Spiritual Growth Love

You may say that you love your family, your spouse, your church, or the Lord. You may also express love for temporal things like a good cup of coffee, your home, or a nice dinner at your favorite restaurant. But it is rarer to truly say "I love my life!" It's common to be more frustrated with life than at peace with it, because the daily grind wears you down. Responsibilities and burdens become heavy and rob you of the happiness you're meant to have as a child of God. But you can be hopeful, learn to rise above your challenges, and be filled with wonder at what God might do every day.

Forming deep relationships with God and with others is the most important aspect of mortal life, and yet one of the most vexing problems many face during their time on this Earth is the lack of love - the inability to receive and give love as the savior did. In Filled with His Love, Russell T. Osguthorpe, former Sunday School General President, addresses the question of how we can increase our capacity to give and receive love so that we can have secure, healthy relationships with God and with others.

We all need more energy, the vitality that helps us stay motivated, focused and productive in life. We know we receive energy from good nutrition, along with working out, adequate sleep and maintaining positivity. But there is another major source for the energy we need: having the right kinds of relationships with others. Not the ones that drain us, but the ones that refuel us.

Thomas Keating was a Cistercian monk who founded the worldwide 'Contemplative Outreach', teaching people the art of meditation. Invitation to Love provides a road map for the journey that begins when Centering Prayer is seriously undertaken. Pointing to some of the recognizable landmarks on this journey, as well as to its ultimate destination, Father Keating addresses common questions regarding contemplative practice: How will it affect my life? Where does it lead us spiritually? What obstacles will I encounter along the way? How does it work?

Do you dare believe in a God who wants to make your dreams come true? It seems like there is no time to dream these days. Yet the Bible is full of dreamers - those who exchanged their old dreams for new ones, and those who received unexpected dreams from God that changed the course of history. Best-selling author Sheila Walsh gives warm-hearted stories of real people, interwoven with biblical insight, to help you discover God's dream for your life.

Do you feel powerless and overwhelmed by the pain and suffering all around you? Have you ever asked, What can I do to mend the world, my family, or my own life? And if I could, why bother? Does my own small part even matter? If so, here comes hope from two guides who are further down the road.

Katherine and Jay Wolf were a young couple living the dream in Southern California, but all was nearly lost when Katherine suffered a shocking near-fatal brainstem stroke and struggled to find hope in a life that looked nothing like the one they had before.

Lizzie Anne and Samuel have decided to get married, and Lindsay is about to be baptized in the Amish faith and is courting Matthew. While Katie Kauffman is happy for her friends who seem to have settled their futures, she is also finding herself something of a fifth wheel. When Lindsay’s sister Jessica returns to Bird-in-Hand, she finds that Jake Miller has moved on with his life. He lost hope that Jessica would ever be satisfied to settle in rural Pennsylvania and takes comfort in becoming close friends with Katie. However, it’s not an easy road....

Liberating Love presents the missing element of Western Christianity—a ministry lifestyle that goes beyond a simple tract or prayer. It is caring enough to become a part of someone’s life to know their story and to know their heart.

The God Story is a compelling and creative retelling of the biblical story from 24-7 Prayer, which will help you find personal meaning and purpose in light of God's overarching and awe-inspiring plans for humanity as laid out in Scripture. It is the story we're all waiting to hear. It is time to be enchanted afresh by the God Story and, in doing so, discover beloved identity and be inspired to make a difference in today's world.

Part cookbook and part spiritual memoir, Bread & Wine illuminates how sharing food together mirrors the way we share our hearts with each other and with God. And it explores what it means to follow a God who reveals his presence in breaking bread and passing a cup.

How do we find contentment in God when we feel so hidden? Sara Hagerty unfolds the truths found in the biblical story of Mary of Bethany to discover the scandalous love of God and explore the spiritual richness of being hidden in him. Every heart longs to be seen and understood. Yet most of our lives is unwitnessed. We spend our days working, driving, parenting. We sometimes spend whole seasons feeling unnoticed and unappreciated. In Unseen, Sara Hagerty suggests that this is exactly what God intended. He is the only one who truly knows us.

Michael W. Smith, multi-platinum artist, celebrated songwriter, producer, best-selling author, and acclaimed actor, himself a father of five adult children and grandfather of sixteen, calls upon his humble experiences of growing up in a small West Virginia town to share his father’s story. Each chapter identifies a quality and characteristic of his dad that came out of an obedient and sacrificial life, committed to serving his Abba Father.

In the face of animosity, failure, isolation, and betrayal is a love that speaks to our greatest longings and heaviest needs, but have we taken God's love for granted? Now more than ever, and more than anything, people need to find their way into the compassionate embrace of their Father in heaven. The Great Love of God provides an accessible, passionate exploration of how the divine love casts out fear, provides ultimate hope, and never fails.

Years of counseling enabled Dr. Henry Cloud to observe people trying to work out the most important issues of life. If we sincerely want to "get life right" and quit repeating the same mistakes, 9 Things You Simply Must Do provides the practical guidance we need to live life to its fullest.

In Life Changing Love, John Ortberg reveals the God you've longed to encounter: a Father head over heels in love with you, his child, who is intensely committed to your highest joy. Ortberg takes you to the very core of God's being to discover a burning, passionate love that gives and gives and gives. He explores the life-changing ways this love has expressed itself through Jesus.

Bestselling authors Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk help you unlock a vibrant life uniquely suited to your personality, season of life, and schedule limitations. Packed with encouragement, biblical advice, real-world help, and personal discovery, this forty-day journey helps you discern and pursue your passions and priorities; craft a personalized action plan deeply rooted in Scripture; manage the tension between your relationships and your responsibilities; cultivate a life-giving routine of rest and productivity; and impact others for eternity through your life and gifts.

Create a church unchurched people absolutely love to attend. Deep and Wide provides church leaders with an in-depth look into North Point Community Church and its strategy for creating churches unchurched people absolutely love to attend. Andy Stanley shares his strategy for preaching and programming to both mature believers and cynical unbelievers, essential ingredients for creating irresistible environments, and North Point's spiritual formation model (The Five Faith Catalysts).

If you are longing to experience God more than the shame or hurts of your past, the pressures of your present, or the fear of your future, Brave Surrender offers a soul-healing path forward. As Kim learned in her own life, the first step - and the bravest step - is letting go. Once we let go of anything that gets between us and God, we are freed to take hold of the life that truly matters.

A devotional that will lead you into a fresh experience of God's love and power by exploring the Hebrew names of God revealed in Scripture and showing you how to pray them on a daily basis. Names in the ancient world did more than simply distinguish one person from another; they often conveyed the essential nature and character of a person. Praying the Names of God is a 26-week devotional study that explores the most prominent names of God in the Old Testament to reveal the deeper meanings behind them and to teach you how to pray through them.