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Doing Less

December 3, 2013

“Instead of applauding Martha, Jesus gently rebukes her, telling her Mary has chosen ‘what is better.’ Or, as another translation puts it, ‘Mary has chosen the better part’ (NRSV).
‘The better part?’ Martha must have echoed incredulously.
‘The better part!’ I say to God in the midst of my own whirl of activity. ‘You mean there’s more? I have to do more?’
No, no, comes the answer to my tired heart. Jesus’ words in Luke 10 are incredibly freeing to those of us on the performance treadmill of life.
It isn’t ‘more’ he requires of us.
In fact, it may be less.”

Excerpted from Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver

Daily Reflection: Do you strive to do more for God or simply be by His side?

NEWS: Focus on the Family to Rebroadcast “The Emotionally Destructive Marriage” Author in Best of 2013 Series

December 2, 2013

 Focus on the Family is re-broadcasting their top radio segments in a Best of 2013 series. We’re proud to announce that FIVE of our authors have made it into the Best of series, including Leslie Vernick!

On February 5th-6th, 2014 Leslie’s original broadcasts will be aired one more time on the Focus on the Family radio daily program. (If you’d like to tune in live, go here to find a local station.)

You can listen to the original broadcasts here:

Finding Freedom From Destructive Relationships – 1

Finding Freedom From Destructive Relationships – 2

SNEAK PEEK: The Holy Land Key by Ray Bentley

November 27, 2013

Don’t Just Read Prophecy. Step into Its Fulfillment.

Click here to download chapter one of The Holy Land Key.

The study of prophecy inspires elaborate timelines and speculation about which world leader might rise to power in the last days. But meanwhile, it’s far too easy to miss the significant prophetic signs contained in stories of biblical characters, in God’s creation, and in the lives and actions of today’s Israelis and Palestinians.

Click here to download chapter one of The Holy Land Key.

Grow Your Gratitude

November 27, 2013

“If you want to grow your faith, grow your gratitude. To grow your gratitude, take time to count your blessings.
When you take time to stop and look around you—to look at the people who invest in you and those from the past who helped build your character and your life—you remember things that you can never take credit for. They were given to you, like Grandma’s prayers that accompanied you on your salvation journey, like the providence of God that led you to meet your spouse, like the miracle birth of your child, circumstances that allowed you to go to college, the friend of a friend who paved the path for your first job. Once you start counting blessings—many of them ones you have never before acknowledged—you will be overwhelmed. Once you start the list, you’ll find it’s [ … ]

SNEAK PEEK: The Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages by Shaunti Feldhahn

November 25, 2013

“Where does ‘highly happy’ come from—and can we have some too?!”

Click here to download chapter one of The Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages.

Have you ever looked at a blissfully married couple and thought, I wish I could know their secret? Now you can. After years of investigative research, Shaunti reveals twelve powerful habits that the happiest marriages have in common.

 

SNEAK PEEK: AND LIFE COMES BACK by Tricia Lott Williford

November 22, 2013

Read the first chapter of And Life Comes Back.

When your life falls apart—through a death, a lost relationship, a diagnosis—you want more than anything to know that your pain has a purpose. And that beyond your pain, a new day awaits.

Tricia Lott Williford discovered this in a few tragic hours when her thirty-five-year-old husband died unexpectedly. In And Life Comes Back, she writes with soaring prose about her tender, brave journey as a widow with two young boys in the agonizing days and months that followed his death.

And Life Comes Back documents the tenacity of love, the exquisite transience of each moment, and the laughter that comes even in loss. This traveler’s guide to finding new life after setbacks offers no easy answers or glib spiritual maxims but instead draws you into your own story and the hope [ … ]

SNEAK PEEK: I Like Giving by Brad Formsma

November 21, 2013

This Christmas, experience learning to trust alongside the Plain folk of Apple Ridge, Pennsylvania in this heart-warming tale of second chances. – See more at: https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=226490#sthash.t1pXmENy.dpuf
Gideon O’Riley has been given another chance at a life with Lonnie. But will the fight for her heart risk it all over again? – See more at: https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=219085#sthash.2GHMxE02.dpuf
Turn your fleeting minutes into defining moments.
They were two of Jesus’s closest friends. Each had something to offer Him. But one offered “the better part.” – See more at: https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=223010#sthash.s6voIUKK.dpuf
When you choose to live a generous life, you start to change the world around you. Something incredible happens when giving is our idea and not a duty or obligation. – See more at: https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=234388#sthash.75RsneQ5.dpuf

When you choose to live a generous life, you [ … ]

From Good Intentions to Actions

November 21, 2013

My life was full of good intentions—those things we write down in journals and share with friends or family, the important ideas that make us feel good about ourselves, the things we know we’re “supposed” to do as followers of Christ. But for too many of us, our good intentions never become good actions. Without action, good intentions don’t move us forward, draw us closer to God, or make a difference in the world. Good intentions are cans of paint that could have become amazing works of art—but never did.

Excerpted from Ten Days Without by Daniel Ryan Day

Daily Reflection: What are some of the fears or distractions that are keeping you from doing those good intentions you find yourself talking about?

Don’t Give Up

November 20, 2013

Don’t give up. Believe the gospel. God is sovereignly orchestrating your life. Nothing done to you by human decision can ever be done apart from God’s will. Whatever others have meant for evil, He will use it for good.

Always remember this: Joseph carried his pain for over two decades until God revealed the liberating truth that nothing can happen to us by human decision apart from His knowledge and father-like concern. That’s what the Bible says. Not even one sparrow can fall to the ground apart from His will.

What have you been carrying around, and for how long? Whatever it is, God wants you to know that He is making you into part of His larger plan to redeem this world and bring glory to His name. That’s who you are.

Trust Him and wait for Him, and [ … ]