Living Pain

Millions of women struggle needlessly with pelvic floor dysfunction, causing bladder urgency, urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and pelvic pain that interferes with sexual function and other daily activities. The topic of women’s pelvic health still suffers from taboo and stigma, making good information and real solutions hard to come by.

What will you do when the unthinkable happens in your life? Her parents called her Lenya Lion because of her ferocious personality and hair that had been wild and manelike since birth. But they never expected that five days before Christmas, their five-year-old daughter would suddenly go to heaven after an asthma attack. How do you walk out of an emergency room without your daughter?

This Too Shall Last offers an antidote to our cultural idolatry of effort and ease. Through personal story and insights from neuroscience and theology, Ramsey invites us to let our tears become lenses of the wonder that before God ever rescues us, he stands in solidarity with us. We are all mid-story in circumstances we did not choose, wondering when our hard things will end and where grace will come if they don’t. We don't need to make suffering a before-and-after story.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews said, "See to it that no one misses the grace of God." Over the centuries much ink has been spilled on the subject of grace. Yet perhaps nothing is as hard to explain as God's grace. It doesn't make sense. It's not fair. It can't possibly cover over what I've done. The best way - perhaps the only real way - to understand it is to experience it. But too often in our churches we're not getting grace across and grace is not experienced.

Do you sometimes feel as though your body is a problem to solve? Discover how to make it part of the solution instead. It’s now known that the emotional and relational pain we’ve lived through has a profound negative physical effect on our bodies. Alisa Keeton, popular fitness professional, proposes that the reverse is also true: What we do with our bodies can have a dramatic positive effect on our emotions, relationships, and our connection with God.

Jesus is beside you on your darkest days, and he has good words for you. In thirty-one short, digestible readings, Edward Welch helps you to converse with him honestly amid your pain.

In the early evening on October 1, 2003, Christina Crosby was three miles into a 17 mile bicycle ride, intent on reaching her goal of 1,000 miles for the riding season. She was a respected senior professor of English who had celebrated her 50th birthday a month before. As she crested a hill, she caught a branch in the spokes of her bicycle, which instantly pitched her to the pavement. Her chin took the full force of the blow, and her head snapped back. In that instant, she was paralyzed.

If you have been hurt, neglected, rejected, or abandoned by your father, it may feel like every aspect of life is affected by that broken trust. Even your relationship with God can feel tenuous, but there is hope. In this vulnerable book, author and speaker Kia Stephens shares her own story of father wounds, along with eye-opening examples from wounded women in Scripture who were transformed by the love of God.

Everyone experiences pain at times. It can manifest physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually. It can follow tragic accidents, great loss, sudden betrayal, or unexpected and unwanted change. Often it is temporary. But what do you do when it isn't? When the pain just won't go away, when healing does not come, when the grief and hurt settle in? Drawing on her own experience of chronic pain and her years as a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson provides a countercultural perspective on pain.

Why is suffering the common lot of all people everywhere - believers and non-believers alike - and why does it seem that the world is out of control when it comes to the problem of pain and suffering? Who’s in Charge of a World that Suffers? includes an informative and inspirational new introduction by Franklin Graham that speaks to today’s reader in the midst of painful circumstances.

In Embodied Hope, Kelly Kapic invites us to consider the example of our Lord Jesus. Only because Jesus has taken on our embodied existence, suffered alongside us, died, and been raised again can we find any hope from the depths of our own dark valleys of pain. As we look to Jesus, we are invited to participate not only in his sufferings, but also in the church, which calls us out of isolation and into the encouragement and consolation of the communal life of Christ.

Chronic pain, illness, and disability take so much away. Sometimes it seems as though they take everything we have ever loved and held dear. Our physical abilities and our jobs. Our current passions and future dreams. Our finances and our friends. Our sense of community and our ability to engage the world in ways we could before. Chronic pain takes away our sense of self and who we always thought ourselves to be. How in the world are we supposed to deal with this fact?

In this powerful book, Elisabeth Elliot does not hesitate to ask hard questions, to examine tenderly the hurts we suffer, and to explore boldly the nature of God whose sovereign care for us is so intimate and perfect that he confounds our finite understanding. A Path through Suffering is a book for anyone searching for faith, comfort, and assurance. Includes a new foreword by Joni Eareckson Tada.

In his compelling follow-up, The Book of Waking Up, Seth invites you into the story of healing. He invites you to see your coping mechanisms for what they are - lesser lovers, which cannot bring the peace, freedom, and wholeness you crave. Through guided reflections, sustainable soul practices, and stories from Seth's life and others, The Book of Waking Up points you toward the divine love of God that has the power to transform your life.

Do you feel tired and exhausted all the time? Does your constant joint pain make you feel like doing nothing all day? Is your face puffy, and is your hair thinning? Is your skin dry and patchy? Or are you frustrated and depressed often? Then you may have Hashimoto's disease! Oftentimes your doctor and family may make you feel like it's all in your head - that there's nothing wrong with you. But you know something's wrong. You're not alone! Many like you are suffering from this autoimmune disease, and there's hope for you!

In Free to Thrive, Josh McDowell and Ben Bennett blend hard-won wisdom and youthful energy to present biblical, time-tested, and research-supported principles for overcoming hurts, struggles, and hindrances to a whole life - a life of spiritual, emotional, and relational wholeness instead of brokenness - the kind of life you were born to live.

Backbone is a life-fulfilling message about managing chronic pain and living a life of purpose. For two decades, Karen Duffy, New York Times bestselling author, former MTV VJ, Revlon model, and actress, has managed to live an enriching life despite living in a state of constant pain. In this powerful, inspirational, funny, and important manual for surviving pain, Duffy draws on her experience as a patient advocate, trained recreational therapist, and hospice chaplain to illuminate gratifying methods people can use to cope with chronic pain.

Living Better While Living with Pain offers practical advice from someone who has learned to live with pain without becoming captive to it. Beginning with a discussion of the ways in which chronic pain is experienced differently from short-term pain, the book offers useful suggestions for approaches to pain management and pain relief appropriate for anyone experiencing pain from surgery, fibromyalgia, thoracic outlet syndrome, arthritis, cancer, back pain, or other chronically painful conditions.

Blair Linne’s personal story of growing up without a father at home reflects the experiences of millions. She weaves her personal story with thoughtful theological reflection, inviting listeners to learn from God what "father" really means. This audiobook will help listeners to shift their focus from what they do not have in their earthly fathers (who, whether present or absent, loving or the opposite, can never be perfect), to what they do have in their eternal Father, who will never disappoint, reject, or abandon them. Listen for how the gospel promises you a place in God's family!

When your child has reached (or long since passed) the point of independence, it's difficult to know what your "help" as a parent should look like. Following her best-selling book Setting Boundaries®with Your Adult Children, Allison Bottke offers an in-depth guide to help you connect with your adult child and to build your confidence, knowledge, and hope, as your child walks through challenging situations. Learn how to develop effective strategies to truly help your adult child - without sacrificing your sanity.