Women Spiritual Growth

Heavily tattooed and foul-mouthed, Nadia Bolz-Weber, a former stand-up comic, sure as hell didn't consider herself to be religious-leader material - until the day she ended up leading a friend's funeral in a smoky downtown comedy club. Surrounded by fellow alcoholics, depressives, and cynics, she realized: These were her people. Maybe she was meant to be their pastor. Using life stories, Nadia uses humorous narrative and poignant honesty to portray a woman who is both deeply faithful and deeply flawed, giving hope to the rest of us along the way.

In this fully revised and updated edition of her breakthrough book, Women of Destiny, best-selling author and speaker Cindy Jacobs reveals the biblical foundation for women in ministry and leadership. Through sharing her own story, successes, and failures, she speaks to the doubts, fears, and insecurities women have about stepping up and speaking out.

The role of women in positions of worship and church leadership is one of the most divisive and inconclusive biblical debates. Two Views on Women in Ministry furnishes you with a clear and thorough presentation of the two primary exegetical arguments so you can better understand each one's strengths, weaknesses, and complexities. This revised edition brings the exchange of ideas and perspectives into the traditional Counterpoints format. Each author states his or her case and is then critiqued by the other contributors.

Motherhood often looks like bottomless piles of laundry; a sink full of dishes; sleepless nights; and unshowered, nonstop, endless days. No wonder "Grumpy Mom" sometimes sneaks into your heart and home. Journey with Valerie and be inspired and equipped to find energy in the most unlikely places, pursue your own dreams, be set free from mom guilt, feel content despite unfinished to-do lists, spend purposeful time with God amid the daily chaos, and discover more joyous moments of motherhood. So take a holiday from Grumpy Mom, and enjoy life as the mom God made you to be.

Popular speaker and New York Times best-selling author of Woman Evolve, Sarah Jakes Roberts shows women they are not disqualified by their pain and failures and offers encouragement and strength to believe God’s best is still possible.

Many women are wired to control. You’re the ones who make sure the house is clean, the meals are prepared, the beds are made, the children are dressed, and everyone gets to work, school, and other activities on time. But trying to control everything can be exhausting, and it can also cause friction with your friends and family.

Sometimes you simply need to be reminded how loved you really are - that every day, with every breath, you are loved with such precision that every hair, every molecule of you is known, counted, invited, and welcomed. This audio study guide is that reminder. Best-selling author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst will talk you through the Holy Land in order to come closer to Jesus' words, which will help you enter a place of healing and new perspective. Be a part of this biblical learning process of "living loved".

Trusting God. It's such a cliche. Yet nothing means more to our heavenly Father than when we surrender our lives completely to him and choose to believe he has our best in mind. David modeled that kind of deliberate dependence: as a shepherd boy, as a man running for his life, as a king who made grave mistakes. In both triumph and failure, David looked to God rather than to himself. In Embracing Trust, Joanna Weaver, bestselling author of the runaway hit Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, shares personal stories, practical tips, and life-changing principles gleaned from Scripture.

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren. In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church - questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is....

From the beginning, God created women and men equal in dignity, value, and worth. But our identity as God's daughters has been contested, both inside and outside of the church, and we're left wondering where we belong. Sharing stories of the unsung women of the Bible, beloved author Amy Seiffert empowers you to stand firm in your dignity as a Daughter of the King, exchanging fear and doubt for confidence and faith.

Life is an incredible journey with ups and downs. We soar, struggle, scale, and stumble, and often stand at the edge of cliffs, afraid to step into the unknown, unsure of where we will land. But instead of running away, we are called by God to stand firm, muster up what faith we can, and take a step. Because we were made to move mountains. In this inspiring book, Kristen Welch calls you to step out in faith and climb the mountain in front of you - not because you are good enough or adequate or able, but because God makes a way where there is no way.

We all want to live simpler lives and to put Jesus first – and we struggle with both. While we are busy strategizing new ways to streamline our calendars and clean out our closets of the clutter, what really needs attention is what will give us long-term clarity and peace — the priority order of Jesus over everything in our lives. In Jesus Over Everything, Lisa shares eight statements of choice to help us grow in our understanding of what it means to put Jesus first amid the craziness of our days.

Ask successful women what they want from their money and they'll tell you: independence, security, choices, a better world, and - oh yes - way less stress, not just for themselves but for their kids, partners, parents, and friends. Through a series of Happy Hour discussions (when money is the topic, wine helps) and one-on-one conversations, Jean Chatzky gets women to open up about the one topic we still never talk about. Then she flips the script and charts a pathway to this joyful, purpose-filled life that today's women not only want but also, finally, have the resources to afford.

The Baxters make plans to come together for a summer lakeside reunion, a celebration like they haven’t had in years. But before the big day, the unthinkable happens. As the Baxter family rallies together, memories come to light in the grief-stricken hours of waiting and praying, memories that bring healing and hope during a time when otherwise darkness might have the final word.

If you're anything like Kerri Pomarolli, you've read Proverbs 31 and thought, "Who is this woman? And what kind of magic unicorn, Energizer Bunny juice does she have on IV?" As a sought-after comedian living in LA, Kerri knows about impossible standards. "I don't plow, and I don't rise early. When it says she gathers her food from afar, does that mean takeout...?" Kerri is a self-proclaimed hot mess for Jesus who has learned that God never said our lives would be mess-less, but He also never intended for us to wallow forever without a way through.

Are you exhausted? Women today really do feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. Every morning we are greeted with a long list of to-dos: get the kids up and out the door on time, have a meaningful quiet time, put in a full day at the office, spend an hour at the gym, prepare a healthy and delicious meal (organic and locally grown, of course), and make sure the sink sparkles before you go to bed. Oh, and don’t forget to look great and smile while you’re doing it.

Pain and regret can hold us captive. Our past mistakes and trauma tell us to blame others, feel ashamed, or turn to a temporary fix that often becomes a permanent escape. By the time Satan whispers we need to dress it up and call it home, pain is our new normal. Pastor and motivational speaker Real Talk Kim has a message for us: the pain might not be our fault, but the healing is our responsibility. In You Gotta Get Up, Pastor Kim reminds us as only she can that staying stuck requires as much energy as moving forward.

Just as Jane Christmas decides to enter a convent in mid-life to find out whether she is “nun material”, her long-term partner Colin, suddenly springs a marriage proposal on her. Determined not to let her monastic dreams be sidelined, Christmas puts her engagement on hold and embarks on an extraordinary year-long adventure to four convents - one in Canada and three in the UK.

If you could spend a few minutes with biblical heroines Ruth, Sarah, Mary, and others, what valuable lessons would they share with you? In the tradition of Running with the Giants and Learning from the Giants, John Maxwell shares wisdom on life and leadership inspired by the Bible - this time focusing solely on the stories of nine incredible women.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation. What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor.