Ever confused about the Trinity? Are there three Gods or One? And how is the Trinity important to my life? Take a deep look inside this book for the answers. There is so much more to your life when you allow God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to be inseparable parts of your existence. With your Heavenly Father, Big Brother and Best Friend by your side, you can reach the impossible and do the unthinkable. Learn about Heaven's family and the Divine resources offered to you to succeed in life. Learn from the real testimonies from people who have been touched by this glorious revelation. Take one step closer to the three greatest loves of your life and have an experience of your own with this great Fellowship. Sunshine Alena Rodgers has been actively serving and pursuing God since 2004. She is so intrigued by the deep personal depths of God and enjoys spending her time getting to know the wonderment of the Trinity and Heaven. She currently resides in the sunny state of Florida with her husband, Travis. They live to see God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit move in their lives and in the lives of others around them. This is Sunshine's first book.
Ever asked Jesus what he likes best about you? Jesus longs to speak to your deepest desires. These powerful yearnings for things like love, approval, freedom, belonging, and significance animate our lives and lie at the root of the thorny behaviors we most want to change. Our true desires were designed to be filled in our relationship with Jesus. But most of us never learned how to ask. Questions for Jesus takes you on the exhilarating adventure of hearing Jesus speak to the deepest places of your heart. Your own desires will surface as the meditations help you enter into the thoughts and feelings of characters in the gospel of Matthew. After watching Jesus touch that person's desire, the book will launch your own heart encounter with with five creative, intimate questions for Jesus, like these: “Jesus, what are you proud of in me today? How am I touching your desire?” “Jesus, what will it be like for you to tell the story of the life you and I have lived together to all of heaven?” “How am I valuable to you? What makes me worth your time and attention?” “So what's it like for you to not be afraid of anything?” “Who do you say that I am, Jesus?” Written by a master of the art of asking, the 52 meditations in Questions for Jesus will help you or your small group add an exhilarating new dimension to your prayer life, and encounter Jesus in profound new ways. Using this BookWritten in a devotional format, Questions for Jesus focuses on the passages in the book of Matthew where Jesus touches an individual's deep desire. The author weaves each scene into a powerful story that brings the bible to life, putting you inside the thoughts and feelings of the characters (Jesus included!) Then, you simply take one of the five desire prayers given for each story and ask Jesus that question. You'll talk about what Jesus was experiencing in those situations, how he feels about waiting for and preparing for your arrival in heaven, what your meeting there will be like, Jesus' own deep desires, and much more. Talking with Jesus is much easier when you are asking the right questions! With 52 devotional meditations (each with five questions) this book can provide a year's worth of encounters with the goodness of God. Facing pages offer space to journal your answers, and pithy articles spaced throughout the text show you how the heart works, how to create your own desire prayers, ways to overcome obstacles to hearing God speak, etc. A free Questions for Jesus Group Guide is also available, letting you use Questions for Jesus with small groups, leadership teams or churches.
A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.
After tragically losing his two best friends, Gabriel realized he had more friends in heaven than he did on earth. But as that cloud of death enshrouded around him, a gentle voice pierced through and said, "I will be your best friend."God's Best Friend is a brave adventure displaying face to face encounters as well as agonizing defeats. In a transparent journey that will have you in tears one moment and laughter the next, Gabriel holds nothing back in this tell-all tale. Peel back the layers of your own heart as you encounter the pursuit of a God who will stop at nothing for His friends.
I didn't know what to expect when the time came for me to go on stage. An attendant with a clipboard and wearing headphones came out to get us one by one in the waiting room as if we were awaiting a Golden Ticket opportunity that may never come. I see cameramen around me, and I am always on the lookout to see if I can spot Giovanni from among those holding a microphone or balancing a Steadicam, but I haven't seen him all morning. Though I know what to sing, it would seem as though I don't know how to dress. The other women still in the waiting room with me are all dolled up from head to toe. Thick make-up. Fake eyelashes. Freshly painted nails. Curls trapped under layers of hairspray. And here I am with my jeans and basic heels, a green tank top sporting a large butterfly design. My hair is straight and parted off to the side. I did my own make-up though it looks like my competition hired professionals to do theirs. The woman stands at the doorway and shouts my name. She then escorts me to the main Studio down the hall and to the right. The production workers hardly pay attention to me as I enter from stage left. "Wait for your cue," she instructs. "And let's welcome to the stage, Brooke Evans!" I hear the voice of the show's host over the loudspeaker.
The one difficulty with having the name Sunshine is that people expect me to be…. well, sunshine all the time. I have learned over time to embrace the Sunshine-ness that is my name. Yes, I may not always be joyful or exuberant all the time, but I have learned that if I rely on my friends, my family, and my faith, I can conquer each day head-on and live every moment with an expectation of goodness. And that's what I wanted to share in this book, Be the Sunshine. It's not a book about how to be happy or seven ways to stay positive. These pages are about being yourself, showing the world your true colors, and being mindful of the moment. These chapters contain personal stories so that we all can experience love and joy for ourselves as well as shining that light on those around us! So, just follow my voice. When it comes to being the sunshine, well, I know the way!
If you ever want to be in a relationship, you need to read this book! It’s worth your time to sit down and take in all that this story offers because this book contains hidden wisdom about taking nothing for granted, fighting for what you want and accepting God's best!" -Excerpt from Foreword written by News Producer Travis Rodgers Alena is stuck in a mundane marriage and longing for something different. New clothes. Bigger bling. Flashy cars. Miraculously and inexplicably, it all happens in a flash and she is finally married to the man of her dreams, but something still seems to be missing. In all her excitement, the one thing she’s looking for is the one thing she can’t seem to keep.
Oh, that’s right, we talk about your love life. We sit with you in class. We know all about that thing you did last night. How do we know? We watch you. We go to those dance clubs with you. We scheme hideous outcomes for you. We know exactly what it is that will get you to our side. We create those wrong friendships you wished you never had. We invite you into those relationships that break your heart. We give you the life you never wanted, but it came at such a sweet price. We promised you the world and you took it like a kid wanting candy. All. Too. Easy. All I can say is, please, don’t let me get in the way of the worst ending of your life. I’m right behind you. I’ll open that door to frustration, nonsense and destruction. Please. After You.
Like a therapist, I invite God to sit on the couch in front of me. I flip open my notepad, pen in hand. Now tell me, in your own words, what happened that night. It was a friendship, wasn't it? I hate to open old wounds, but invite me in to all those years ago, before the world was created and all you had were angels who lived in Heaven, and one angel who captured your heart. Describe that moment when everything changed. When was it when Lucifer turned into Satan? And why? Wasn't Heaven good enough? And what did you do when Heaven faced its biggest challenge? Did you trust the wrong source? Were you merely too vulnerable? Maybe if you could turn back time, you wouldn't have given your angels a choice to rebel. Of course, true love has its risks, one that broke your heart for the very first time.
