Women Growth

Motherhood can often feel overwhelming and isolating. Your feelings swing between joy and uncertainty, intense love and anxiety, laughter and tears. Ashlee Gadd and the writers behind the popular blog Coffee + Crumbs have written a beautiful reminder of your identity. The Magic of Motherhood is a curated collection of honest stories weaving together the love, joy, and magnificent heartache of motherhood. Instead of offering advice, the writers offer something even better: their hearts. You'll listen to essays about identity, adoption, body image, miscarriage, friendship, faith, and more.

As a girl, Alia Joy came face to face with weakness, poverty, and loss in ways that made her doubt God was good. There were times when it felt as if God had abandoned her. What she didn't realize then was that God was always there, calling her to abandon herself. In this deeply personal exploration of what it means to be "poor in spirit", Joy challenges our cultural proclivity to "pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps." She calls on listeners to embrace true vulnerability and authenticity with God and with one another....

Raised as an atheist, Sara Miles lived an enthusiastically secular life as a restaurant cook and a writer. Then early one winter morning, for no earthly reason, she wandered into a church. "I was certainly not interested in becoming a Christian," she writes, "or, as I thought of it rather less politely, a religious nut." But she ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed.

Pour plusieurs, ce mot à lui seul inspire la crainte. Non pas parce que nous n’aspirons pas à être disciplinées physiquement, mentalement, et spirituellement. Mais le défi semble si difficile à relever, ou alors nous sommes motivées par le devoir plutôt que par le désir. Et nous savons toutes que lorsqu’il est question de notre marche chrétienne, nous ne voulons pas tomber dans le légalisme et nous limiter à suivre une série de règles.

Being human is hard. Being in relationships with other humans is even harder. People are complex and relationships are messy but loving one another well is possible. Whether navigating political or religious differences, or dealing with toxic people or our own unforgiveness, this book tackles the struggles no one really wants to talk about. But there is hope! We can actually grow closer to God and others through the circumstances we'd rather run from.

Love is easy to give when you are getting it back. Are we still called to God's plan of how to love when we are getting none in return? Shauna Shanks's brave journey through obedience reveals the outcome of when we dare to follow God's ludicrous outline for love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. Wrecked with news of her husband's affair and his request for a divorce, Shauna finds herself urgently faced with a decision. Does she give up and divorce her husband and move on, or does she try to fight for her marriage?

Best-selling author and creator of the Midnight Mom Devotional community Becky Thompson invites you into a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit by scripturally unpacking who he is and how he moves in and through the life of a believer.

What if you told God you would do anything...and he took you up on it? Anything is a prayer of surrender that will spark something. A prayer that will move you to stop chasing things that just make you feel happy and start living a surrendered life that matters. Join Jennie on an adventure to discover your anything, those things that actually mean nothing until you know the God truly worth giving it all up for. And when you do, that will change everything.

Katherine Clark was just an average wife and mother with two young children when she was in a tragic playground accident in late May 2009. A little boy playing on the jungle gym jumped and landed on Kate’s head, knocking her over and snapping her neck. Kate was paralyzed from the neck down. The doctors diagnosed her with quadriplegia and said she would never walk again. This terrifying prognosis could have been the end of the story. But instead, God chose to work a profound miracle in Kate’s life and in the life of her family.

Brooklyn Myers escaped her broken home and her embittered, unloving father by eloping to Reno at the age of 17. But when she was pregnant with their first child, her husband abandoned her as well. Not welcome back home in Thunder Creek, Brooklyn stayed in Reno and raised her daughter, Alycia, on her own, doing her best to make sure Alycia never knew the heartache and rejection Brooklyn herself had known.

What They Meant for Evil is the account of that unimaginable journey. With the candor and purity of a child, Rebecca recalls how she endured fleeing from gunfire, suffering through hunger and strength-sapping illnesses, dodging life-threatening predators - lions, snakes, crocodiles, and soldiers alike - that dogged her footsteps, and grappling with a war that stole her childhood. Her story is a lyrical, captivating portrait of a child hurled into wartime, and how through divine intervention, she came to America and found a new life full of joy, hope, and redemption.

Best-selling and beloved author Madeleine L’Engle, Newbery winner for A Wrinkle in Time, was known the world round for her imaginative spirit and stories. She was also known to spark controversy - too Christian for some, too unorthodox for others. Somewhere in the middle was a complex woman whose embrace of paradox has much to say to a new generation of readers and listeners today. A Light so Lovely casts a vivid portrait of this enigmatic icon’s spiritual legacy, starting with her inner world and including fresh reflections on her writing for today’s listeners.

We say we're free in Christ, but many of us are still living in captivity - to fear, anger, shame, isolation, unforgiveness, and control. We're good at faking it around others, but we're exhausted by the ruse. Andi Andrew wants women to break free of their self-imposed prisons and live the lives that are rightly theirs in Christ. Sharing her own intentional journey of finding true freedom by surrendering control of her heart and life to the God who welcomed her with open arms, Andrew encourages women to give their pain and brokenness to Jesus.

In Starved, popular author and teacher Amy Seiffert shows listeners how to stop ingesting spiritual junk food and offers simple and replenishing practices like silence, service, and Sabbath that can bring us closer to Jesus. She encourages us to put down our phones, set aside our pride, and let go of the hustle so that we can receive a spiritual diet change that will leave us delightfully content, spiritually healthy, and free to experience the goodness of Jesus.

Businesswoman, television personality, and survivor Rosie Rivera shares how to lean on God as defender in the midst of life’s hurts and wounds while also grappling with the strong desire for justice and retaliation.

As a young Christian woman, do you struggle with insecurities and feel bogged down by the pressures and expectations of society? Do you find it challenging to take care of yourself and be a faithful daughter of God? Emily Wilson Hussem used to feel the same way. In Go Bravely, the Catholic musician and speaker offers 20 bits of advice that will equip you to tackle your deepest concerns about relationships, self-esteem, and dating while strengthening your faith at the same time.

Growing up in the green room of SNL, being born to a fire-eater and adopted by a SWAT cop, having internal organs explode, and adopting a deaf girl from China, Scarlet Hiltibidal has been given some strange life experiences - and lived in fear through most of them. But life changed for Scarlet when she learned to hold the gospel up to her fears and realized that though she can't fix herself or protect herself, Jesus walked into this broken, sad, scary place to rescue, love, and cast out her - and your - fear.

Author Jennifer Rothschild has a story for you. It's about an unlikely couple, an unusual courtship, a beautiful wedding, and an illicit affair. Despite this situation, the marriage did not fail. It flourished. Here is the story of Hosea's love for Gomer - a woman who might have disappeared into her transgressions if not for the love of her husband. It's a beautiful illustration of the story of God and Israel.

How do you turn your struggles into strengths? Beloved Bible teacher Sheila Walsh teaches listeners how the daily spiritual practices of confession, meditation on God’s Word, and prayer result in fresh freedom in Christ.

Discover how God's Divine Presence gives your purpose and fulfillment regardless of life's season as you learn to discern the temporary from the eternal and live with conviction.