Grace & Power

Grace & Power

Author: Sally Bedell Smith

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2011-08-15

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1845137221

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Unlike so many other books, Grace and Power rejects gossip and conspiracy theory to tell the story of John and Jackie’s three years in the White House soberly, comprehensively and sensitively, from beginning to sudden end. Sally Bedell Smith’s book on John and Jackie Kennedy was hailed by authoritative reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic as the most distinguished and well-written book on a perennially fascinating subject for years. In the US the hardback was high on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks. It is an immensely poignant chronicle of pivotal historical events seen from the inside out, from within the private home of the President and First Lady. Amidst the superficial opulence of their social circle, we see the Cuban Missile Crisis and the burgeoning American civil rights movement from the perspective of an invalid president often barely well enough to appear in public. Together with his young wife, abandoned by her husband’s relentless womanising, nevertheless changed the politics and style of America. Grace and Power is the classic account of that time.


First Mercy Then Grace

First Mercy Then Grace

Author: Virginia J. Flo

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2016-06-27

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1490884270

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Samuel and Ruth Schultz lead a simple life with their two young daughters on their Minnesota farm, growing corn, selling eggs and chickens, and tending to the myriad other chores that come with farm life. Married for ten years, they have a deep, abiding love for each other and an unshakeable faith in Goddespite having suffered the heartache of three miscarriages. When they hear about an area foster care program, theyre eager to open their home to a child who could benefit from their wholesome, rural Christian lifestyle. At ten years old, Billy has experienced enough loss and hurt for a lifetime when he arrives at the Schultzes with all his possessions in a pillowcase. Certain he wont be wanted here and that his stay will be short, he remains quiet and withdrawn. Only the family dog knows how much he is hurting. But God knows Billy, too, and uses the Schultzes and their faith to open his heart and come to know Jesus as guide and friend. He starts to feel more secure in his new home and learns how to pray. Then he hears that the social worker from the welfare office is coming, and he can only assume he will be taken away. Will his world be turned upside down yet again? First Mercy Then Grace portrays one familys experience with foster care and testifies to Gods gifts of love, endurance, and the unexpected mercies and blessings that come when we trust in him.


Cool Town

Cool Town

Author: Grace Elizabeth Hale

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2020-02-13

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1469654881

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In the summer of 1978, the B-52's conquered the New York underground. A year later, the band's self-titled debut album burst onto the Billboard charts, capturing the imagination of fans and music critics worldwide. The fact that the group had formed in the sleepy southern college town of Athens, Georgia, only increased the fascination. Soon, more Athens bands followed the B-52's into the vanguard of the new American music that would come to be known as "alternative," including R.E.M., who catapulted over the course of the 1980s to the top of the musical mainstream. As acts like the B-52's, R.E.M., and Pylon drew the eyes of New York tastemakers southward, they discovered in Athens an unexpected mecca of music, experimental art, DIY spirit, and progressive politics--a creative underground as vibrant as any to be found in the country's major cities. In Athens in the eighties, if you were young and willing to live without much money, anything seemed possible. Cool Town reveals the passion, vitality, and enduring significance of a bohemian scene that became a model for others to follow. Grace Elizabeth Hale experienced the Athens scene as a student, small-business owner, and band member. Blending personal recollection with a historian's eye, she reconstructs the networks of bands, artists, and friends that drew on the things at hand to make a new art of the possible, transforming American culture along the way. In a story full of music and brimming with hope, Hale shows how an unlikely cast of characters in an unlikely place made a surprising and beautiful new world.


Lifting Our Eyes

Lifting Our Eyes

Author: Beth J. Lueders

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 144062237X

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Virginia Tech’s soul is in the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, which in turn found one of its strong hearts in an effervescent Christian student named Lauren McCain. Then on an unforgettable April morning, Lauren lost her life with thirty-one others at the hands of a gunman in the largest mass murder in modern U.S. history. But one thing couldn’t be destroyed: an unyielding faith and spirit that lives on in Lauren’s memory, one which she so joyously championed. Yet the challenging and inevitable questions persist: How could God allow evil to shatter the lives of these good people? What’s to become of our trust in Him when it seems as if He’s not there to protect us? Through exclusive interviews with Lauren’s own parents and others, this book offers answers—found in a community joined in immeasurable sorrow, anger, and grief; in the healing and heartening words of survivors, clergy, and counsel. Most of all, it is Lauren’s own lasting legacy—a ray of light that illuminates the goodness above—that inspires now more than ever before. Foreword by Darrell Scott. Includes photographs and an appendix of resources for those coping with tragedy. “A person’s view of God determines the way they will respond in times of crises. Beth Lueders has done us a great service by finding God’s stories of grace and hope in an otherwise horrific event. I encourage you to read this book and find your faith strengthened by first-hand stories of God’s presence and peace.”—Vonette Z. Bright, cofounder, Campus Crusade for Christ “When tragedy strikes in such devastating proportions, it’s only natural for us to look heavenward and ask, ‘Why?’ And that’s exactly where this book turns—to God. From a very personal yet eternal perspective, this book offers real hope and healing in the aftermath of inexplicable suffering.” —Ed Young, author of Outrageous Joy and Senior Pastor, Fellowship Church, Grapevine, Texas


Saving My Assassin

Saving My Assassin

Author: Virginia Prodan

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1496411838

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"I should be dead. Buried in an unmarked grave in Romania. Obviously, I am not. God had other plans." At just under five feet tall, Virginia Prodan was no match for the towering 6' 10" gun-wielding assassin the Romanian government sent to her office to take her life. It was not the first time her life had been threatened--nor would it be the last. As a young attorney under Nicolae Ceausescu's brutal communist regime, Virginia had spent her entire life searching for the truth. When she finally found it in the pages of the most forbidden book in all of Romania, Virginia accepted the divine call to defend fellow followers of Christ against unjust persecution in an otherwise ungodly land. For this act of treason, she was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, placed under house arrest, and came within seconds of being executed under the orders of Ceausescu himself. How Virginia not only managed to elude her enemies time and again, but how she also helped expose the appalling secret that would ultimately lead to the demise of Ceausescu's evil empire is one of the most extraordinary stories ever told. A must-read for all generations, Saving My Assassin is the unforgettable account of one woman's search for truth, her defiance in the face of evil, and a surprise encounter that proves without a shadow of a doubt that nothing is impossible with God.


Suffer Strong

Suffer Strong

Author: Katherine Wolf

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2020-02-11

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 031034459X

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Is it possible to embrace suffering as a privilege, rather than a punishment? Beloved authors Katherine and Jay Wolf offer readers the bold invitation to trust a known God with an unknown future, as well as practical insights into surviving anything by redefining how we think about everything. After miraculously surviving a near-fatal brainstem stroke at age 26, as told in their memoir, Hope Heals, life for Katherine and Jay Wolf changed forever - and so did the way they viewed God, the world, and themselves in it. There was no going back to normal after such a tragedy. Yet Katherine and Jay learned that suffering is not the end, but rather the beginning of a new story. In Suffer Strong, they invite us into this new story as they share universal lessons and helpful practices that will help us to: Recognize we are being equipped for an uncommon assignment, not cursed by our story. Transform our unmet expectations into brave anticipations. Disrupt the myth that joy can only be found in a pain-free life. Rewrite the narrative of hard circumstances by turning our definitions of suffering into declarations of strength. And, ultimately, thrive even in the lives we never imagined living.


Kingdom, Grace, Judgment

Kingdom, Grace, Judgment

Author: Robert Farrar Capon

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2002-03-11

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 1467427527

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Here in one volume is Robert Farrar Capon's widely praised trilogy on Jesus' parables — The Parables of the Kingdom, The Parables of Grace, and The Parables of Judgment. These studies offer a fresh, adventurous look at all of Jesus' parables, treated according to their major themes. With the same authorial flair and daring insight that have earned him a wide readership, Capon admirably bridges the gap between the biblical world and our own, making clear both the original meaning of the parables and their continuing relevance today.


Bridges to Grace

Bridges to Grace

Author: Elizabeth A Swanson

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2011-07-05

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0310587239

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Discover the power of recovery ministry for your church. Churchgoers who experience painful family issues, addictions, abuse, loss, mental illnesses, and other secret sorrows begin to believe they live beyond the grip of God’s redemptive hand. Pastors often feel ill equipped to help with such problems and refer people to resources outside the church. People badly need Christ-centered counsel and encouragement, but few church leaders even know where to start. Bridges to Grace is an inspiring introduction highlighting the stories of churches across the country that are thinking systematically and organizationally about the ministry of recovery. The authors share how this ministry is bringing God’s grace to hurting individuals. They relate both success and failure, and best of all, they demonstrate how God uses recovery ministry powerfully for his kingdom purposes.