Life Growth

Just as Jane Christmas decides to enter a convent in mid-life to find out whether she is “nun material”, her long-term partner Colin, suddenly springs a marriage proposal on her. Determined not to let her monastic dreams be sidelined, Christmas puts her engagement on hold and embarks on an extraordinary year-long adventure to four convents - one in Canada and three in the UK.

Our society is obsessed with achievement. Young people are pushed toward the next test or the "best" grammar school, high school, or college they can get into. Adults push themselves toward the highest-paying, most prestigious jobs, seeking promotions and public recognition. As Adam Gopnik points out, the result is not so much a rat race as a rat maze, with no way out. Except one: to choose accomplishment over achievement.

With Zero Sugar Diet, New York Times best-selling author David Zinczenko continues his 20-year mission to help Americans live their happiest and healthiest lives, uncovering revolutionary new research that explains why you can't lose weight - and shows that it's not your fault! The true culprit is sugar - specifically added sugars that food manufacturers sneak into almost everything we eat, from bread to cold cuts to yogurt, peanut butter, pizza, and even "health" foods.

Well-known evangelists Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg have teamed up to bring you a 42-day devotional-style series of adventures in sharing the gospel. Through their own stories—ranging from the laugh aloud funny to the discouraging to the uncanny—Strobel and Mittelberg will motivate you to make the Great Commission a way of everyday living.

Most of us have been on the receiving end of rejection, a broken dream, or heartbreak. And while this is not an easy space to go through, when we are grounded in the truth, we can endure the tough times.

Dr. Bill Winston, broadcast nationwide in over 100 million homes on the Believers Walk of Faith program, helps believers renovate their thought life by focusing on who they are in Christ, building success in every area of living. In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul encourages believers to be transformed by renewing their mind. The Greek word for transformed is metamorphosis; or "to change." Dr. Winston reveals that believers must believe what God says about them and their situations, more than what their circumstances say.

Ally Brooke burst onto the music scene as a member of Fifth Harmony and quickly became a fan favorite with her infectious positivity and approachable attitude—not to mention her incredible voice. Following the band’s meteoric rise to fame, she embarked on a solo career, releasing her own hit singles, joining the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars, and showing people everywhere the rewards of hard work and faith. Now in this moving and inspirational memoir, Ally opens up about the experiences that led her to the spotlight.

Feeling like you're cruising through the teen years without a roadmap? It's time to switch gears and soar with this ultimate guide. From mastering money to nailing career choices and building rock-solid friendships, this book is your ticket to leveling up—starting right now!

Devotions for a Deeper Life, excerpted from lesser known essays Chambers wrote in the early twentieth century, will instruct and encourage you with its accuracy and poignant reflections on the Christian life. This daily devotional dives into what it means to live out your faith in dynamic and compelling ways. More than 75 years have passed since the original publication, but the content remains relevant and deeply inspiring.

There’s never been anyone in history as radical as Jesus. From the way that He prayed, to how He interacted with sinners, to His sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus was a revolutionary. It’s just who He was. As His followers we are called to be like him. It’s not just something we should aspire to, it’s a reality that we must strive for every day. We can live as Jesus did — be radical like He was — because as Christians, Jesus lives in us and wants to live through us. When Jesus lives his life through us, we begin to do the things that He did.

Come explore quieter, more intentional ways of being, and how these might attune us to the slow work of God in order that we might love one another and the world as God does. Our chapters pair a lure to move fast with an invitation to slow. Becoming slow to anger is an invitation to empathy, slow to judge is an invitation to humility, and slow to grasp is an invitation to contentment. Ultimately, each of these invitations is a movement toward God.

Judah writes as a friend, welcoming new believers, lifelong followers of Jesus, and even the merely curious. He shows us the love of God that defies human logic and the life that God intends for us to have in the here and now. With excitement and humor, Judah looks at the stories in the Bible from his unique angle and shows how life is all about loving God and loving others.

In this audiobook, Watchman Nee attempts to show from God's word the perfect equilibrium of divine truth. Human nature, however, is prone to emphasize one side to the exclusion of the other side of truth. This has caused much confusion and many problems among God's people. It is essential that we know the balance of truth and hold on to both sides so that our Christian life may be well rounded as God has ordained.

God is eager to create unprecedented beauty from your ashes, and to deliver and restore you to health and wholeness. But it does take work. Most of us need help to look at the pain and fear that grip our lives. In her powerful teaching, prophetic leader Jennifer Eivaz equips you with the biblical and practical tools that can lead you into full restoration. By sharing her own moving journey into healing and deliverance, she provides support and encouragement for you to uproot every lie coming against you as a child of God. Jesus is asking, "Do you want to be made well?"

Spiritual battles require spiritual weaponry. In this practical look at the temptation of Jesus, you will discover how you can build an effective defense against Satan's subtle and not-so-subtle attacks. You do not need to let temptation trip you up ever again.

In this book, Joni unveils the God whom she has found to be faithful through over 30 years as a paralytic. This is not the story of a woman who has all the answers or who is very different from you. Joni struggles with the same fears, questions, and heartaches we all have in common. But as the weeks and months turn into years and the years into decades, she meets her Savior at every turn.

"How's your soul?" Instead of a perfunctory "how are you?", Judah Smith asks people this surprising question, because he knows that the health of the soul - the deepest part of ourselves - is overlooked in the busyness of everyday life. But the truth is, all the things people most desire in life - stability, peace, hope, love - are rooted in the health of their souls, and they need an intentional daily journey to manage it well.

Prayer is a powerful spiritual weapon. And the Yada Yadas are about to learn just how strong it really is. The women of the Chicago-born Yada Yada Prayer Group have developed a strong sisterly bond. They’ve had a wild year full of joy, sorrow, and a healthy dose of laughter. Lots of laughter. But just when life gets comfortable, things get shaken up. The sisters don’t expect trouble to crop up so soon after the exuberant wedding of Yada Yada member Avis Johnson. But it happens, and sorrow meets their joy head-on.

What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student and a married mother of two have in common? Nothing, or so I thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a prayer group as mismatched as ours the closest of friends? I almost didn’t even go to the Chicago Women’s Conference—after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn’t exactly my “comfort zone.” But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together, and the "Yada Yada Prayer Group” was born!

You cannot have Christ if you will not serve Him. If you take Christ, you must take Him in all His qualities. You must not simply take Him as a Friend, but you must also take Him as your Master. If you are to become His disciple, you must also become His servant. God-forbid that anyone fights against that truth. It is certainly one of our greatest delights on earth to serve our Lord, and this is to be our joyful vocation even in heaven itself: His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face (Revelation 22:3-4).