Personal Ministries

"I do" is only the beginning of a successful marriage. Filled with inspiring scripture and thought-provoking questions, #staymarried: A Couple's Devotional helps engaged and married couples strengthen their relationship with each other and God - in only 30 minutes a week. You and your spouse will learn to connect meaningfully and communicate honestly over the course of 52 couples devotionals. Guided discussions teach you to explore the joys and challenges waiting in your new life, while closing prayers offer you the chance to give thanks and meditate on what you've learned.

If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it can feel to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. Far too often, it seems the response we get to our hurt and disappointment is to suck it up or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be.

Marriage is all about sharing: sharing space, sharing joys and sorrows, sharing hopes and dreams. Yet we often hold back a part of ourselves because we fear that being wholly transparent - about our past, our desires, our failures, our faults - will bring judgment, rejection, or even just unwanted friction to our relationship. We are afraid to be fully known. As a result, we never experience being fully loved. In this paradigm-shifting book, Ryan and Selena Frederick show you how to develop a see-through marriage, one that is marked by full transparency and confident vulnerability.

Building on their work at Chaddock, a nonprofit organization that has worked with some of the most challenging kids in the nation for more than 150 years, the authors empower frustrated parents with practical tips and real-life examples on how to minimize behavioral meltdowns, reduce conflict, increase cooperation, promote healthy attachment, and improve family relationships. The strategies they share work both for the child who is going through a difficult phase brought on by life disruption or trauma, and for the child who faces chronic struggles.

From every side - the internet, social media, interactions with friends, in both their public and private lives - teens are persuaded to follow the world's way over God's every day. Culture's mantra "live for today" has become the slogan of this generation! But, one thing remains true - mom and dad are still the greatest influence in the life of their child. Based on timeless biblical truths, Raising Successful Teens equips parents with positive, encouraging, and practical advice.

Only when you and your mate know and respect each other's needs, choices, and freedom can you give yourselves freely and lovingly to one another. Boundaries are the "property lines" that define and protect husbands and wives as individuals. Once they are in place, a good marriage can become better, and a less-than-satisfying one can even be saved. Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, counselors and authors of the award-winning best seller Boundaries, show couples how to apply the 10 laws of boundaries that can make a real difference in relationships.

This audiobook incorporates Pastor Dan's principles, which provide practical and proven ways to pick a spouse, and is your guide to finding - and keeping - a lifelong partner. You will discover how to test your relationship for key differences using a variety of methods including the Seven Cs: Character, Chemistry, Competency, Cultural Differences, Commitment, Communication and Core Values.

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.

A broken engagement is complex. You were at the ultimate high point of love - planning your dream wedding and future - and, suddenly, the dreams disappeared. I understand you. Let's talk about it, and let's talk about how you will pick yourself right back up, piece-by-piece, and push forward, little-by-little. You will, and I will help you. And so will God, whether you know him right now, or not.

If you have ever forgotten to pick up your kids, accidentally worn two different shoes to the grocery store, or lost your cool over a messy house, you are not alone! In No More Perfect Moms, Jill Savage says it how it is: All moms struggle. We fall short of our own standards of excellence, and then we feel insecure about not being the perfect wife with the perfect kids, perfect husband, perfect home, perfect friends, perfect marriage, and perfect body. Jill speaks to the root of the insecurities mothers feel and points to a better way.

In the years following the senseless and tragic shooting on the campus of New Life Church in Northern Colorado Springs, Colorado, senior pastor Brady Boyd has received countless questions from the faith-filled and faithless alike. As the nation watched the suffering congregation reel from the gunman's rampage and, later, steady their stance once more, the one question on everyone's mind was, "How has new life weathered such a horrible storm so well"?

Break free. Clean the clutter. Pursue your purpose. Your soul is made up of your mind, your will, and your emotions. It is what you think, what you want, and what you feel. A soul tie is an emotional bond or connection that unites you with someone else. The closer you are with someone, the stronger your souls become tangled.

When Rebecca Tervo awoke on January 29, 2012, it seemed like just another lazy Sunday morning. What she didn't realize was that her life and the life of her family had already been changed forever. Her 17-year-old son, Trevor, was already dead of suicide in an adjacent room, she just didn't know it yet.

In Long-Distance Grandparenting, you'll learn how to make the most of the opportunities you do have to connect with your grandchildren. You will also learn - how to pray for your grandkids more effectively - ways to use technology to keep your relationship strong - great ideas for grandkid visits, holidays, and special occasions. More important, you'll find practical tools and encouragement to connect with your grandchildren so that you can share God's love and invest in their faith like never before!

Every Christian isn't called to adopt, but everyone is called to care for orphans. The evangelical adoption movement is but one strand in a long cord of Christian care for orphans. While adoption trends have fluctuated over time in different contexts, the Bible has not changed its position. The gospel is decidedly pro-adoption and on the side of the orphan. Yet many obstacles stand in the way of the Christian's mission to provide care to the least of these. So, what now?

Dr. Ray has spent his career helping to strengthen families through a combination of Catholic theology, common-sense insights, and wry humor. Now, having become a new grandpa himself, Dr. Ray is turning his attention to the joyful, rejuvenating, and sometimes complicated subject of grandparenting.

Everyone is important, deserves to be treated with love and respect, and needs to know that when they make mistakes they will still be loved unconditionally. And when every member of the family is pulling for each other and on the same team, everybody wins. But is this kind of family life even possible? Parenting expert Dr. Kevin Leman says it is, and he's ready to show moms and dads exactly how they can make it happen in their family - in just five days.

According to Drs. Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, encouragement is more than a compliment or a pat on the back. It's a skill that can be mastered by anyone. Crabb and Allender ask: "What must we know in order to fulfill the biblical exhortation to 'encourage one another?'" Part one deals with understanding encouragement, and part two explores the process of encouragement, including such practical how-tos as developing a careful selection of encouraging words; cultivating active listening skills; using biblical fellowship to move beyond superficial smiles.

The first year of marriage is the most important. It forms the habits - good and bad - that will define the rest of your married life. Make that first year the best it can be.

Powerhouse social media influencer and online marketing and business development expert offers inspiration and hands-on tools for readers to follow their dreams and understand why not fitting in is their biggest asset. Bringing your whole, true self to your work, including your body, soul, and spirit - and allowing your faith to be part of your day in your workplace - lets you express your fullest potential and be as successful as possible in the world.