Don’t Eat the Red Berries."

If God Were Your Therapist: How to Love Yourself and Your Life and Never Feel Angry, Anxious or Insecure Again


David J. Lieberman - 2010
    Given the high level of both opportunity and comfort, one would expect people to be happier than ever, and even more satisfied with their lives. The reality, though, is startlingly different. Instead of thriving and feeling empowered as a result of greater choices, we are deteriorating. According to the latest research, one in four Americans suffers from mental illness. The drug companies try to keep pace, with the sales of anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, and mood-stabilizing drugs at record levels, and tens of millions of new prescriptions being written each year.But that doesn't seem to be enough.Many people are finding life just too painful. Every day, 80 Americans take their own lives, and over 1,900 Americans visit Emergency Departments for self-inflicted injury. So why are we suffering from such emotional pain and anguish? Drawing on timeless wisdom and fundamental principles in psychology, If God Were Your Therapist offers insights into the human condition, and reveals how regardless of the opportunities available to us today, a lack of self-control results in poor choices, and ultimately leads to negative emotions and destructive habits.As a solution, this book offers neither exercises or affirmations, nor meditations or motivating mantras. There is no homework to do or journals to fill out. Rather, readers learn how to regain self-control and move their thoughts, choices, and lives in a purposeful, powerful, direction, free from the shackles of anxiety and stress.A Look Inside:What makes some people capable of handling life’s challenges with quiet calm and optimistic resolve, while others dissolve at the slightest insult or frustration? The answer has to do with our perspective: how we see, feel, behave, and, ultimately, respond to circumstances in our life. Imagine a small child playing with a toy that suddenly breaks. The child’s whole world is shattered, and she may respond by crying, or by becoming frustrated, sad, or even angry. The child fails to appreciate, let alone recognize, that she is still being clothed, fed, loved, and taken care of — not to mention that there is a whole world outside of her own smaller world. The child’s parents know that the broken toy has no significance, but the parents have perspective that the child lacks. Intellectually, we may know that what makes us anxious or upset is actually unimportant and insignificant. The qualities however, that most of us strive to exemplify — such as objectivity, calm, and patience — are lost to annoyance and impatience when, in a hurry, we encounter the checkout clerk with the trainee name-tag staring at the cash register as if it were the cockpit of a 757. We try to maintain our cool, but negative emotions surface, and once sparked, blaze. Now we face an uphill battle. Techniques such as taking deep breaths, reciting affirmations, or practicing visualization, might work when we face minor issues, but they’re insufficient for life’s really big challenges. Reminding ourselves not to get annoyed is not a solution. Yes, the objective is to remain calm, but this is better accomplished through not becoming agitated in the first place. When we fight the urge to blow up or melt down, we battle our own nature. Without perspective, we are forever like the child holding the broken toy. This book shows you how to experience a new kind of freedom and power when you learn how to permanently shift your perspective and move through life without anger, fear, or frustration . . .

Churchy: The Real Life Adventures of a Wife, Mom, and Priest


Sarah Condon - 2016
    Unflinchingly honest yet unfailingly hopeful, Rev. Sarah is a genre unto herself. You've never had this much fun going to church

Let Me Be a Woman


Elisabeth Elliot - 1966
    The God who is in charge --2. Not who am I? but whose am I? --3. Where to hang your soul --4. A daughter, not a Son --5. Creation, woman for man --6. Jellyfish and pride --7. The right kind of pride --8. The weight of wings --9. Single life, a gift --10. One day at a time --11. Trust for separation --12. Self discipline and order --13. Whose battle? --14. Freedom through discipline --15. God sets no traps --16. A paradoxical principle --17. Masculine and feminine --18. The soul is feminine --19. Is submission stifling? --20. Twenty questions --21. A choice is a limitation --22. Commitment, gratitude, dependence --23. You marry a sinner --24. You marry a man --25. You marry a husband --26. You marry a person --27. Forsaking all others --28. Dynamic, not static --29. A union --30. A mirror --31. A vocation --32. What makes a marriage work --33. Acceptance of divine order --34. Equality is not a Christian ideal --35. Heirs of grace --36. Proportional equality --37. The humility of ceremony --38. Authority --39. Subordination --40. The restraint of power --41. Strength by constraint --42. Masters of ourselves --43. A universe of harmony --44. Be a real woman --45. The courage of the creator --46. The inner sanctum --47. Loyalty --48. Love is action --49. Love means a cross

Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life


Shauna Niequist - 2007
    It is about God, and about life, and about the thousands of daily ways in which an awareness of God changes and infuses everything. It is about spiritual life, and about all the things that we have called nonspiritual life that might be spiritual after all. It is the snapshots of a young woman making peace with herself and her life, and trying to craft a life that captures the energy and exuberance we long for in the midst of the fear and regret and envy we all carry with us. It is both a voice of challenge and song of comfort, calling us upward to the best possible life, and giving us room to breathe, to rest, to break down and break through. Cold Tangerines offers bright and varied glimpses of hope and redemption, in and among the heartbreak And boredom and broken glass.

The Light of His Presence: Prayers to Draw You Near to the Heart of God


Anne Graham Lotz - 2020
    Over the years, she discovered that writing out her prayers draws her into deeper, more intimate conversations with God. The Light of His Presence offers forty of these tender, honest prayers for real-life situations as an invitation to deepen your own prayer life through worship, confession, thanksgiving, and intercession. You'll be encouraged to lean more fully into God's promises through this power-packed devotional resource, which includes inspiring quotes from Christians throughout the ages and also has space to journal your own words to God.As Anne writes, "My prayer for you . . . is that God will use my struggle with prayer to help you overcome yours. And that, as a result, you will be drawn nearer to the heart of God."

Living in God's Best: Don't Settle for Less


Andrew Wommack - 2017
    If you live in divine health and prosperity, you won’t need a miracle to get healed or to pay your bills. If you can’t see the difference between the two, that may be one reason you only visit God’s best instead of truly living in it.Most Christians live in a place where it’s just a matter of time before there’s a crisis in their lives and they need a miracle. You might think it would be wonderful to go from miracle to miracle, but that means you’d also be going from crisis to crisis! Miracles are great when you need one, but you weren’t meant to continually get by on them. God wants to change where you live. Let Andrew show you how to live in God’s best today!

Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life


Emily P. Freeman - 2011
    Instead of clinging to grace, we strive for good and believe that the Christian life means hard work and a sweet disposition. As good girls, we focus on the things we can handle, our disciplined lives, and our unshakable good moods. When we fail to measure up to our own impossible standards, we hide behind our good girl masks, determined to keep our weakness a secret.In Grace for the Good Girl, Emily Freeman invites women to let go of the try-hard life and realize that in Christ we are free to receive from him rather than constantly try to achieve for him. With an open hand and a whimsical style, Emily uncovers the truth about the hiding, encouraging women to move from hiding behind girl-made masks and do-good performances to a life hidden with Christ in God.

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World


Bob Goff - 2012
    As a father he took his kids on a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of state. He made friends in Uganda, and they liked him so much he became the Ugandan consul. He pursued his wife for three years before she agreed to date him. His grades weren't good enough to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean's office for seven days until they finally let him enroll.Bob Goff has become something of a legend, and his friends consider him the world's best-kept secret. Those same friends have long insisted he write a book. What follows are paradigm shifts, musings, and stories from one of the world's most delightfully engaging and winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it's not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob's love takes action. Bob believes Love Does.When Love Does, life gets interesting. Each day turns into a hilarious, whimsical, meaningful chance that makes faith simple and real. Each chapter is a story that forms a book, a life. And this is one life you don't want to miss.Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob's life and attitude just might inspire you to be secretly incredible, too.

Sun Stand Still Devotional: A Forty-Day Experience to Activate Your Faith


Steven Furtick - 2013
    In this daily, personal guide Steven leads you deeper into Scripture as you begin to live the life God created and saved us for. Over the next forty days, you’ll have the opportunity to see what audacious faith can look like in your own life. Through daily scripture readings and teachings, this book will give you the chance to change your perspective on prayer. If you have the ability to ask, God has the ability to act - and transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. In this devotional, you will learn daily how to develop your faith, walk in the confidence of Christ, and dare to believe God for the impossible.

This Ordinary Adventure: Settling Down Without Settling


Christine Jeske - 2012
    They promised themselves and each other that every day would be an amazing day. They even stuck that phrase--"Amazing Days"--on their refrigerator, like Martin Luther pounding his conviction into a door and launching the next great era of the church. "Ready or not," they told the world, "here we come." They traveled the planet, doing missions and community development work in Latin America, China, Africa. Then they went back home--to the land of shopping malls and manicured lawns. And they wondered what had become of their amazing days. InThis Ordinary Adventure Adam and Christine Jeske mine their experience, from riding motorcycles in Africa to dicing celery in Wisconsin, in search of a God who is always present and who is charging every moment with potential. Read along and you'll see your life--your ruts and routines, your frustrations and exhilarations--through different eyes, maybe for the first time. You'll discover the amazing things God is doing in the shadows of even the most ordinary day.

Wholeness: Winning in Life from the Inside Out


Touré Roberts - 2018
    Roberts brilliantly lays forth the truth that in order to live an outer life without limits, we have to uncover and address the inner limitations that hide in our blind spots.This life-changing book explains that regardless of where you are in life, Wholeness will take you higher. Wholeness will elevate your sense of fulfillment in life, produce healthier, more rewarding relationships, and will position you for optimum success in every endeavor.Roberts explains we can't always choose the experiences that keep us from being whole, but we can take control of our lives today and bring healing to any broken area. Key chapters include an in-depth relationship guide titled "Two Halves Don’t Make a Whole." "The Cracked Mirror" shows how unprocessed experiences can negatively shape our view of self, others, and the world around us. "Ghosts of the Past" gives powerful, practical tools for avoiding the traps of the past and ensuring that we enter into the amazing future that God has planned for us.Wholeness is filled with wisdom garnered from Touré's own life--raised by a single mom, narrowly escaping the trappings of inner-city life, and finding success in corporate America. His insight is further broadened by his role as founder of one of the most influential churches in the nation, with over fourteen years pastoring thousands of millennials, couples, families, and a diverse group of individuals. Wholeness will take you on a transformational journey that won't leave you the same.Concluding with a "Wholeness Test," Wholeness will help you track and maintain your progress while walking out your journey to your full potential.