Living Pain

Ever wonder why being the independent woman we are told we should be oftentimes simply leads to us battling our problems alone, or worse, competing with other women? Why, at every single baby shower, so many women share their harsher tales of labor and delivery in unnecessary one-upmanship? Why most women are left with feelings of unworthiness? Join women from different backgrounds as they come together to share their own experiences of pain, perseverance, and encouragement, firsthand and in heartwarming detail. We hope that through their stories, you find you are not alone.

What is your response when your life turns upside down? When you lose your job? When you receive a difficult diagnosis? Do you blame God or beg Him for a way out of your suffering? In more than a decade of misdiagnoses and debilitating treatments, Stephanie Tait admits she did plenty of both before hearing the two words that had drastically altered her life: Lyme disease. Yet she has discovered it's in her pain that Jesus is most present.

When a 200-pound glass partition fell on Donna Fado Ivery's head resulting in brain injury, disability, and chronic pain, she could no longer count on walking, speaking, or thinking. How would she care for her infant, her preschooler, her husband, and herself? How would she continue to serve as pastor? With humor and humility, this inspirational memoir speaks to Donna’s struggle through medical, social, and church prejudice with the abiding support of family and the Holy Spirit.

As a trauma-informed professional life coach, Janell Rardon spends a good deal of her day-to-day work with brokenness-broken families, broken relationships, broken hearts and souls. In response to the pleas of her clients, she developed a set of emotional health tools that help them repair the broken parts of their lives. In Stronger Every Day, she shares those powerful tools with you.

Women today often have sources of tremendous pain in their lives, such as infertility, divorce, domestic violence, eating disorders, and more. Yet, most leaders are not prepared to help women who have real pain from such traumatizing issues. If you want to be better equipped to help women in pain, this book was written for you.

When we are in painful circumstances, we tend to want to escape at any cost. Yet in doing so, we can miss the greatest opportunities of our lives. Writing about her own valleys - including loving a struggling son and reeling from the untimely death of her husband - Yolanda Cohen Stith shares hard-won insights. In the midst of her most painful experiences, Stith discovered that God shows up in the valleys in ways he doesn’t on the mountaintops. She came to believe that we need valleys to recognize our desperate need for God.

Is it possible to find strength in struggle and purpose in pain? Ask Dr. April Jones, a young mother who battled her two-year-old son’s cancer while getting her doctorate. Her struggle to make the heart-wrenching decisions with her family led to a discovery of God, courage, and a happiness within that helped her transform scary misfortune into a joy-filled life. In No Mess, No Message, Dr. Jones shares her real, raw journey and reveals insight into how powerful thinking and strong faith can lead to inner healing.

It is a question at the center of many arguments against the existence of God and a conundrum that stumps even the most devout worshipers. What do we make of pain and suffering? What does it cost us? What is its value? How can an all-loving God allow for world catastrophe, grave illness, and devastating carnage?

Whether it's a painful end or a joyful beginning—or even an uncertain middle—theologian and minister Amy Davis Abdallah has found something that helps: rituals. In Meaning in the Moment, she shows why we need rituals to help survive and even thrive through various seasons of life. Starting with the foundation that rituals are a core, and underexplored, part of Christian practice, Davis Abdallah draws from theology, psychology, and personal experiences in creating rituals for herself and others.

El 3 de noviembre de 2020, Tim y Aileen Challies recibieron la impactante noticia de que su hijo Nick había muerto. Estaciones de aflicción incluye una selección de las reflexiones de Tim en las que comparte la intensidad del duelo temprano, las dudas y temores que nos atormentan durante la pérdida, y la fe y el gozo que nos sostienen durante el dolor.

When things go horribly wrong and the world seems to be unraveling, how do you believe in God's goodness? How do you cling to hope? Chad Veach directs listeners away from clichéd Sunday school answers that fail to offer real comfort or provide faith-building insights. Instead he draws from God's promises in the Bible and from the story of his own daughter's diagnosis of a devastating and debilitating disease to reveal simple, purposeful steps for dealing with pain.

When Dr. Gene Baillie's wife, Gini, was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, their world was forever changed. This book shares the lessons that Gini and Gene learned as God led them through - and beyond - their darkest valleys on their own journey home.

When the reality of your pain doesn't line up with what you've been taught in church, then what? While many abandon their faith or embrace hopelessness, it is possible to discover the God who heals your heart in the midst of the pain. Matt Bays has been where you are. His unforgettable stories of loss and healing will usher you into a life where gratitude overpowers anger, hope overcomes despair, and hunger for God replaces indifference to God.

This book is a pathway to hope - a road map through the pain of grief and loss. Discover new strength through a new closeness to others and to God and make the decisions that lead to comfort, growth, and life.

Many people give up on God. It’s easy to trust in his goodness and strength when life is easy. But how do we persevere in our faith when life gets hard? Few people can show us how to do that better than Allan Schwartz.

An Indian American immigrant who grew up in white Southern culture, Prasanta Verma names and sheds light on the realities of ethnic loneliness. She unpacks the exhausting effects of cultural isolation, the dynamics of marginalization, and the weight of being other. In the midst of disconnection and erasure, she points to the longing to belong, the need to share our stories, and the hope of finding safe friendships and community. Our places of exile can become places where we find belonging—to ourselves, to others, and to God.

Have you ever felt the sting of rejection, leaving you questioning your worth and purpose? You're not alone. In a world that often seems cold and unforgiving, rejection can be a crushing blow to our spirit. But what if rejection could be transformed into your greatest ally on the path to personal and spiritual growth? Discover the power to turn pain into purpose with "Embracing Rejection: A Journey to Spiritual Resilience." This groundbreaking book offers 12 biblical concepts that will revolutionize your perspective on rejection and empower you to triumph over life's setbacks.

Life is full of challenges and even as Christians, we are not strangers to pain and suffering. The stories in the Bible have shown us that even favored kings like David and Solomon had their share of ordeals. The apostle, Paul, had to walk a lonely and hardship-filled road on his way to greatness. Job, a person worthy of admiration, went through sickness and almost loses the fight for his faith.

This book is a must-listen for any pastor, leader, or anyone impacted by the father wound. Listen to it and share it to let the healing continue! Jonathan JP Pokluda, Bestselling Author & Pastor of Harris Creek Fatherlessness is an epidemic in our culture. Zach Garza is a father to the fatherless. If you have met him, you have met the heart of God as a father. Michael Miller, Founder of UPPERROOM.

More Than You Can Handle, by Pastor Nate Pyle, takes us beyond Christian clichés to acknowledge the overwhelming pain of the world, the tenacious hope required to hold on to faith, and the surprising joy of God’s goodness as we wait for redemption.