Parenting Religion

Do you beat yourself up when what you feel doesn’t align with the person you think you should be? You “should” be a good friend, but you feel hurt by past betrayals. You “should” be content, but you feel lonely or unfulfilled. You “should” have faith, but you feel discouraged by unanswered prayers. Instead of working through these inner tensions, you guilt-trip or gaslight yourself, which just leaves you feeling stuck, defeated, and trapped by conflicting feelings. But there is another path.

Imagine you're sitting on a cushion with your legs crossed, ready to tap into unlimited joy. There's just one problem: You can't get comfortable (let alone still), and your head is full of way too many thoughts. The problem is not with meditation, or you, though - the issue may be with your approach. When properly understood and practiced, meditation should feel easy, calming, and comfortable. In Bliss More, maverick instructor Light Watkins provides the tools for making it E.A.S.Y. (Embrace, Accept, Surrender, Yield).

So many people today have an unhealthy need for affirmation and are unable to feel good about themselves without it. These "approval addicts" spend their time in a constant struggle with low self-esteem and emotional turmoil, which leads to major problems in their relationships with others.

For many women, having a baby girl is a dream come true. But as girls grow up, the narrative of innocence and joy changes to one of dread as moms are told, "Just wait until she's a teenager!" Author, blogger, and mom to four daughters Kari Kampakis thinks it's time to change the narrative that leads moms to parent teen girls with a spirit of defeat instead of strength. Love Her Well isn't a guide to help mothers "fix" their daughters or make them behave. It's about a mom's journey, doing the heart-work necessary to love a teenager while still being a steady, supportive parent.

What happens when a kingdom man marries a kingdom woman? Kingdom Marriage: Connecting God's Purpose with Your Pleasure helps couples grow together as kingdom couples to fulfill God's design and purpose for their marriages. Through practical insights and powerful stories, Dr. Tony Evans inspires and instructs so couples will discover the hope, challenge, and guidance God's word provides for their journey together.

Discover why all suffering, illness, and unhappiness are cries from your soul asking you to fulfill your life's purpose, realize your greatest potential, and ultimately love, honor, and value yourself in every moment, situation, and relationship.

Listen Like a Horse is a narrative story about the time and interactions shared by Kerri and Cooper, a gifted gelding whose playful communications had been misunderstood and handled with dominance. Infused with perspectives and tools of communication between horses and people, the story invokes and reveals awareness and insight for relationships not just with animals, but with other people and within ourselves.

Kathleen Dowling Singh illuminates the profound psychological and spiritual transformations experiences by the dying as the natural process of death reconnects them with the source of their being. Examining the end of life in the light of current psychological understanding, religious wisdom, and compassionate medical science, The Grace of Dying offers a fresh, deeply comforting message of hope and courage as we contemplate the meaning of our mortality.

Former English teacher and homeschooling mother of three, Jessica Smartt felt the weight of helping prepare her kids for life, especially with all the outside pressures and influence of the world. She struggled with how she could raise her children with a sense of adventure, self-confidence, manners, faith, and the ability to utilize technology wisely. Let Them Be Kids is Jessica's offering of grace and confidence to moms, giving them practical ideas to meet these challenges.

With more than five million copies in print, in nearly two dozen languages, The Love Dare has become an exciting, enriching journey for couples around the world. It can now become yours. Though unconditional love is promised at weddings, it is rarely practiced in real life. As a result, romantic hopes often fade into disappointment at home. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or healthy and strong, this 40-day journey (featured in the hit movie Fireproof) challenges husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love.

We so often fail in our relationships with our families, our partners, our friends, and fellow humans because we are lazy in our love for one another, says Keion Henderson, pastor of the mega-church Lighthouse Church in Houston. Lazy love prevents us from experiencing the deep, soulful fulfillment we long to know. It keeps us from being known and enjoyed by those around us. In his new book Lazy Love, Henderson unpacks the four kinds of love mentioned in the Bible and shows listeners how each shapes our relationships and our lives.

Authors Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker believe that every man can meet the secret desires of his wife. The problem is, most of us aren't exactly sure what that desire is and how we can go about fulfilling it faithfully. In Every Man's Marriage, you can discover the common misconceptions about what it means to exercise biblical authority and understand the role of submission in the marriage relationship.

The Buddhist approach to death can be of great benefit to people of all backgrounds - as has been demonstrated time and again in Joan Halifax's decades of work with the dying and their caregivers. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those who are charged with a dying person's care, facing their own death, or wishing to explore and contemplate the transformative power of the dying process.

Ginger’s candid approach will help moms move beyond the frustrations of not knowing how to handle issues of disobedience and into a confident, well-balanced approach to raising their children.

Heavily tattooed and foul-mouthed, Nadia Bolz-Weber, a former stand-up comic, sure as hell didn't consider herself to be religious-leader material - until the day she ended up leading a friend's funeral in a smoky downtown comedy club. Surrounded by fellow alcoholics, depressives, and cynics, she realized: These were her people. Maybe she was meant to be their pastor. Using life stories, Nadia uses humorous narrative and poignant honesty to portray a woman who is both deeply faithful and deeply flawed, giving hope to the rest of us along the way.

With today's rampant availability of Internet pornography, sexual addiction has become a national epidemic that affects up to 10 percent of Christians. But there is help for men and women caught in sexual addiction's downward spiral. This book offers a path that leads beyond compulsive thoughts and behaviors to healing and transformation. Sensitive to the shame of sexual addiction without minimizing its sinfulness, Dr. Mark Laaser traces the roots of the problem, discusses its patterns and impact, and maps out a biblical approach to self-control and sexual integrity.

Money issues are a frequent source of conflict in any marriage. But blended families are a monetary minefield. Debts, bills, and child support payments from previous relationships often influence the finances of a blended family. And planning for college expenses, retirement, and inheritance gets even more complicated in stepfamilies.

The result of more than 20 years of study and practical application by James Arthur Ray, Harmonic Wealth is based on extensive study of ancient wisdom traditions, cutting-edge findings in quantum physics, and other scientific fields, as well as years of hands-on, hard-won experience. Listeners will learn how to: heighten creativity, intelligence, intuition, and mental functioning; deepen personal relationships; achieve financial freedom; maximize health and energy; amplify physical strength; be free from unconscious limitations; and vanquish fears.

A much-needed antidote to our modern, assembly-line approach to childbirth, this new book is designed as a guide for all who wish to participate in the wondrous process of bringing new life into the world. Its ideas derive from two sources: the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, with its emphasis on body, mind, and spirit; and the latest Western scientific prenatal research.

Our children can be our greatest teachers. Parenting expert Susan Stiffelman writes that the very behaviors that push our buttons - refusing to cooperate or ignoring our requests - can help us build awareness and shed old patterns, allowing us to raise our children with greater ease and enjoyment.