Women Spiritual Growth

Plain and simple, life doesn’t always turn out the way we imagined. Yet, we can respond in God-glorifying ways even when circumstances fall short of our desired hopes and expectations. With practical and biblical counsel from the scriptures, we have the tools we need to put away sinful responses and be women who smile at the future.

Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God's kingdom as they were designed to do.

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.

None of us signed up for a conventional experience with the unconventional God, yet too often the spiritual life can become routine, dare we say, even boring. In Adore, Sara Hagerty gives us all permission to admit "I barely know You, God," and with this honest admission, to scoot a little nearer to this familiar stranger. Adoration is the simple practice Sara discovered for starting where you are, and letting the grit of your day greet the beauty of God's presence.

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.

Are you tired of just going through the motions of the Christian life? Do you feel a tug at your heart to live completely for God - but don't know what the next step is? Lysa TerKeurst invites you to uncover the spiritually exciting life you long for. Fulfillment is closer than you ever thought possible.

In a debut memoir that is funny and earnest, Riley invites questioners, doubters, misfits, and curious believers to participate in the universal search to heal what life has broken. Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome takes you by the hand and reminds you that sometimes you first have to be lost in order to be found.

My story is not about my past, but about your future, says Marie Roberts Monville. In the startling tragedy of the Amish schoolhouse shooting at Nickel Mines, one story has never been told; Marie Roberts Monville, the wife of the man who created such horror, tells her story for the very first time. It is a story of sorrow and destruction, but also one of majestic deliverance, unending compassion, breathtaking forgiveness, and grace-filled redemption. Within a solitary moment, Marie Monville realized that life, as she knew it, was over.

People of faith are lined up in lanes all over this globe, batons in hand, running the race that matters most in this world - the divine relay! The divine relay is tough. The track is treacherous. There are so many ways to mangle the exchange zones, to overshoot, to be knocked off the track, to drop the baton, to stop running. The church needs champion runners who never give up, who persevere no matter what they encounter, who run to win, unstoppable, no matter the cost.

In this twelve-session audio Bible study, some of today's best-loved Christian authors and speakers look at the spiritual lessons learned from twelve daring women in the Bible and what they mean for you today.

Women long for deep and lasting friendships but often find them challenging to make. The private angst they feel regarding friendship often translates into their own insecurity and isolation. Christine Hoover offers women a fresh, biblical vision for friendship that allows for the messiness of our lives and the realities of our schedules.

With eye-opening personal stories, Scripture, and thought-provoking questions, Andi Andrew lovingly invites listeners to examine their hearts to discover whether their faith is a genuine, life-giving marriage of belief and practice in response to Christ's life and sacrifice, or if it is just a lifestyle choice on par with any other. She encourages listeners to surrender their whole lives to Jesus daily, grapple with hard questions they may have been avoiding, and discover a life fully alive, following in the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ.

We all have past experiences we wish we could redo or undo altogether. In Nothing Wasted, counselor and teacher Kasey Van Norman's vulnerability invites you to discover God's personal and purposeful design for your future - not in spite of your story, but through it.

We live in a world of staggering distraction. A world so loud and opinionated, it's not only exhausting, but immobilizing. And still we zone out, doom scroll, binge watch, and peek at other people's lives online. Yet it all feels a bit off and empty. In the struggle to thrive amid the noise and commotion, Bible teacher and blogger Katie Westenberg equips you to focus on what truly matters. Leaning on Scripture, scientific studies of memory, and the power of a renewed mind, she helps you uncover the ancient way of being undistracted: remembering the truth of who God is and how he works.

Gem Fadling helps us identify the competing voices and shows how they hinder our personal transformation. Drawing on years of spiritual direction and leadership at Unhurried Living, she shares her wisdom of how we make sense of inner voices and settle down enough to find our true voice.

Traditional language for God has been dominated by a single image—Father—and masculine norms. For some, this language is meaningful. For others, it is deeply problematic. In both cases, it’s limited. One thing is certain: God is more. Mallory Wyckoff believes it’s past time to expand the ways we think about God. Through personal story, theology, spirituality, and social justice (and highlighting the interconnectedness of each), Wyckoff explores feminine metaphors and untapped language for God, all revelatory of a God who is more than we’ve been allowed to imagine.

World-renowned Jesus scholar Marcus J. Borg shows how we can live passionately as Christians in today's world by practicing the vital elements of Christian faith. For the millions of people who have turned away from many traditional beliefs about God, Jesus, and the Bible, but still long for a relevant, nourishing faith, Borg shows why the Christian life can remain a transforming relationship with God. Emphasizing the critical role of daily practice in living the Christian life, he explores how prayer, worship, Sabbath, pilgrimage, and more can be experienced as authentically life-giving practices.

There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers. It's a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity, It's about what happens when Christians support, animate, and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.

Author Kara-Kae James shares four themes that impact how she follows Jesus and parents her kids: intentional motherhood, genuine community, refreshing rest, and embracing chaos. With practical ideas for building relationships with other moms, grace-filled Scripture reminders, and a healthy dose of humor, Mom Up helps listeners step out of survival mode and into the abundant life God has for them and their family.

In Love Life Again, Tracie reminds listeners they each get only one life to live and inspires them not to take it for granted. Through compelling personal stories and powerful insights from Scripture, she helps women identify the stumbling blocks to their joy and offers tools and insights to take back control of their happiness. Every chapter ends with a practical call to action to motivate listeners to begin loving their lives again.