Joseph Smith's First Vision of the Father and the Son in 1820 was the first of many visions the Prophet and early Church members experienced. This volume brings together some of the finest presentations from the 2020 BYU Church History Symposium honoring the bicentennial of the First Vision. Explore the influence of the First Vision, as well as teachings of other visionaries.
The ordinary moments of life can be sacred, if we simply take a moment to notice. This collection of prayers, poems, and meditations offers a brief respite from the hectic, harried pace of our days. Open it when the spirit moves you or when the spirit feels distant--the words will be here to inspire, calm, and encourage you either way. From gifted poet and empathetic pastor Meta Herrick Carlson, Ordinary Blessings collects blessings for loving yourself, enduring hard things, authenticity, living with others, and the rhythms of each day. Pause, take a deep breath, and open these pages to find that you've been standing on holy ground all along.
From the author of the bestselling Anam Cara comes a beautiful collection of blessings to help readers through both the everyday and the extraordinary events of their lives. John O’Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, has been widely praised for his gift of drawing on Celtic spiritual traditions to create words of inspiration and wisdom for today. In To Bless the Space Between Us, his compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight offers readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. O’Donohue looks at life’s thresholds—getting married, having children, starting a new job—and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory. Most profoundly, however, O’Donohue explains “blessing” as a way of life, as a lens through which the whole world is transformed. O’Donohue awakens readers to timeless truths and shows the power they have to answer contemporary dilemmas and ease us through periods of change.
“What does it mean to be lonely?” Thomas Dumm asks. His inquiry, documented in this book, takes us beyond social circumstances and into the deeper forces that shape our very existence as modern individuals. The modern individual, Dumm suggests, is fundamentally a lonely self. Through reflections on philosophy, political theory, literature, and tragic drama, he proceeds to illuminate a hidden dimension of the human condition. His book shows how loneliness shapes the contemporary division between public and private, our inability to live with each other honestly and in comity, the estranged forms that our intimate relationships assume, and the weakness of our common bonds. A reading of the relationship between Cordelia and her father in Shakespeare’s King Lear points to the most basic dynamic of modern loneliness—how it is a response to the problem of the “missing mother.” Dumm goes on to explore the most important dimensions of lonely experience—Being, Having, Loving, and Grieving. As the book unfolds, he juxtaposes new interpretations of iconic cultural texts—Moby-Dick, Death of a Salesman, the film Paris, Texas, Emerson’s “Experience,” to name a few—with his own experiences of loneliness, as a son, as a father, and as a grieving husband and widower. Written with deceptive simplicity, Loneliness as a Way of Life is something rare—an intellectual study that is passionately personal. It challenges us, not to overcome our loneliness, but to learn how to re-inhabit it in a better way. To fail to do so, this book reveals, will only intensify the power that it holds over us.
Where do I begin with this review? I think I should take my sisters advice and repeat what she often tells me: If I cant say amen, just say ouch. Keeping that in mind, Im over here saying ouch because author Toni L. Wortherly is on my toe stomping pretty hard with this petite but powerful book. As a single Christian woman combating some of the issues of loneliness and frustration associated with living a single life, this book speaks volumes to me. There is nothing like reading what youre going through to let the reader know they are not alone on this journey. As Ive pledged my life to following the tenants of my faith, its good to have confirmation, in the form of a book, which I can reference from time to time. Ill admit that Im not crazy about the title; I dont like to be referred to as prey or as the hunted. The Word of God says: He that finds a wife, finds a good thing so a loose translation would mean that I am prey. I would hope that my mate wouldnt refer to me in this manner. The translation would also imply that Im weak or defenseless; I feel that Im a strong vessel, who patiently awaits capture. Pray While Youre Prey is a great read for single women. Those of us who have the desire to be spiritually grounded in all that we do, can draw strength from the scripture, interpretation and study questions found at the end of each chapter. This is a book to share with your entire cadre of single sister friends as we journey down the path to closeness with God and the quest to be a virtuous woman and wife.
Young or old, single or married, male or female—at some point in life, we're all confronted with loneliness. We try to fill the void or change our circumstances so we no longer feel the pain. But what if our pangs of loneliness are meant to point us to something greater? Looking at various aspects of loneliness, Lydia Brownback reminds us of God's power to redeem our loneliness and use it in our lives to draw us to himself. Ultimately, she helps us see that even when we feel misunderstood, forsaken, or abandoned, we're never really alone. God is always with us, and only he can meet all of our needs in Christ Jesus.
Jason Gaboury has wrestled with loneliness ever since he can remember. But when he was challenged to see loneliness as a context for friendship with God, things began to change. In these pages God invites you to stop and wait with him in your own moments of isolation and anxiety, journeying from loneliness into a deeper life with God.
Are you ever at a loss for words during prayer? God encourages us to approach Him with confidence, yet often we don't know what to say. We wonder if we'll pray the "wrong" way—or we simply have no words at all. A Prayer for Every Occasion inspires readers with prayer prompts, tips on how to pray, and ways to grow a habit of prayer. Organized by occasion and need, this prayer book offers abundant prayer examples to share with others or pray privately, and includes: Prayers for when you’re suffering Prayers during a waiting season Prayers for when you seek growth and transformation Prayers for weddings, funerals, births, and loss Prayers for graduations, praise, celebrations, and more Including beloved prayers from Scripture as well as historical prayers, this lovely gift book teaches us how to pray with passion and joy. This book is a great gift for just about every occasion--birthdays, Easter, Mother’s Day, Christmas, a loved one grieving, a friend needing encouragement, or someone achieving a milestone. Written for veteran pray-ers as well as for those of us who find prayer intimidating, A Prayer for Every Occasion provides an overview of the most common elements found in well-known prayers—including the words of Jesus—to help us find new confidence in our prayer lives.
