Recommendations based on "Small Victories Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace"

Selected as Virtue magazine's "Book of the Year" for 1991, Sue Monk Kidd's inspirational autobiographical account of personal pain, spiritual awakening, and divine grace.

Making Whole is a poetry collection about the stories God has been writing behind-the-scenes. These heartfelt poems give you permission to ask the hard questions and rest in the One who holds the answers. Written for those who feel worn out or weary from waiting, this book is a timely reminder that God has a plan and purpose for His world. You are part of a bigger story than you could ever imagine.

In a world that's difficult to make sense of, and a season that's so often overtaken by consumerism, here you'll find heart-stirring illustrations and thought-provoking meditations designed to show you the raw, powerfully sacred story of Christmas in a new light.Has the joy of the holiday season become painfully dissonant with the hard edges of life? Do you feel weary from the way Christmas has become a polished, predictable brand? You aren't alone. For too many of us, Christmas has lost its wonder. What if we stopped treating the Christmas story as something that happened a long time ago and started believing that it's a story that's still happening today?From celebrated artist and storyteller Scott Erickson comes Honest Advent, 25 days of illustrations and meditations that will help you rekindle the wonder of this season. Honest Advent creates a space for you to encounter the Incarnate Christ in unexpected places: like a pregnancy announcement in an era of political unrest and empirical bloodshed, the morning sickness of a Middle Eastern teenager, and the shocking biology of birth that goes far beyond the sanitized brand of Christmas as we know it today.Within the pages of Honest Advent, Erickson teaches us the valuable lessons he's learned about: Finding hope and light in the darkest winters What it means to embrace the unexpected How God uses everyday vulnerability to help us understand ourselves, and our faith, betterThrough powerful benedictions, prayers, and questions for honest reflection, you'll discover how the wonder of God-with-Us is still happening today: in your unexpected change of plans, your unaccomplished dreams, your overcrowded lodging, and your humble stories of new beginnings.Praise for Honest Advent:"Scott Erickson's beautifully crafted book helped me see God-with-Us with fresh eyes. Honest Advent is no shallow seasonal gift book; it's an invitation to explore the divine flourishes of everyday human vulnerabilities. A transformative read, regardless of the time of year."--Jonathan Merritt, author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch"Beautiful. Evocative. A wake-up call to the mystery of life."--John Mark Comer, author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Are you ready to move from insecure to God secure? From regret riddled to better-because-of-it? From afraid to die to ready to fly? Today, find freedom in God’s grace.We often talk about grace, but do we really understand it? Grace politely occupies a phrase in a hymn and fits nicely on a church sign. It never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?” who could say no? Bestselling author and pastor Max Lucado helps us dive deeper into what it means to be changed by grace. God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you.In this book, you will learn: Grace is everything Jesus You belong to Jesus Jesus lives in you You will increasingly grow more like Jesus There is nothing you can do to get grace—grace gets youGrace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off. Have you been shaped, emboldened, and softened by grace? Let’s make certain grace gets you.

New York Times Bestseller“A touching series of essays in which Evans, with Chu’s invisible pen, explores how one might find a path forward in Christianity beyond conservative evangelicalism” -Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker“Evans died at 37, but a beautiful new book captures her brave outlook. . . . I could not help but notice the poetry in Evans’s prose. . . . What readers will find in these pages was someone deeply human: funny, irreverent, curious, wise, forgiving, nonjudgmental.” -Maggie Smith, The Washington PostA collection of original writings by Rachel Held Evans, whose reflections on faith and life continue to encourage, challenge, and influence.Rachel Held Evans is widely recognized for her theologically astute, profoundly honest, and beautifully personal books, which have guided, instructed, edified, and shaped Christians as they seek to live out a just and loving faith.At the time of her tragic death in 2019, Rachel was working on a new book about wholeheartedness. With the help of her close friend and author Jeff Chu, that work-in-progress has been woven together with some of her other unpublished writings into a rich collection of essays that ask candid questions about the stories we’ve been told—and the stories we tell—about our faith, our selves, and our world.This book is for the doubter and the dreamer, the seeker and the sojourner, those who long for a sense of spiritual wholeness as well as those who have been hurt by the Church but can’t seem to let go of the story of Jesus. Through theological reflection and personal recollection, Rachel wrestles with God’s grace and love, looks unsparingly at what the Church is and does, and explores universal human questions about becoming and belonging. An unforgettable, moving, and intimate book.

"I am the descendant of drinkers and drifters better at passing on their love for the bottle than family history..." Prepare yourself for an unvarnished, harrowing look at one Christian's life.A powerful memoir of knowing and being known by God through the pain of loss, tragedy, and brokenness—Even in Our Darkness explores what it means to fend off doubt and despair, even in the most painful trials.Jack Deere tells the true story of his life growing up near Fort Worth, Texas in the 1950's and the disintegration of his family following his father's suicide. Despite his difficult childhood and an inclination toward the depression that had crushed his parents, Deere describes how he began to wrestle with Christianity and how "God was...slipping in through the crack of an open wound."In his mid-twenties, Jack rose to fame and success as a leading scholar, popular speaker, and bestselling author. But despite being rescued and exalted, Jack was devastated in the years that followed, losing his troubled son to suicide and his wife to alcoholism. Only then did he fully face his own addictions, surrender control, and experience true healing.An authentic story of the Christian life, Even in Our Darkness is like following an experienced guide through a barren country. Like many believers, Deere has had experiences that nearly destroyed him, and he was shown, by grace, how to overcome life's disappointments and learn to hear God speak in unbelievable ways, despite the darkness that surrounds us."Unmasked, unsettling, and unforgettable . . . this will change the landscape of your soul." —Ann Voskamp, bestselling author of The Broken Way and One Thousand Gifts.

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Macy Stafford shares simple words of daily inspiration in this unique, seasonal devotional to help you find new and more connected ways to live undistracted, heart-led, and hands-free every day.Rachel Macy Stafford, known to millions as the Hands Free Mama, equips readers to breathe life into what really matters: the ordinary moments in our routine lives and the people in them.Her inspiring words fill this beautiful book of short pieces constructed around the seasons of life. From finding daily surrender in the autumn and daily hope in the winter to finding daily bloom and daily spark in the spring and summer, you will always find fresh, beautiful words for your day.With a flexible, non-dated devotional structure, Only Love Today offers life-giving words that remind you of the tools you already possess and insights you already have as you seek to find: Clarity when you're conflicted Unity when you're divided Faith when you're uncertain Rest when your soul is weary Meaning in the meaningless A reset button directing you back to what matters mostRegardless of what you're experiencing or what season you're in, in these pages, you'll find wisdom, encouragement, strength, vision, and clarity to live for what really matters.

Lisa Gungor thought she knew her own story: small-town girl meets boy in college and they blissfully walk down the aisle into happily ever after. Their Christian faith was their lens and foundation for everything—their marriage, their music, their dreams for the future. But as their dreams began to come true, she began to wonder if her religion was really representative of the ‘good news’ she had been taught.She never expected the questions to lead as far as they did when her husband told her he no longer believed in God. The death of a friend, the unraveling of relationships and career, the loss of a worldview, and the birth of a baby girl with two heart defects all led Lisa to a tumultuous place; one of depression and despair. And it was there that her perspective on everything changed. The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen tells the story of what can happen when you dare to let go of what you think to be true; to shift the kaleidoscope and see new colors and dimension by way of broken pieces.Lisa’s eloquent, soul-stirring memoir brings you to a music stage before thousands of fans and a front porch where two people whisper words that scare them to the core. It is the story of how doubt can spark the beginning of deeper faith; how a baby born with a broken heart can bring love and healing to the hearts of many, and ultimately, how the hardest experience in life often ends up saving us.

A “special work” (J. S. Park) that honors life’s deep griefs, great joys, and unsettled in-betweens through every sacred season, assuring us that we are never alone “Oh, I love this book. . . . Honest and hopeful, masterfully written, both a balm and a bolstering.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author Exquisitely told and urgently resonant, Even After Everything is a love letter to anyone who has opened their heart only to be hurt. Stephanie Duncan Smith proposes that it’s not through grit or forced resilience that you will find a way forward, but through receiving the full spectrum of our lives, just as we receive the empathy of God-with-us in every moment. Duncan Smith’s disorientation began when she lost her first pregnancy on the winter solstice, just as the world readied to celebrate its most historic birth on Christmas. Then a new yet uncertain pregnancy unfolded parallel to the pandemic, until nearly one year to the day of her loss, she gave birth to her daughter at the peak of mortality in their city. These contradictions compelled Duncan Smith into a desperate search for steadiness, which she found in the liturgical year as a grounding force and the promise that we are seen by God in every season. In Even After Everything, Duncan Smith traverses the church’s circle of time and reorients herself and us in the sacred story told through Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Ordinary Time. She reveals the sacred year—through its endless interplay of love, loss, risk, and resurrection—as a mirror to the human experience, an anchor for turbulent times, and a womb strong enough to encompass every human care. At its heart lives the promise of God-with-us, inviting us into the spiritual practice of taking courage in the trust that we are accompanied in everything, and love will always have the last word.

Promotes personal development and improved relationships through appreciation of daily life experiences and confidence in oneself and the power of love.