The idea for this book came suddenly in a vivid snapshot while thinking about how Jesus talked about His love for children and displayed it in His actions. He would continue to tell people about His love for us as His children. So, I set out to make simple what many people have made complicated, the love of God through His son Jesus Christ as displayed through children.
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.
Life’s experiences mold our character and shape us for the adult we eventually become. All too often we take our growing-up (younger) years for granted and generally mark the “sweet sixteen” age as a benchmark from which we not only start driving but that’s usually as far back as we recall. “Just A Bug On The Windshield Of Life” explores the adventures of a child (Jim Rudd) at a very young age and through many decades. A simpler way of life was enjoyed, one that built upon the imagination without television, video games, cell phones, calculators, etc. We knew our neighbors, raised gardens, had picnics on blankets, family reunions and conversations while sitting on porch swings. A comparative scenario is made with a bug, a car’s windshield, the windshield wiper and how we potentially fit into one of these three descriptions. As years pass the scenario changes and we start growing up, having various adventures, stress and challenges. We’re then repositioned from the original scenario. No matter where you might relate and picture yourself within the book, as you relive your own life’s experiences, the thrill of childhood and growing up can be felt throughout the book. When you read about the various character descriptions of family members and then on to the many stories and explorations which are told, you are drawn in to the next story and then the next. You soon realize that this is not only a book about some of the life events of Jim Rudd but it’s also a description of how God works in our lives to mold us and offer us an opportunity to become one of His children. Two hundred seven various stories are told in the twenty chapters. Each story is a footstep in the life of the author. It’s fun to read, laugh and enjoy a simpler period in time. It’s also easy to realize and recall how you too had similar events that helped you to become what you are today. The various sketches seen throughout the book offer visual references that bring life to the many stories. Spend some time not only reading the text but studying the various sketches. You will see adventure and action in every sketch as your imagination brings them to life. The original concept of this book was to leave a legacy for my children, grandchildren and the generations that follow. Others encouraged me to make this book available for the general public to enjoy. With that in mind, I offer this book with a hope of personally meeting each and every one that read and liked this book. I may have to wait until heaven for this wish to come true. God bless you for reading my book.
A personal story of holding on to faith in Christ in the face of loss. Author Melissa Zaldivar talks honestly about losing everything that once defined her and how God used unexpected opportunities, like working at Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, to spark a journey of working through her grief and encountering the all-sufficient love of Christ. Weaving inspiring passages of Scripture and insights from Little Women into her personal story, Melissa encourages readers with her discovery that it’s when we have nothing left to offer that we can receive God’s love the most. And that’s something that can never be lost. Readers will be reassured that God will meet them in the midst of their mess and urged to look to him for help, comfort, and strength. A great gift for those whose faith is being tested in the face of a loss of any kind—a loved one, a job, or a relationship.
Kentucky and Kentuckians are full of stories, which may be why so many present-day writers have Kentucky roots. Whether they left and returned, like Wendell Berry and Bobbie Ann Mason, or adopted Kentucky as home, like James Still and Jim Wayne Miller, or grew up and left for good, like Michael Dorris and Barbara Kingsolver, they have one connection: Kentucky has influenced their writing and their lives. L. Elisabeth Beattie explores this influence in twenty intimate interviews. Conversations with Kentucky Writers was more than three years in the making, as Beattie traveled across the state and beyond to capture oral histories on tape. Her exhaustive knowledge of these authors helped her draw out personal revelations about their work, their lives, and the nature of writing. When Still concludes his interview with "I believe I've told you more than anybody," he could be speaking for any of Beattie's subjects. Aspiring writers will learn that Mason submitted twenty stories to the New Yorker before one was accepted, and that Still wrote articles for Sunday school magazines. There's plenty of advice: Dorris tells budding authors to get real jobs, keep journals, and read everything, even cereal boxes, and Marsha Norman reminds playwrights that "it is not the business of the theater to provide writers with a living." Kingsolver advises, "Read good stuff and write bad stuff until eventually what you're writing begins to approximate what you're reading." Beattie's collection includes striking self-portraits of such writers as Sue Grafton, Leon Driskell, James Baker Hall, Fenton Johnson, George Ella Lyon, Taylor McCafferty, Ed McClanahan, Sena Naslund, Chris Offutt, Lee Pennington, and Betty Layman Receveur. What most distinguishes these moving conversations from other author interviews is their focus on creativity, on the teaching of writing, and on the authors' strong sense of place. As Wade Hall writes in his foreword, all twenty writers recognize that their works have been significantly influenced by their "Kentucky experience." This collection offers insights into Kentucky's rich and flowering literary heritage.
The year was 1973. A fourteen-year-old girl hitchhiked across the country to the Pacific Coast, then back to the Atlantic Ocean. Her mother died when she was only eleven years old and never knowing a father, there had to be a way of validating her very existence and to discover why she was on this planet. The answers were all around her; however, she would not be able to recognize them until years later. Meeting with many life-threatening situations, it’s a thousand wonders she is still alive to tell her story. Run Baby Girl Run is written with gut-wrenching honesty and allows the reader to see into the very depths of this beautiful young girl’s soul. Editor: Jackie Hurst www.johnniesuebridges.com Johnnie Sue Bridges incredible life story began with the release of her first book, the highly acclaimed Shadows and Scars, a beautiful story that captures the essence of living in the mountains of Middlesboro, Kentucky, with vivid imagery, comical moments, and raw emotion. In one cold blue night, she writes of an already painful world turning into nothing short of a nightmare. Bitter coldness and survival starts the reader on a journey that portrays a young mother’s fight against poverty, loneliness, and alcoholism, concluding in the riot-torn and racially divided city of Detroit. Shadows and Scars reveals a birds-eye view of the child that struggled to maintain stability in her hauntingly unstable world. Readers will gain the knowledge of endurance within themselves, despite adversity. Book # 2 Motown Girl Sister Golden Hair chronicles her roller coaster ride through the early 70s growing up in the inner city of Detroit’s Westside. Hitting the teen years during the underground time of extreme change, uprisings, experimenting with everything under the sun, came at a very high price—robbery of her self worth and, most importantly, the stolen innocence of the ones she dearly loved. Highly educated in a cultured urban habit, she was forevermore restless and ran incessantly. And by the grace of God, she eventually changed and escaped. However, some of those she held closest to her heart paid the piper with their lives. In her own words, “No one told us that stuff would kill ya.”
A rebellious and willful woman, author Raven White spent years stewing her organs in lethal concoctions of alcohol, meth, marijuana, and cocaine. Running from relationships and self-medicating was routine. Colon cancer and a life expectancy of three to five years became the "cure" she needed to hear God's voice. In Bad Can Be Broken, she narrates the story of how stage four colon cancer at first was her nemesis, but how it ultimately became the reason she now lives a life filled with love, joy, and peace. This memoir details her specific struggles, including being a cancer warrior, and it also discusses the challenges she faced long before accepting God. White tells how she believes the karma racked up in her teens through her late thirties led to having to swallow the weight of a life-threatening illness. Touching on spirituality and maturing as a human being, Bad Can Be Broken offers hope and inspiration. White shows how she found peace and purpose and tells how it is available for others facing the same challenges.
