Spiritual Growth Love

A husband's God-given responsibility to his wife is to be her shepherd: to love her, serve her, comfort her, protect her, provide for her, sacrifice for her, and lead her. Like the Shepherd guides men on how to embrace the role of shepherd, drawing on the wisdom of the Bible to give men practical, powerful advice on how to take responsibility for their relationships and realize the Christian ideal of a healthy, happy marriage.

Born and raised in a small Oregon town, all-American girl Rebecca Bender was a varsity athlete and honor-roll student with a promising future. Then a predator pretending to be her boyfriend lured her into a web of lies that sent her down a path she never imagined possible. For nearly six years, Rebecca was sold across the underground world of sex trafficking in Las Vegas. She was branded, beaten, told when to sleep and what to wear, and traded between traffickers. During that time, God began revealing himself to her.

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).

In this third book in the Apprentice Series, James Bryan Smith helps us know how to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus. "Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders," he writes. "They live in continuous contact with the kingdom of God, and are constantly men and women in whom Christ dwells. They do not sometimes tell the truth, sometimes live sacrificially or sometimes forgive. There are myriad opportunities for us to impact the world in which we live."

Do you worry that you're messing up your kids? Do you get stressed when you think about their futures? New York Times best-selling author Crystal Paine knows how you feel. A mom of four, Crystal has struggled with anxiety over parenting. She wanted to parent with grace, instead of a system of rules where kids are expected to do all the right things. She wanted to be a safe place for her children, and she definitely didn't want to be remembered as the sort of mom who yelled, wounded her kids with words, or worse, cared more about her reputation than her kids' hearts.

Puritan John Flavel (1630-1691) in Keeping the Heart (originally titled: A Saint Indeed or The Great Work of a Christian Opened and Pressed) has proven to be a steady and timely friend to many over the years. Using Proverbs 4:23 ("Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life."), Flavel creates a treatise designed for all professing Christians.

Do you find yourself picking through circumstances like children plucking daisy petals attempting to figure out whether or not God loves you? If you find yourself least certain of his love in those critical moments when you most need to trust him, there is hope for you. Where? At the one event in human history that forever secured your place in the Father's heart - the cross where Jesus allowed sin and shame to be consumed in his own body so that you could freely embrace a relationship with his Father.

For years, Christians have argued, debated, and fought one another while "speaking the truth in love," yet we are no closer to the grace-filled life Jesus modeled. Biblical scholar and popular podcast host of The Bible for Normal People, Jared Byas casts a new vision for the Christian life that's built not on certainty, but on the risk of love.

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.

Christmas should be a joyous time. But this year the celebration is overshadowed in sickness, sorrow, and disappointment. Seeing her grandmother struggle with pain and sadness, Emily decided to share a story that she's never told anyone. As old memories live again through her words, two broken hearts find healing and comfort—and the courage to celebrate Christmas once again. Tidings of Comfort & Joy reminds us to share the bonds of faith and family that Christmas represents whatever the circumstances or season.

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?

It is in the heart of every person to want God, but life gets loud, and we forget Him. We get consumed by our problems, our desires, ourselves. We forget our first encounter with the Savior and how much we once wanted Him. But Lisa Whittle believes that if we calibrate our attention, refocusing on God determines the perspective for everything in our life.

You’ve heard the phrase "God loves you." But what does it really mean? And do you even believe it? The 100 Bible verses compiled and explained in this audiobook are a profound glimpse into the heart of Father God. They tell a story of the God who made you, knows everything about you, and who loves you so much that he went to hell and back for you. If your daily life hasn’t been radically changed by the power of this love, then this audiobook is for you.

Dr. Habib Sadeghi provides a compassionately based, scientifically sound approach to the missing ingredient in the weight-loss recipe: self-love. You’ll learn that real self-love is far more than an ethereal concept. It’s a tangible evolutionary force that will create changes in your life that can only be described as miraculous. You’ll discover the exciting emerging science of epigenetics and that fat is not all in the family. You’ve never been doomed by your genes and have far more control over your weight than you ever realized.

The key to spiritual and emotional health is to grasp the truth of God's transforming love for us and then let that reality influence our own hearts and relationships. It seems simple, but we are experts at complicating simple things. Instead of living lives characterized by love we find ourselves trapped in cycles of shame, violence, and addiction that steal our joy and keep us from loving others - so much so that, by all indications, Christians are living no differently than anyone else when it comes to abuse rates, use of pornography, alcohol and drug addiction, and more.

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.

It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne - everything - to rescue the one he loves. The best thing about this Story is - it’s true! And at the center of the story, there is a baby. The child upon whom everything would depend. All the stars, mountains, oceans, and galaxies were nothing compared to how much God loved his children. He would move Heaven and Earth to be near them. Always.

With little left to tie her to her home state of Texas and yearning for a slower life, Yvonne Wilson jumps at the chance to shake things up with a move to Montgomery, Indiana. A dream job awaits her—managing an Amish bookstore for her good friends Jake and Eva. Besides the slow-paced setting and the comfort of beloved books, Yvonne hopes the change will help distract her from the emptiness she feels after the death of her fiancé.

Drawing on her experience on America's Next Top Model and her work as a fashion model, Leah Darrow exposes the lies we are told about our worth being tied to our appearance and instead invites us to look again at the real meaning of beauty. She shows how we can reclaim true and lasting beauty - the kind that doesn't depend on self-doubt, exploitation, or comparison - when we reflect God's glory and embrace our value as he made us to be: strong, brave, and free.

Hidden from the dawn of time by revealed to us in God's word, is the greatest mystery of all - oneness with Christ. We were created not just to be like him, but to become truly one with him. In Consumed By Love, Duncan tells the story of his journey into discovering the God of love who in Christ became one with all of humanity. This priceless act of love holds the key to each of us living an extraordinary life on earth that only God can live, accessing his infinite riches and supernatural power and giving it away to the world.