This is the eagerly awaited follow up to the best selling, Finding God in the Mess. In this new collection the authors address tough issues such as fear, anxiety, suicide and anger. They have received much feedback from workshops based on the first book, and these are some of the topics on which people have asked for help. As well as offering a meditation or a way of praying, the authors suggest scripture and a simple ritual. Once again the book is based on Jim and Brendan's own unique combination of practical prayer and Ignatian spirituality. Like the previous volume, this book is illustrated with their beautiful photographs.
This is the eagerly awaited follow up to the best selling, Finding God in the Mess. In this new collection the authors address tough issues such as fear, anxiety, suicide and anger. They have received much feedback from workshops based on the first book, and these are some of the topics on which people have asked for help. As well as offering a meditation or a way of praying, the authors suggest scripture and a simple ritual. Once again the book is based on Jim and Brendan's own unique combination of practical prayer and Ignatian spirituality. Like the previous volume, this book is illustrated with their beautiful photographs.
A supportive guide for busy parents who want to connect more and stress less. In our stressed-out culture, too many parents are just coping rather than thriving, juggling demands on their time and energy, and tuning out their inner voices and deeper visions for family life in order to keep their heads above water. There is a better way. Coaching parents through his holistic health practice, Dr. Steven Fonso has helped thousands of families reconnect with what matters most: slowing down to savor authentic moments of connection and letting go of the noise and stress that all too often get in the way. In this reflective and heartfelt guide, you'll find insights and advice for bringing your best self to every parenting challenge, great and small, with greater awareness, authenticity, and grace. Topics include: • recognizing our old patterns--and interrupting them • seeing our kids as teachers, and following their lead to experience more presence and joy • letting go of the need to be perfect--and the expectation that our kids should be, too • reframing challenges as an opportunity to grow--within ourselves and together as a family As calming as a talk with a dear friend, this deceptively simple book turns parenting "truths" upside down to reveal a path to greater presence and connection.
How do you turn your struggles into strengths? Beloved Bible teacher Sheila Walsh teaches readers how the daily spiritual practices of confession, meditation on God’s Word, and prayer result in fresh freedom in Christ. In her long-awaited book, Sheila Walsh equips women with a practical method for connecting with God’s strength in the midst of struggle. From daily frustrations that can feel like overwhelming obstacles to hard challenges that turn into rock-bottom crises, women will find the means to equip themselves for standing strong with God. Using the spiritual applications of confession, prayer, and meditation on Scripture to form a daily connection to Jesus, women will learn how to experience new joy as a child of God who is fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted. In In the Middle of the Mess, Walsh reveals the hardened defenses that kept her from allowing God into her deepest hurts and shares how entering into a safe place with God and practicing this daily connection with him have saved her from the devil’s prowling attacks. Though we will never be completely “fixed” on earth, we are continually held by Jesus, whatever our circumstances. Sheila Walsh acts as our guardian in In the Middle of the Mess as she shows us we’re not alone in our struggles, guides us through a courageous journey of self-discovery, and reminds us where to find hope, comfort, and strength in tough times.
The urge to tidiness seems to be rooted deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in being able to categorise and file away. We all benefit from tidy organisation - up to a point. A large library needs a reference system. Global trade needs the shipping container. Scientific collaboration needs measurement units. But the forces of tidiness have marched too far. Corporate middle managers and government bureaucrats have long tended to insist that everything must have a label, a number and a logical place in a logical system. Now that they are armed with computers and serial numbers, there is little to hold this tidy-mindedness in check. It's even spilling into our personal lives, as we corral our children into sanitised play areas or entrust our quest for love to the soulless algorithms of dating websites. Order is imposed when chaos would be more productive. Or if not chaos, then . . . messiness. The trouble with tidiness is that, in excess, it becomes rigid, fragile and sterile. In Messy, Tim Harford reveals how qualities we value more than ever - responsiveness, resilience and creativity - simply cannot be disentangled from the messy soil that produces them. This, then, is a book about the benefits of being messy: messy in our private lives; messy in the office, with piles of paper on the desk and unread spreadsheets; messy in the recording studio, the laboratory or in preparing for an important presentation; and messy in our approach to business, politics and economics, leaving things vague, diverse and uncomfortably made-up-on-the-spot. It's time to rediscover the benefits of a little mess.
Some pastors preach boring sermons. Some church music is dull. But here’s the thing: If Jesus had been boring, the disciples wouldn’t have followed him and the Pharisees wouldn’t have killed him. So if you’re bored, don’t waste another minute. If your church service feels like a failed pep rally that never leads to the actual game, then it’s time for you to follow Jesus onto the field where the opposition is real and the stakes are extraordinary. It will get messy. It won’t always be comfortable. But you’ll make a difference. And you’ll discover that nobody’s bored out there. Nobody.
On those days when French fries litter the floor of your minivan, when you think bad words about other drivers, when your smile hides an anxious heart–in those moments when you fall short of all you’d hoped to be–what does God see when He looks at you? In your less-than-lovely moments, God sees a precious daughter in need of His perfect love. In this liberating look at how God adores and transforms imperfect people, Bible teacher Lisa Harper weaves poignant stories of her own personal foibles with a fresh take on selected Psalms to reveal a loving Father who remains your greatest champion even when you don’t feel anywhere close to holy. Join Lisa in discovering what happens when we stop trying to hide our inadequacies and doubts and instead trust God with our anger, frustrations, flaws, and regrets. As you accept God’s loving invitation to exchange your junk for His joy, you’ll find the imperfect pieces of your life shaped into a glorious pattern of divine grace.
Your best friend is suddenly cool and distant. Your spouse can't stop complaining about your bad habits. Your son refuses to talk to you. What are you supposed to do? Plans A, B, and C might be to shut down, lash out, or get out. But consider Plan D: Recognize that God has the last word on those messy, conflict-ridden relationships. He can ...
What if the mess of your life is where God is about to do his best work? Life can be a tangled mess. Luke Lezon's mess came in the form of alarming health issues, transforming him from fun-loving and God-fearing to angry and hopeless. As Luke's health deteriorated for months without answers, the stress of not knowing suddenly spiraled into a mental and emotional breakdown. As a pastor, he wasn't supposed to struggle with life's mess - but then maybe we've been wrong about the mess all along. As Luke learned, you are not made of the mess, you are made through it. If you're feeling lonely or less-than, ashamed of where you've been or anxious about where you're going, this is a message crafted just for you: God is never afraid of a mess. He's never run from some dirt and blood. In fact, the mess is exactly where he does his best work. If we believe that God created us from dust and redeemed us through the blood of the cross, we can trust him with our tangled lives. Your Mess Matters is a lifeline to hang on to, a light in the dark reminding you that God is still at work, making your life more beautiful than ever before. Through vulnerable stories of his own journey and profound biblical truths, Luke will guide you through the process of entrusting your story to Jesus and letting him work his biggest promises through your greatest regrets. With Luke's encouraging insight and bold truth-telling, your mind will be comforted, your heart inspired, and your soul empowered to let God transform your mess into a masterpiece.
When life looks radically different than the plan we have for ourselves, it's the lucky few that recognize God's plan is best. That's what adoptive mom Heather Avis learned, and that's the invitation of this book. As the mother of three adopted children - two with Down syndrome - Heather Avis has learned that it's truly the lucky few who get to live a life like hers, who actually recognize that God's plans are best, even when they seem so radically different from the plans we have for ourselves. When Heather started her journey into parenthood she never thought it would look like this, never planned to have three adopted children, and certainly never imagined that two of them would have Down syndrome. But like most things God does, once she stepped into the craziness and confusion that comes with the unknown and the unplanned, she realized that they were indeed among the lucky few. Discover in this book what 70,000+ followers of Heather's hit Instagram account @macymakesmyday already know: the power of faith and family can help us stay strong in the toughest times. This book will also be especially touching to those with adopted family members or children with Down syndrome in their lives.
