Religious Growth

Benjamin L. Corey thought he was suffering a crisis of faith, but it turned out to be a spiritual awakening. Corey became aware that the constant fear of hell and judgment that defined his Christian faith was out of sync with the idea that God acts from love and promises to deliver us from fear. In the wake of this realization came newfound insights - from reading the Bible to reexamining American life and the church's role in the wider world.

To many who have discovered his books, C. S. Lewis is more than simply a writer; he has been a spiritual mentor. Here, over 50 Christians share how meeting the mind and imagination of Lewis in his books sparked the beginning or changed the course of their spiritual journey. These inspiring reflections have been shared by ordinary laypeople as well as many well-known leaders and writers.

"I don't want to live anymore!" my sister admitted to my parents when she was 14 years old. This cry for help increased with time, and I would not fully grasp her inner demons until years after she died. Was it suicide, was it an accident, was it pre-planned or in the moment? At 24 years of age, my sister's life suddenly ended, and all I have left are my broken memories.

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.

The deeper I grow in my own faith as a Christian, the greater my desire to explore. My faith whets my appetite for discovering what God is doing in and through the world each and every day. This book is a chronicle of some of the most important lessons I have learned thus far. I write to encourage my fellow nomads who, like me, so often feel alone in their wanderings yet are a part of a much larger caravan of fellow wanderers seeking to discover for ourselves the meaning and mysteries of life.

Becky Powell faced the unthinkable on May 16, 2013. Her husband, Mark, called and said, "I've done something terrible." Within hours, she learned that he had taken his own life and, over a period of several years, millions of dollars from friends and colleagues. Everything she believed to be true, the very fiber of her marriage, was called into question. Yet from that first horrific moment, God was there. Awful Beautiful Life is Becky's journey through the two years surrounding Mark's death and how she overcame.

God wants to grow great things in the lives of His people. I Am a Field uses the powerful metaphor of God as the farmer and our lives as the field to show us not only who we are but also who God is and how we can recognize His work in our lives. Interweaving Scripture with engaging stories as well as humor, catch a fresh glimpse of God in your life and renew your desire to experience more of Him and impact the world around you.

En corazón pródigo descubrirás cómo Christine logró superar la muerte de su padre, el mudarse a otro país, los sentimientos de coraje, la falta de perdón, pérdida y rechazo, el haber sido acosada sexualmente, y hasta fue liberada de vivir una doble vida siendo líder en la iglesia. Ella retó a Dios y Él le respondió con su amor sanador. Christine comparte su historia y el gozo de rendirse completamente a Dios. Hoy día vive pródigamente, es decir, vive sin restricción por la gloria de Dios, para el servicio de su pueblo y no para sí.

Millones de personas desesperadas por tener esperanza y soluciones para su vida se sienten atraídas por la promesa del evangelio de la prosperidad: que Dios hará lo que sea necesario con solo un poco de fe y un don financiero. Mientras tanto, los predicadores de la prosperidad explotan a los pobres y los necesitados para acumular sus riquezas. ¿Qué pueden hacer los seguidores del verdadero evangelio para combatir el engaño?

With a unique mix of passionate revelation and quirky humor, River Jordan takes us on a journey through her Southern childhood to her present-day life as a novelist. Her stories run the gamut from dancing disco nights and midnight desert rides to surprise visitations with the divine. Included are comforting letters to personal friends and loved ones about faith, death, heartbreaks, and their futures.

Christian music icon Sandi Patty has long astounded listeners with her powerful voice. Yet, off the stage, Sandi struggled to have a voice at all. Through deeply intimate stories of her life and the empowering spiritual truths she’s learned, Sandi offers listeners wisdom to navigate the journey from voicelessness to discovering the voice God has given you. Sandi’s warm and invitational writing will draw you to the voice of God. With timeless wisdom, The Voice will help you uncover your God-given identity and a voice of your very own.

Drawing from science, literature, art, theology, history, music, philosophy, pop culture, and more, Thaddeus J. Williams paints a fresh and inspiring vision of how we become most truly ourselves by mirroring the greatest person in history.

Too many Christians, especially those in ministry, believe they are untouchable - that they're too faithful to fall or too spiritual to give in to temptation. They deny any sort of weakness, fail to draw proper boundaries, and end up doing the very things they swore they'd never do. Pastor and author Brittany Rust was one such person - until she found herself in the middle of moral failure and a church-wide scandal. Bewildered, humiliated, and ashamed, she thought she was beyond redemption. But God's grace met her on the ground, and here she shares what she's learned through her painful journey.

In this engaging memoir, Andrea speaks to all of us who wrestle with faith, doubt, and spiritual identity. Join Andrea as she navigates the Thames River, the Oxford Atheist Society, romance in ancient pubs - and a new perspective on who God is. As Andrea learned, sometimes it takes letting go of old ideas to discover lasting truth.

The church is filled with people asking, "Is this it? Is this all the Christian life is supposed to be?" They long to experience more of God's presence - they just don't know how to get there. Some have been burned by "charismania." Others are fearful of it. Is there a way to experience the Spirit - without the weirdness? Author and pastor Alan Kraft provides a biblical pathway into the exhilaration of an everyday experience with the Holy Spirit, showing how normal it can be to hear God's voice, know his love, and walk in his power.

In Unparalleled, Wilson holds up the teachings of the Bible to the clear light of day, revealing how Christianity rises above every other religion and philosophy of the world, and how its unmatched truth answers the deepest longings of every human heart. He provides an overview of Christianity's key claims showing how, from top to bottom, it is distinct from all other competing ideologies, religious and secular.

Blindness became Captain Scotty Smiley’s journey of supreme testing. As he lay helpless in the hospital, he resented the theft of his dreams, but with his wife’s love and the support of family and friends, Scotty’s response became God’s transforming moment. Since the moment he forced his way through nurses and cords to take a simple shower, he has climbed Mount Rainier, won an ESPY Award, surfed, skydived, become a father, earned an MBA from Duke, and much more.

A child peeling an orange on the subway. A bearded man with gentle eyes holding a tin cup on the corner. When we see life through the lens of faith, everyday moments become a source of hope and strength. In this collection of essays, chaplain Andrea Raynor reveals the unexpected places she has experienced the Divine and shows us how we, too, might come to see life as a spiritual adventure - one on which we are never truly alone.

In Unshaken, Jeanne shares powerful, relevant, and inspirational teaching that answers the critical question we are all facing: How do I stand strong in these uncertain, turbulent times and not be controlled by fear, stress, apathy, or frustration?

Dare to See includes 30 personal essays that illuminate how Brown has found God's presence in her own real-life experiences from early childhood to the present. From being a victim of a drive-by shooting, experiencing incredible career success, or searching for family fulfillment, Brown's stories will resonate with anyone whose life has been touched by doubt, hurt, defeat, understanding, love, abundance and hope. In Dare to See, Brown shows us how to discover God everywhere we go and in nearly everything we do.