A much-needed faith-based resource for the LGBTQ+ community, Colors of Hope uses the iconic Pride Flag as the core of a nine-week-long reflection and devotional journal. The flag’s eight colors is each tied to a specific symbolic theme, inspiring the book’s contributors to craft a short essay and a set of several common themes that carry over to each week and invite readers to reflect on the week’s theme in different ways. Colors of Hope includes a page each day for readers to journal, doodle, or otherwise reflect on the theme. The book also includes an introduction, benediction, and a list of resources and/or bibliography for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Hope shines brightest when all seems lost. Stephanie London led a life of comfort and ease in St. Louis before feeling inexplicably drawn back to her father’s roots in the tiny Southern town of Hope Springs. Charlotte Willoughby has lived there all her life and longs to make a new life somewhere else. Stephanie doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing there—or how to occupy her time. And Charlotte doesn’t understand why, despite her overbearing family and reminders of her failed engagement, she’s suddenly led to stay. Despite its small-town charm, Hope Springs itself is at a crossroads. After a failed reconciliation attempt by two well-meaning pastors, the town is split along racial and cultural lines, with little hope for redemption. When a terrible tragedy puts Hope Springs on the national radar, the entire town is tested, and both Stephanie and Charlotte feel their lives unraveling. In the midst of heartache, though, they’ll discover the true color of hope . . . “. . . journeys us through the challenge of breaking through prejudice and hurt for the sake of love and faith.” —Rachel Hauck, best-selling author of The Wedding Dress
Colors of Salvation: Substance Abuse shares the true life stories of people who have suffered through the dark trenches of addiction and have emerged victorious. A variety of people of all ages, races, genders, and social statuses share their remarkable journey of transformation, going from hopelessness and captivity, to freedom and victory! As a way to join the fight against addiction, at least one dollar from every book sold will go directly to a recovery ministry. You'll be inspired hearing the stories of how God is still miraculously changing lives today!
"What an incredibly unique and creative Bible study! It's multilayered, dimensional, theologically rich, touching the senses—enlightening the mind, capturing the heart." —Kay Arthur, cofounder of Precept Ministries International "I love the encouragement, inspiration, and delightful details woven throughout." —Darlene Schacht, Time-Warp Wife and bestselling author of Messy Beautiful Love This Isn't Your Average Bible Study Explore God's Word on a deeper level and engage with his truth in fresh ways! This study of 10 psalms of hope invites you to discover the incredible design and purpose of inspired Hebrew poetry. Perfect for group discussion or personal reflection, Discovering Hope in the Psalms offers compelling teachings, motivating devotions, and plenty of creative options for interacting with the psalms—including beautiful artwork to color. This discovery book will show you how to... rejoice in God's mercy when sin knocks you down request help with hope when troubles surround respond with thanksgiving for each answered prayer Immerse your mind, heart, and soul in the hope flowing through the psalms.
Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has long been admired throughout the world for the heroism and grace he exhibited while encouraging countless South Africans in their struggle for human rights. In God Has a Dream, his most soul-searching book, he shares the spiritual message that guided him through those troubled times. Drawing on personal and historical examples, Archbishop Tutu reaches out to readers of all religious backgrounds, showing how individual and global suffering can be transformed into joy and redemption. With his characteristic humor, Tutu offers an extremely personal and liberating message. He helps us to “see with the eyes of the heart” and to cultivate the qualities of love, forgiveness, humility, generosity, and courage that we need to change ourselves and our world. Echoing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., he writes, “God says to you, ‘I have a dream. Please help me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts. When there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that my children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, my family.’” Addressing the timeless and universal concerns all people share, God Has a Dream envisions a world transformed through hope and compassion, humility and kindness, understanding and forgiveness.
How is it that in America the image of Jesus Christ has been used both to justify the atrocities of white supremacy and to inspire the righteousness of civil rights crusades? In The Color of Christ, Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey weave a tapestry of American dreams and visions--from witch hunts to web pages, Harlem to Hollywood, slave cabins to South Park, Mormon revelations to Indian reservations--to show how Americans remade the Son of God visually time and again into a sacred symbol of their greatest aspirations, deepest terrors, and mightiest strivings for racial power and justice. The Color of Christ uncovers how, in a country founded by Puritans who destroyed depictions of Jesus, Americans came to believe in the whiteness of Christ. Some envisioned a white Christ who would sanctify the exploitation of Native Americans and African Americans and bless imperial expansion. Many others gazed at a messiah, not necessarily white, who was willing and able to confront white supremacy. The color of Christ still symbolizes America's most combustible divisions, revealing the power and malleability of race and religion from colonial times to the presidency of Barack Obama.
Looking for a fun and easy way to calm your busy mind and let God's Word penetrate your heart? Immerse yourself in the Bible's promises with these beautifully crafted, hand-drawn verses by Lori Siebert—all ready for you to add your own creative touch with paints, markers, colored pencils, or crayons. As you spend a few restful moments contemplating these well-loved passages of Scripture, each page will become a personal reminder that God's Word is for you. You'll enjoy filling these images with color and filling your soul with the confident assurance that God is walking with you, watching over you, and guiding you into a wonderful future.
When He came to earth, Jesus Christ was rejected in every quarter in which He stepped. The Creator was rejected by His own creation. “He came to His own and His own received Him not,” said John. For this reason, Jesus Christ had “no where to lay His head.” There was one exception, however. A little village just outside of Jerusalem named Bethany. Bethany was the only place on earth where Jesus was completely received. God’s Favorite Place on Earth is a retelling of Jesus’ many visits to Bethany and a relaying of the message it holds for us today. Frank Viola presents a beautifully crafted narrative from the viewpoint of Lazarus, one of the people who lived in Bethany with his two sisters. This incomparable story not only brings the Gospel narratives to life, but it addresses the struggle against doubt, discouragement, fear, guilt, rejection, and spiritual apathy that challenges countless Christians today. In profoundly moving prose, God’s Favorite Place on Earth will captivate your heart with its beauty, charm, and depth. In this book you will discover how to live as a “Bethany” in our world today, being set free to love and follow Jesus like never before.
The church's relationship with depression has been fraught, and we still have a long way to go. Drawing on her own experience with depression, Diana Gruver looks back into church history and finds depression in the lives of some of our most beloved saints, telling their stories in fresh ways and offering practical wisdom both for those in the darkness and those who care for them.
In Hope Sings, So Beautiful, award-winning author Christopher Pramuk offers a mosaic of images and sketches for thinking and praying through difficult questions about race. The reader will encounter the perspectives of artists, poets, and theologians from many different ethnic and racial communities. This richly illustrated book is not primarily sociological or ethnographic in approach. Rather, its horizon is shaped by questions of theology, spirituality, and pastoral practice. Pramuk's challenging work on this difficult topic will stimulate fruitful conversations and fresh thinking, whether in private study or prayer; in classrooms, churches, and reading groups; or among friends and family around the dinner tale.
