Personal Spiritual Growth

In the age of fingertip access to answers and a limitless supply of ambitions, where do we find the God who was birthed in dirt and straw? Sara Hagerty found him when life stopped working for her. She found him when she was a young adult mired in spiritual busyness and when she was a new bride with doubts about whether her fledgling marriage would survive. She found him alone in the night as she cradled her longing for babies who did not come. She found him as she kissed the faces of children on another continent who had lived years without a mommy’s touch. In Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet, Hagerty masterfully draws from the narrative of her life to craft a mosaic of a God who leans into broken stories. Here readers see a God who is present in every changing circumstance. Most significantly, they see a God who is present in every unchanging circumstance as well.

Very rarely in the Bible does God command someone to "stay". He opens a door, and then he invites us to walk through it—into the unknown. And how we choose to respond will ultimately determine the lives we will lead and the people we will become. In fact, to fail to embrace the open door is to miss the work God has made for us to do. In All the Places to Go...How Will You Know?, best-selling author John Ortberg opens our eyes to the countless doors God places before us every day.

We are surrounded by toxic stories and bad cultural thinking. We’re held back by incomplete theology. But does it have to be like that? Is frustration the end of the story? In the face of confusion and injustice, we can lose sight of our true narrative - the one that started in a garden and wants to make our real lives better today. Activist and recording artist Sho Baraka wrestles deeply and honestly with these questions, gives you permission to do the same, and shows a hard-earned path to creative change. With Sho, you’ll engage with art, justice, and history.

Secret Service Special Agent Ken Valentine protected three sitting presidents, all while he and wife Sandra reared five children. In Cheating Death, he details his experiences and shares practical and inspirational advice on living your most abundant, victorious life.

If you've ever taken a personality test, you may have found yourself in enthusiastic agreement about the positive aspects of your personality, while the less desirable traits listed may have made you a bit defensive. Maybe you read up on a different personality type and wished you had more of those qualities. But the truth is, every type can get stuck in unhealthy emotional and spiritual patterns. And no matter what your personality, you have the potential to grow into the healthiest and most loving version of yourself.

Kevin Myers, the founding pastor of 12Stone Church, a congregation of more than 30,000 active attenders near Atlanta, believes the reason we don't experience a transformed life is that we fail to grow up spiritually. We focus on developing physically, intellectually, emotionally, and financially, yet our faith remains immature and anemic. In this powerful new book, Myers offers a deep yet simple roadmap to a grown-up faith through understanding the whole context of the Bible, developing spiritual intimacy with God, and gratefully embracing holy obedience.

Authored by counselor Dr. Richard Plass and spiritual director James Cofield, The Relational Soul brings together concepts from psychology and spiritual formation. Each chapter includes introductory stories and practical "If this is true, what about you?" questions to help listeners engage in relationships in more life-giving ways. When the presence of Christ and community connects with a soul that is open, we witness the miracle of transformation.

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.

For many Christian women, the constant demands of family, pursuing a career, and managing a household leave little time or energy for anything else. As a result, more than half of women struggle to read God’s Word as much as they’d like. As a busy working mom of three, Brittany Ann, the founder of Equipping Godly Women, understands this struggle all too well. In her latest book, Brittany Ann helps women of faith overcome spiritual resistance, create and maintain a quiet time they’ll love, and change their lives forever.

In this classic work on the spiritual life, Ralph Martin gives listeners the tools for entering more fully into a fruitful relationship with God. Prayer is a gift, not a burden. Through it, the Holy Spirit draws us into the trinity, satisfying the hunger for God that lies within every human heart.

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.

Finding Your Way after the Suicide of Someone You Love is a compassionate and practical guide that addresses the intensely personal issues of survivors of suicide (SOS). This gentle and faith-affirming resource helps survivors know what to expect, especially during the first year following a suicide. It includes personal stories of survivors and suggestions on how to move beyond survival to live life again.

Parenting isn’t for wimps. It's not just the routines, schedules, discipline, and heartaches - it's the hard conversations. One of the greatest challenges of parenting is navigating the crucial conversations that we must have with our kids. Using the Three Circles gospel tool (God’s design; brokenness; gospel), Jimmy and Kristin will give you a “conversation map” to work through any tough conversations you have with your children.

Romance is much more than a date night out or a week away. A passionate, long-lasting love requires two people who are sensually in love with life and each other. In this fascinating book, the authors explore research on seven activities that prompt passion, then describe how Mediterranean cultures practice these secrets in everyday life. Steve and Misty also share how these fun-to-apply secrets have taken their own marriage from confused to confident, from discouraged to delighted - and how you can do it, too.

In Patrick Morley's true sequel to The Man in the Mirror a man is taken beyond the day-to-day problems he faces and is confronted with seven major seasons of life that can make him or break him. Includes a leader's guide for small groups. Formerly titled The Seven Seasons of a Man's Life.

Parents today complain of fragmented relationships with their kids. What parents yearn for - and their kids too - is deep, heart-to-heart connections. But how can parents compete with all the other noise fighting for their kids' attention? The answer, says Greta Eskridge, is to break free from regular routines and familiar comforts of home to experience new places and adventures - even if those adventures go awry. From simply reading a book together to going on an overnight backpacking trip, activities together provide unique and crucial bonding opportunities.

Humorous. Authentic. Relatable. That's Carolanne Miljavac in a nutshell. And those qualities are just what her nearly half a million social media followers adore about her. Her Odd(ly) Enough is a message that your heart needs to hear: It's time to embrace the "you" God made you to be. Tune out the naysayers of the world, and jump into his loving arms. He'll walk alongside you as you passionately pursue your God-given purpose.

When his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Richard Lui made a tough decision. The award-winning news anchor decided to set aside his growing career to care for his family. At first, this new caregiving lifestyle did not come easily for Lui, and what followed was a seven-year exercise in what it really means to be selfless.

When it was released more than 10 years ago, The Man in the Mirror became an instant classic, a book that dug deeply into the hidden problems faced by most men. Now, men whose schedules are already crowded with the urgent can listen to honest and biblically sound insight on 24 common issues such as: the search for authentic faith and meaning in life, how to avoid regrets with your children, how to be happily married, solving time management problems, dealing effectively with pride, fear, and anger, and doing away with a secret thought life.

From the creator of The Abundant Life Devotional Journal and the renovation and design YouTube channel "Girl and The Word", Forever Home is a moving perspective on belonging, reckoning with the past, and living abundantly.