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Waiting and Hope

April 16, 2013

“Gardens are about waiting and about hope as much as they are about anything.

You wait for spring to come and for roses to bud out and for the earth to green up again. You wait for seeds to germinate and irises to spread. You wait for the dogwoods to turn white and pink and for the maple to go golden in the fall. And all the while you hold a vision of some new thing in your head, of what the garden will be someday.

You cannot hurry it along, not any of it. Spring comes when it comes; roses bloom when they will; the garden grows at its own sweet pace. What it teaches you is to wait, to be patient, and to pay attention.

Some morning the sun will rise, and something you have always dreamed of [ … ]

SNEAK PEEK: This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley

April 15, 2013

Already Not Yet

Click here to download chapter one of This Beautiful Mess.

When Jesus announced, “the kingdom of God is at hand,” what did He mean? Uncover the reality of the kingdom of God and what it might look like if followers of Christ practiced its in-breaking presence. What happens when we view life through the lens of the kingdom? How does the beauty of Jesus’ reign break into the mess of our broken lives and world? What if we lived as though a world other than this one was here today? This Beautiful Mess launches a paradigm-shifting journey inviting us to experience the kingdom of God in the ordinary miracle of our everyday lives.

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Draw Near to the Lord

April 15, 2013

The book of James gives us a short course in how to defeat Satan. It says that in relation to Satan, we are to be like the kind of magnet that repels another magnet. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). More to our point here, James says that in relation to God, we are to be like the kind of magnet that attracts Him. “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (verse 8). The Lord is always there, right next to us, waiting for us to draw near to Him so that He can respond in just the same way.

Oh, I beg you, my friend, draw near to the Lover of your soul. He so wants you to know Him as intimately as He already knows you. Hear His voice [ … ]

SNEAK PEEK: Burning Sky by Lori Benton

April 13, 2013

I remember the borders of our land, though I have been gone from them nearly half the moons of my life. But who there will remember me? What I have seen, what I have done, it has changed me.

Click here to download chapter one of Burning Sky.

Abducted by Mohawk Indians at fourteen and renamed Burning Sky, Willa Obenchain is driven to return to her family’s New York frontier homestead after many years building a life with the People. At the boundary of her father’s property, Willa discovers a wounded Scotsman lying in her path. Feeling obliged to nurse his injuries, the two quickly find much has changed during her twelve-year absence—her childhood home is in disrepair, [ … ]

Sneak Peek: For Women Only, For Men Only, For Couples Only Participant’s Guide by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn

April 12, 2013

So that’s what she means! So that’s what he’s thinking!

Click here to download chapter one of this Participant’s Guide.

For years, men and women have seen great life change as they used these groundbreaking books in small groups, Bible studies, Sunday school classes, and premarital or marriage counseling.  Now this participant’s guide makes the content even more illuminating.

Get ready to know “the other half” in a whole new way!

Click here to download chapter one of this Participant’s Guide.

Dare to Live Extraordinarily

April 12, 2013

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT

These words paint a picture of an unimaginable and extraordinary existence, one far beyond what any mere mortal has known or experienced. You may have heard these words before and related them only to heaven’s glory. But in actuality, they were penned for the here and now! For the writer, the apostle Paul, continues, “But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit” (verse 10, NLT).

There’s One Person above all others who desires an extraordinary life for you. He is a Father who delights, like any good father, in the achievements and happiness of His children. His name is God! And nothing will please Him more than [ … ]

Lost in Him

April 11, 2013

The progression toward oneness with God leaves you absent of yourself. Lost in Him.

As you move more fully into what God sees and what He desires, you’ll no longer be concerned with what you lack or how you’ve failed. As you walk with Him day by day, you will come to see yourself through His truths.

Afraid that you can’t get past your past?

Getting lost in intimacy with God will assure your heart that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Fearful that you can’t overcome a sinful habit?

Intimacy with God will bring you to believe that your “old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no [ … ]

SNEAK PEEK: Godonomics by Chad Hovind

April 10, 2013

God’s solution to America’s economic crisis

Click here to download chapter one of Godonomics.

Saving America’s economy is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue, it is a biblical issue. National leaders have failed to pull the country out of its financial tailspin because both major parties are working from the wrong text. For a nation to achieve stability and enjoy lasting economic health, it needs to adopt the economic principles set forth in the Bible.

Click here to download chapter one of Godonomics.

Generosity

April 10, 2013

The famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger noted that the single most important indicator of a person’s mental health was generosity. “Generous people are rarely mentally ill,” he wrote.  I think the early social reformer Dorothea Dix understood that concept. She’d survived a difficult childhood and was a successful teacher by the time she was fifteen opening a school for girls when young ladies rarely attended school. By the time she was twenty, she had a bestselling book, the first of many. Yet she often had serious bouts with a lung illness and terrible fatigue, some of which appeared to be related to great sadness and loneliness.

When she began working on behalf of the mentally ill later in her life, her health dramatically improved.  Where she’d stayed home from church for fear of catching a cold on the Boston streets or [ … ]