No More Faking Fine


Book Description

Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. When life hurts, we often feel pressure--from others and ourselves--to keep it together, suck it up, or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who lovingly invites us to give honest voice to our emotions when life hits hard. For most of her life, Esther Fleece Allen believed she could bypass the painful emotions of her broken past by shutting them down altogether. She was known as an achiever and an overcomer on the fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you've done the same. Esther's journey into healing began when she discovered that God has given us a real-world way to deal with raw emotions and an alternative to the coping mechanisms that end up causing more pain. It's called lament--the gut-level, honest prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament, taking you on a journey down the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God's own language to come closer to him as he leads us through our pain to the light on the other side, teaching you that: We are robbing ourselves of a divine mystery and a divine intimacy when we pretend to have it all together God does not expect us to be perfect; instead, he meets us where we are There is hope beyond your heartache, disappointment, and grief Like Esther, you'll soon find that when one person stops faking fine, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.




Everything Good about God Is True


Book Description

You know what you don't believe: about the Bible, the church, and God. But what if someone asked: "What do you believe?" Bruce Reyes-Chow helps us consider what it means to choose faith and how to create one's own "faith montage." What if we could articulate the gospel of love, humility, and justice? What if everything good about God is true?




The True Nature of God


Book Description

Often, human perspective and the mechanics of Christianity eclipse the true nature of God -- the God Who wants nothing more than to share an intimate friendship with His children. If you're wondering who God is, or if He cares, let Andrew Wommack show you The True Nature of God.




In the Middle of the Mess


Book Description

How do you turn your struggles into strengths? Beloved Bible teacher Sheila Walsh teaches readers how the daily spiritual practices of confession, meditation on God’s Word, and prayer result in fresh freedom in Christ. In her long-awaited book, Sheila Walsh equips women with a practical method for connecting with God’s strength in the midst of struggle. From daily frustrations that can feel like overwhelming obstacles to hard challenges that turn into rock-bottom crises, women will find the means to equip themselves for standing strong with God. Using the spiritual applications of confession, prayer, and meditation on Scripture to form a daily connection to Jesus, women will learn how to experience new joy as a child of God who is fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted. In In the Middle of the Mess, Walsh reveals the hardened defenses that kept her from allowing God into her deepest hurts and shares how entering into a safe place with God and practicing this daily connection with him have saved her from the devil’s prowling attacks. Though we will never be completely “fixed” on earth, we are continually held by Jesus, whatever our circumstances. Sheila Walsh acts as our guardian in In the Middle of the Mess as she shows us we’re not alone in our struggles, guides us through a courageous journey of self-discovery, and reminds us where to find hope, comfort, and strength in tough times.




Lies We Believe About God


Book Description

From the author of the bestselling novel The Shack and the New York Times bestsellers Cross Roads and Eve comes a compelling, conversational exploration of twenty-eight assumptions about God—assumptions that just might be keeping us from experiencing His unconditional, all-encompassing love. In his wildly popular novels, Wm. Paul Young portrayed the Triune God in ways that challenged our thinking—sometimes upending long-held beliefs, but always centered in the eternal, all-encompassing nature of God’s love. Now, in Wm. Paul Young’s first nonfiction book, he invites us to revisit our assumptions about God—this time using the Bible, theological discussion, and personal anecdotes. Paul encourages us to think through beliefs we’ve presumed to be true and consider whether some might actually be false. Expounding on the compassion fans felt from the “Papa” portrayed in The Shack—now a major film starring Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer—Paul encourages you to think anew about important issues including sin, religion, hell, politics, identity, creation, human rights, and helping us discover God’s deep and abiding love.




God Is Just Not Fair


Book Description

"This is a book I'll be recommending for years to come." -- Lysa TerKeurst, New York Times bestselling author Do you believe God is just not fair? If you're like Jennifer Rothschild, you wrestle with questions when you experience painful circumstances. Does God care? Does he hear my prayers? Is he even there? Blinded as a teenager, Jennifer overcame daunting obstacles, found strength in God, and launched a successful speaking and writing ministry. Then in her 40s, everything changed. Jennifer hit a wall of depression and discontent that shook her to her core, undermining many of her past assumptions about her faith. She wondered who God was and why he continued to allow her to struggle and doubt. Where, she pleaded, is his hand of healing and hope in my life now? This is a book about finding more than just answers. It's for anyone who needs hope when life doesn't make sense--for all who reach for a God who feels distant. As Jennifer tackles the six big questions of faith, she will help you: Trust God more than your feelings. Strengthen your faith when you feel beat up by life. Embrace your obstacles and start experiencing their purpose. Face your disappointment and grow stronger from your loss.




A Peculiar Glory


Book Description

God has provided a way for all people, not just scholars, to know that the Bible is the Word of God. John Piper has devoted his life to showing us that the glory of God is object of the soul’s happiness. Now, his burden in this book is to demonstrate that this same glory is the ground of the mind’s certainty. God’s peculiar glory shines through his Word. The Spirit of God enlightens the eyes of our hearts. And in one self-authenticating sight, our minds are sure and our hearts are satisfied. Justified certainty and solid joy meet in the peculiar glory of God.




My God Is True!: Lessons Learned Along Cancer's Dark Road


Book Description

Cancer. Nearly everyone knows someone who has had it. But do we know well the Bible's teaching that will strengthen us in the face of it? Everyone undergoes testing and trials. But do we do so trusting firmly in the goodness, wisdom and power of God? Here is a book that will help.




Gay Girl, Good God


Book Description

“I used to be a lesbian.” In Gay Girl, Good God, author Jackie Hill Perry shares her own story, offering practical tools that helped her in the process of finding wholeness. Jackie grew up fatherless and experienced gender confusion. She embraced masculinity and homosexuality with every fiber of her being. She knew that Christians had a lot to say about all of the above. But was she supposed to change herself? How was she supposed to stop loving women, when homosexuality felt more natural to her than heterosexuality ever could? At age nineteen, Jackie came face-to-face with what it meant to be made new. And not in a church, or through contact with Christians. God broke in and turned her heart toward Him right in her own bedroom in light of His gospel. Read in order to understand. Read in order to hope. Or read in order, like Jackie, to be made new.




Truth Plus Love


Book Description

Imagine what our world might look like if Christians became known for remarkable love, as well as life-giving truth. The stakes are high and the need is great for Christians to represent Jesus to a watching world. And today, we have more influence than ever before--for better and for worse. We are among the first generations to have access to a global megaphone through social media. But it's not enough to speak truth louder to a noisy culture. To counter the reputation Christians have earned, our love must be just as loud. Ask evangelist Matt Brown, and he will tell you Christians today are facing a crisis of influence. In our rush to speak truth to today's tensions, cultural issues, and trending controversies, it becomes all too easy to focus on proving our points rather than extending God's grace. Conversely, when we seek only to love yet never proclaim a better way, we short-circuit God's plan. Truth Plus Love invites you to rediscover the biblical framework for engaging culture as ambassadors of Christ. Through biblical insight, cultural analysis, and practical principles, Matt Brown outlines how to champion truth without compromise, how to love unconditionally, and ultimately, how to step into this great adventure of representing God to the world. It's hard, it's messy, and it's the unfinished project of a lifetime, yet here we find our great adventure: representing God to a watching world.