Life Growth

If you've ever wondered whether you have what it takes to homeschool your children, look no further. Parenting author, podcaster, and homeschool mom Monica Swanson is here to tell you: you can do it. In fact, it can be the most fun, family-unifying, character-building, life-equipping experience you and your children will ever have.

When Susannah Breslin is a toddler, her parents enroll her in an exclusive laboratory preschool at the University of California, Berkeley, where she becomes one of 128 children who are research subjects in an unprecedented 30-year psychological experiment that predicts who she and her cohort will grow up to be. Decades later, trapped in an abusive marriage to a man with a violent history and battling breast cancer, she starts to wonder how growing up under a microscope shaped the person she became and her life choices. Is she the narrator of the story of her life, or is something else?

In nearly 40 years of pastoral counseling, Rob Morgan has seen a lot of changes in our culture. People are anxious, and everyone seems increasingly tense and taut. We're overextended, running on empty, and often running late. We're worried, and we're weary. One moment we're alarmed about global politics, and the next we're frustrated with a clogged commode or a cranky boss. Stress can have a way of keeping us on pins and needles from dawn to darkness.

A condition as old as the ancients, despondency thrives in today's culture of leisure, anxiety, and digital distraction. Time and Despondency is a penetrating synthesis of ancient theology, spiritual memoir, and self-help practicality. It envisions despondency as the extension of a broken relationship with the experience of time.

A deep, inspiring, and often challenging study of the Lord Jesus Christ's miracles and parables. Men who were led by the hand or groped their way along the wall to reach Jesus were touched by his finger and went home without a guide, rejoicing that Jesus Christ had opened their eyes. Jesus is still able to perform such miracles. And, with the power of the Holy Spirit, his word will be expounded and we’ll watch for the signs to follow, expecting to see them at once. Why shouldn’t those who listen to this be blessed with the light of heaven? This is my heart's inmost desire.

William Law’s classic book, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life was a clarion call to action; to live a life worthy of one’s calling. “Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted to God.” The writings of William Law were challenging in the 18th century. Generations later the message is even more instructive and necessary.

Jack Chisholm is 'the people's pastor.' He leads a devoted and growing mega church, has several best-selling books, and a memorable slogan, 'We have got to do better.' Jack knows how to preach, and he understands how to chastise people into performing. What he doesn't know is anything about grace. This year, when it comes time for the Christmas sermon, the congregation at Grace Cathedral will look to the pulpit, and Jack will not be there. Of course, they will have seen plenty of him already - on the news.

Many want a simple life, but find it difficult to actually live that way. They fight a constant battle to balance work, family, friends, and other demands on schedules stretched too thin. Joyce Meyer breaks it down to the simple principle of exercising faith rather than doubt and confidence rather than people-pleasing. She writes from her experience of struggling to balance work, family, friends, and all the other demands on limited time to show readers the simple answer to a simpler life.

Have you ever tried to fight worry with faith and felt you were losing the battle? Whether it's personal worries about loved ones and daily circumstances or broader concerns about what's happening in the world, we long for something more than platitudes that will help us put real feet to our faith and win the worry battle.

Learn to see God's remarkable works in the everyday ordinary of your life. Your remarkable life is happening right here, right now. You may not be able to see it - your life may seem predictable and your work insignificant until you look at your life as Frederick Buechner does. Named "the father of today's spiritual memoir movement" by Christianity Today, Frederick Buechner reveals how to stop, look, and listen to your life. He reflects on how both art and faith teach us how to pay attention to the remarkableness right in front of us, to watch for the greatness in the ordinary.

In Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind, Pastor Bill Johnson delivers powerful and practical teaching, revealing how you were designed to bring heaven to Earth and how it all starts with your thought life.

What happens when a woman looks at herself in the mirror, lingering just a little longer than usual and realizes that she no longer recognizes the person staring back at her? What does she do when she sees that, somehow, her life has drifted away from all her original hopes, dreams, or plans? Speaker, blogger, and writer Chrystal Evans Hurst wrote this book because she was that woman. One day she realized that she had somehow wandered from the life she was meant to live.

What will we do with our lives, and with whom will we do it? In this story of flying and catching, Nouwen invites us all to let go and fly, even when we are afraid of falling. During the last five years of his life, best-selling spiritual author Henri J. M. Nouwen became close to The Flying Rodleighs, a trapeze troupe in a traveling circus. Like Nouwen’s own life, a trapeze act is full of artistry, exhilarating successes, crushing failures and continual forgiveness. He wrote about his experience in a genre new to him: creative non-fiction.

You can be defeated by life's unavoidable disappointments, or you can become stronger because of them. Life's disappointments can send you on a dangerous downward spiral into discouragement, depression, or even despair. But in this eye-opening book, Kay Arthur guides you to biblical truths that will help you break that cycle and instead embrace disappointment as the cleansing fire God uses to make you - As Silver Refined - a reflection of his goodness.

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.

In a world that encourages us to find meaning in temporary things, we long to know that who we are makes a difference after we're gone. This hope-filled exploration of this biblical book of wisdom turns our attention to what our true purpose is and how to let that purpose shape our relationships, career, and life choices. Along with biblical insights, John Onwuchekwa weaves together meaningful challenges that even from difficult beginnings, we can continue to trust God's path.

Pain and regret can hold us captive. Our past mistakes and trauma tell us to blame others, feel ashamed, or turn to a temporary fix that often becomes a permanent escape. By the time Satan whispers we need to dress it up and call it home, pain is our new normal. Pastor and motivational speaker Real Talk Kim has a message for us: the pain might not be our fault, but the healing is our responsibility. In You Gotta Get Up, Pastor Kim reminds us as only she can that staying stuck requires as much energy as moving forward.

Fact is, when it comes to dealing with temptations, we all crave help, meaning, and direction. However, it doesn’t just happen. You must be equipped with the full armor of God, and understand that you are fighting a battle for your very soul. And you must come prepared. Endure, written and inspired by the author Ben Greenfield’s own personal temptations, struggles, and failures, and informed by what he’s studied and learned along the way, will serve as a key resource and guide for that very preparation.

Most Christians want to experience the abundant life that Jesus promised, they just don’t know how. And not for lack of trying. They love Jesus and are doing everything they know to do, but feel utterly defeated and unable to connect with God’s best for their life—despite their committed hearts and best efforts.

As Jeremy and Audrey write, if you can fall into love, you can fall out. True love is something you choose to live out each day through your actions, decisions, and sacrifices. To find and still seek, now that is love. From the moment you meet your potential spouse, you can be intentional about shaping a beautiful love story, uniquely written for who God created you both to be.