Recounts the story of the author?s journey from athletic achievement and physical strength as a two-time all-state quarterback, to surviving a harrowing motorcycle accident that left him fighting for his life ... and permanently paralyzed from the waist down. From his darkest hour to the realization of a new life lived in God?s light, Tragic Blessing is told with honesty and insight.
"God's goodness is bigger than all human badness," writes best-selling author John Claypool. "God's power and willingness to forgive are greater than our human capacity to sin." The Bible is often held up as a source of family values, but it is also full of families who falter and do so generation after generation. Few families have visited as much evil on each other as Abraham's descendants in Genesis. Using these stories, Claypool explores how God turns the "lead" of evil–like Jacob's theft of Esau's birthright, and Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery in Egypt–into the "gold" of abundant blessing, as alchemists were said to do in the past. God is always more interested in our future, according to Claypool, than in our pasts. In this book, as in his other books, Claypool explores the biblical texts carefully, and with a pastoral eye for the characters from Genesis and his contemporary readers. This book offers challenge and comfort to people who feel that their sins may be beyond God's concern and their lives beyond redemption.
"Bursting with wise observations." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Engagements and Maine "Gleams like a jewel." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer "Stunning. . . Unique and unforgettable." -- Glamour Hailed as one of the best books of 2014 by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Elise Juska's The Blessings is a moving novel about a tight-knit Irish Catholic clan over the course of twenty years. The Blessings rally around one another in times of celebration and those of sorrow, coming together for departures and arrivals, while its members harbor private struggles and moments of personal joy. College student Abby ponders homesickness in her first semester away from her Philadelphia home, while her cousin Stephen commits a petty act of violence that takes a surprising turn, and their aunt Lauren faces a crisis in her storybook marriage she could never have foreseen. Through the lens of one unforgettable family, this beautifully moving novel explores how our families define us and how we shape them in return.
The author describes how he overcame the tragic death of his parents, a year in Vietnam, and various trials to become a successful manager, and how he trusted God throughout his life.
Lois and Tim had been married almost twenty-five years and were the parents of three teenagers. In a single moment, a fatal accident altered the course of Lois’s life and changed her family forever. In the face of intense pain, God used a variety of people and circumstances to reveal His presence and provisions for Lois and her family. In her memoir, A Garment of Praise: A Story of Blessings in the Midst of Grief, Lois chronicles her journey of grief during her first year as a widow. She shares how she and her family experienced God’s amazing, overwhelming, lavish love and abundant blessings. Within days of her husband’s death, Lois began to see ways God had prepared her family for life without Tim. A Garment of Praise: A Story of Blessings in the Midst of Grief presents Lois’s written record of how God provided care for Lois and brought her and her family unexpected blessings during a time of tragedy.
“If you’ve ever doubted your ability to be a vessel of grace and healing in the life of someone who’s hurting, you need to read A Place Called Blessing. It is the story of a wounded soul named Josh, but chances are there is a Josh living next door to you or even sitting near you in the pew at church.”—Jim Daly, president, Focus on the Family His whole life has been a story of hurt and rejection. Is one family’s love enough to turn it all around? Josh lost his parents in a drunk-driving accident and lost track of his two brothers after a tragic fire. By age eighteen, he is an angry young man who only wants a job, an apartment, and to be left alone. Instead, he meets Mike and Anna, an unusual son-and-mother team who draw him into their lives. For the first time, Josh receives unconditional love and something every human being craves, the gift of “the blessing.” But tragedy strikes again, and a shocking secret is revealed. Can Josh hang on to what he’s learned about blessings, curses, and family? The life-changing message of the relational classic, The Blessing—now in compelling story form. Complete with a reader’s guide to help you identify and apply the five elements of the biblical blessing to your own life and relationships. Visit www.TheBlessing.com for more information and an opportunity to join The Blessing Challenge, one million people choosing to change the life of one child—their child!
This book is intended as a supplement to Common Worship Pastoral Services which provides liturgies for use in ministry to the sick – distribution of communion, emergency baptism, laying on of hands and anointing. Many hospital chaplains find their services are needed in other acute situations and often by people who have no church connection or knowledge of religious language. Here chaplains need to improvise. This practical volume draws on the experience of numerous clergy and chaplains and provides tried and tested liturgies in accessible language for a wider range of occasions. Prayers are included for - occasions surrounding birth: thanksgiving, baby blessing and naming, emergency baptism, prayers for a stillborn child - healing rites: communion, anointing, laying on of hands, confession and reconciliation - marriage in hospital, blessing of a civil union, affirmation of a relationship - prayers for every stage of a hospital stay – on receiving a diagnosis, before an operation, when life support is withdrawn - occasions surrounding the death of infants, children and adults
Born with cerebral palsy, Diana Ventura has known brokenness her entire life. Through telling her story, she shares what it means to live with and overcome brokenness of all kinds. As she reflects on her own experience and that of others, Diana offers understanding and insight. There is a mystical path through the landscape of suffering, she says, and those who travel it can find God and healing even in the midst of pain and sadness. Readers who join her on this journey of prayer and faith will be better equipped to meet the everyday challenges of living with brokenness with hope, dignity, and true love.
The Days of Tragedy is based on true story about Franklon Rashaude Voss surviving in the United States of America. In the crisis that has been going on in past years from the beginning of 2008, Franklon had graduated from senior high school and was having problems with the government. While he is having problems with the government, he starts to be a leader at church while he goes to trade school! He does well and graduates! He lives his life being a strong young man in the United States of America.
