Alone Before God


Book Description

Focusing on cemetery burials in late-eighteenth-century Mexico, Alone Before God provides a window onto the contested origins of modernity in Mexico. By investigating the religious and political debates surrounding the initiative to transfer the burials of prominent citizens from urban to suburban cemeteries, Pamela Voekel challenges the characterization of Catholicism in Mexico as an intractable and monolithic institution that had to be forcibly dragged into the modern world. Drawing on the archival research of wills, public documents, and other texts from late-colonial and early-republican Mexico, Voekel describes the marked scaling-down of the pomp and display that had characterized baroque Catholic burials and the various devices through which citizens sought to safeguard their souls in the afterlife. In lieu of these baroque practices, the new enlightened Catholics, claims Voekel, expressed a spiritually and hygienically motivated preference for extremely simple burial ceremonies, for burial outside the confines of the church building, and for leaving their earthly goods to charity. Claiming that these changes mirrored a larger shift from an external, corporate Catholicism to a more interior piety, she demonstrates how this new form of Catholicism helped to initiate a cultural and epistemic shift that placed the individual at the center of knowledge. Breaking with the traditional historiography to argue that Mexican liberalism had deeply religious roots, Alone Before God will be of interest to specialists in Latin American history, modernity, and religion.




15 Minutes Alone with God Deluxe Edition


Book Description

Devotions to Fit Your Busy Life It can be hard to carve out quiet time with God when so many things are competing for your attention. But the benefits of spending just 15 minutes a day drawing closer to Him greatly outweighs the commitment. Nurturing your relationship with your Heavenly Father will not only strengthen you spiritually, it will help you accomplish all you set out to do. Each entry in this beautiful edition of the bestselling 15 Minutes Alone with God (over half-a-million copies sold) features a short Scripture reading, key verse, an inspiring devotion, easy action steps, and additional verses for further study. Let these heartfelt insights from Emilie Barnes bring you into deeper fellowship with God. Emilie's heart was always to help women like you in practical ways as you manage your busy home and life, and her words remain as inspiring today as when they were first published.




Rich Wounds


Book Description

Profound reflections on the cross that help you to meditate on and marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus. This book can be used as a devotional, especially during Lent and Easter. These profound reflections on the cross from David Mathis, author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect, will help you to meditate on and marvel at Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and spectacular resurrection-enabling you to treasure anew who Jesus is and what he has done. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it becomes easy to miss subtle details and difficult to really enjoy its meaning. This book will help you to pause and marvel at Jesus, whose now-glorified wounds are a sign of his unfailing love and the decisive victory that he has won: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) This book can be used as a devotional. The chapters on Holy Week make it especially helpful during the Lent season and at Easter.




Your God is Too Glorious


Book Description

Most of us are regular people who have good days and bad days. Our lives are radically ordinary and unexciting. That means they're the kind of lives God gets excited about. While the world worships beauty and power and wealth, God hides his glory in the simple, the mundane, the foolish, working in unawesome people, things, and places.In our day of celebrity worship and online posturing, this is a refreshing, even transformative way of understanding God and our place in his creation. It urges us to treasure a life of simplicity, to love those whom the world passes by, to work for God's glory rather than our own. And it demonstrates that God has always been the Lord of the cross--a Savior who hides his grace in unattractive, inglorious places.Your God Is Too Glorious reminds readers that while a quiet life may look unimpressive to the world, it's the regular, everyday people that God tends to use to do his most important work.




God Alone Suffices


Book Description

GOD Alone Suffices introduces the true image of GOD; The GOD of unconditional love, an All-powerful GOD capable of bringing about a change of heart. This book helps to restore the souls "smile" as GOD intended a soul full of joy and hope. Each one of us knows someone that has lost their interior smile. This loss can come from many unexpected events, such as divorce, illness, addiction, depression or loss of a loved one. It can come from hearing the world news and tragic events such as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 or Hurricane Charley. GOD Alone Suffices focuses on the truth who we are and who GOD is. Many people upon reading this book have discovered the true image of God and have come to experience Gods unconditional and all-powerful love that knows them and accepts them as they are. This limited revised second edition offers 4 new forewords, a special acknowledgment to the U.S. President, Vice-president and other members of Congress, as well as a letter from the Vatican.




Walking Through Fire


Book Description

The astonishing, Job-like story of how an existence filled with loss, suffering, questioning, and anger became a life filled with shocking and incomprehensible peace and joy. Vaneetha Risner contracted polio as an infant, was misdiagnosed, and lived with widespread paralysis. She lived in and out of the hospital for ten years and, after each stay, would return to a life filled with bullying. When she became a Christian, though, she thought things would get easier, and they did: carefree college days, a dream job in Boston, and an MBA from Stanford where she met and married a classmate. But life unraveled. Again. She had four miscarriages. Her son died because of a doctor's mistake. And Vaneetha was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, meaning she would likely become a quadriplegic. And then her husband betrayed her and moved out, leaving her to raise two adolescent daughters alone. This was not the abundant life she thought God had promised her. But, as Vaneetha discovered, everything she experienced was designed to draw her closer to Christ as she discovered "that intimacy with God in suffering can be breathtakingly beautiful."




Breaking Busy


Book Description

Have you ever felt like a fraud or failure as you struggle to find balance in life? Do you find yourself juggling everything in mediocrity and feeling like you're succeeding at very little? In her no-nonsense style, Alli Worthington--popular podcaster and author of The Year of Living Happy--tackles the big questions about finding happiness and one's God-given purpose. Have you ever felt like a fraud or failure as you struggle to find balance in life? Do you find yourself juggling everything in mediocrity and feeling like you're succeeding at very little? In her no-nonsense way, Alli Worthington tackles the big questions about finding happiness and one's God-given purpose. Breaking Busy marries popular secular research with solid biblical principles, instilling confidence that you, too, can move from crazy busy to confident calm. With refreshing candor, uproarious true stories, and a Christian worldview, Alli delivers truths that dismantle common happiness myths. Then she empowers you to get unstuck, to let go of the good to make way for the great, to know yourself and your Creator, and ultimately to find peace and purpose in this world of crazy. You will: Learn how to stop chasing what leaves you empty and start doing what you were created to do. Identify the common lies you believe and how to strip their power from your life. Recognize how what you say no to determines what you can say yes to. With relatable anecdotes, Alli models real-life guidance on boundaries, relationships, and self-care, humbly examining her own mistakes and walking through how she learned from her missteps and found peace in a world of busyness. If you long to find real connection with both your loved ones and your Creator, Alli Worthington deftly balances intelligent humility and heartwarming humor to help you rediscover your path.




With Fresh Eyes


Book Description

What miracles do we miss when we close our eyes to the wonder of everyday moments? In this busy, jaded world of ours, we often take for granted what we see every day. We may set aside time to spend with God in a quiet room, but we struggle to see his hand in a traffic jam or while walking the dog. But for Karen Wingate, sight itself is something extraordinary, and what our eyes can reveal is even more astounding. Karen lived most of her life with severely limited sight due to a cluster of disorders stemming from a genetic defect. But through the chance outcome of a surgery, she regained sight in one eye that doubled her visual acuity—and allowed her to see things she had never seen before. And as she discovered a more detailed world for the first time, she also began to see God in every new discovery—from the prosaic numbers of a bathroom scale to the glory of sunsets. With Fresh Eyes invites readers to not only celebrate the gift of their own sight but also reawaken the wonder of what they observe in creation—great and small—and how God is working in everyday moments. In each of her sixty meditations, Karen's humor and whimsy draw a connection between physical sight and spiritual understanding that will leave readers with a renewed joy and delight in what is good and beautiful, and will reassure them that God still works in the lives of his people.







Where is THAT in the Bible?


Book Description

Know Exactly What Scripture Means In his first book for Our Sunday Visitor, noted Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid helps you: Be absolutely certain your interpretation of Scripture is accurate Discover how the simple sentence "I never said you stole money" can be the key to understanding the entire Bible Answer any questions a non-Catholic might throw at you Learn exactly what the Bible teaches about the Pope, priestly celibacy, homosexuality, abortion, salvation, and other hot topics Obtain a working knowledge of Scripture so you can feel comfortable talking with Fundamentalists and Evangelicals Allow the life-giving truth and power of Scripture to transform your life Become an effective spokesman for the truth of Catholic teaching. With comprehensive Scripture references, quotes from the great teachers of the Faith, tips on how to deflate even the most vehement arguments, as well as a list of verses typically used against Catholics with effective counterarguments, Where Is That in the Bible? is a great book of Scripture-based apologetics.




Recent Books