Growing Joy

Many parents of teenagers or young adults feel as though they're guessing about what to do next-with mixed results. We want to stay connected with our maturing child, but we're not sure how. And deep down, we fear our child doesn't want or need us. But growing up doesn't have to mean growing apart. Based on brand-new research and interviews with remarkable families, Growing With equips parents to take steps toward their teenagers and young adults in a mutual journey of intentional growth that trusts God to transform them all.

The Joy Thief is a story that helps children and adults to discover more about a subject that is often difficult to understand. Demonstrating the subjectivity of trauma, The Joy Thief highlights how a seemingly ordinary occurrence can have a significant impact upon the well-being of a child, particularly if left unaddressed. Challenging the idea that trauma occurs only during more "serious" incidents, The Joy Thief leads us to conclude that such occurrences, or rather our responses to them, may be more significant for children's mental health.

When Greg James was eight years old, his nylon shell suit-clad idols the Chuckle Brothers ('to me, to you') signed an autograph with the message 'All the best for the future': a mad thing to say to a kid, oddly formal, like the kind of thing you write in the leaving card of a colleague you don't know very well. Eight-year-old Greg had no idea what the future held, no clue what was in store for him as he carried on through life.

There are many misconceptions about what it means to be humble. Some think that being humble means hiding your talents and abilities or being weak and inauthentic. But the Bible paints a different picture—defining humility as a self-forgetfulness leading to joy and explaining that it is a life-giving virtue that frees you from the restricting needs of your ego. In Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness, Gavin Ortlund encourages listeners that humility is not just an abstract virtue but a mark of gospel integrity.

Based on scriptural teachings and the author's personal experiences, this book discusses principles for church growth and provides practical examples and suggestions. The discussion applies to churches of various sizes, from daughter works and home-missions efforts to assemblies with a regular attendance of over 500.

The youngest of her parents’ combined 21 children, Sarah Frey grew up on a struggling farm in southern Illinois, often having to grow, catch, or hunt her own dinner alongside her brothers. She spent much of her early childhood dreaming of running away to the big city - or really anywhere with central heating. At 15, she moved out of her family home and started her own fresh produce delivery business with nothing more than an old pickup truck. Two years later, when the family farm faced inevitable foreclosure, Frey gave up on her dreams of escape and took over the farm.

Over half a million listeners have joined the journey of Instagram sensations Ashley and Dino Petrone. Through their popular online community Arrows and Bow, Ashley and Dino share their adventures, mishaps, and joys of building a life together using an unexpected element: design.

In Ageless Soul, Moore offers to listeners a fresh, optimistic, and rewarding path toward aging, one that need not be feared but rather embraced and cherished. In Moore's view aging is the process by which one becomes a more distinctive, complex, fulfilled, loving, and connected person.

In their only collaboration for children, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu use their childhood stories to show young people how to find joy even in hard times and why sharing joy with others makes it grow. The two spiritual masters tell a simple story of how every child has joy inside them, even when it sometimes hides, and how we can find it, keep it close, and grow it by sharing it with the world.

From 17 acclaimed Black male and nonbinary authors comes a vibrant collection of stories and poems about the power of joy and the wonders of Black boyhood.

Ryan Hart is caught in the middle. She has an older brother and a new baby sister, and she’s in a friendship tug-of-war with two friends who both want to be her best best friend. How can Ryan think about being kind to a classmate who is relentless with his teasing? Or be her signature sunny self when her brother, Ray, pulls the ultimate prank? But even when it seems like nothing is going her way, Ryan still looks for a way to see the bright side of things, refusing to let anything steal her joy, and finding ways to share it with everyone she meets.

Some of the most profound growth of our lives can happen in the home stretch, the years after age 60 or so. It's a time when we can finally crystallize the meaning of what we've been and done so far and fully expand into the self we've always intended to be, guided by the voice of the soul. But, says psychologist Charles Garfield, that can only happen if we first loosen the grip of the life we've led so far, the one that's been focused outwardly - on activity, achievement, and the idea of success - and let our souls lead the way.

Ride along on a journey with Joy: The Car That Went Bump Ditty Bump, as she displays her beauty and shows your children a fun way to know that they are beautiful, too. Embracing high self-esteem at a young age is the antidote for fighting off bullies. Joy takes some children on a ride down Las Vegas Blvd. While on the ride, the children engage in imagination and conversation. At the end of the book bits of wisdom and words of encouragement are shared with children about their uniqueness.

¿Qué significa estar feliz? Los niños aprenderán cómo se siente la felicidad, cómo sus sentidos pueden afectar sus emociones y cómo identificar y manejar sus sentimientos. Se incluye una actividad de reflexión que permite a los niños explorar sus sentimientos.

During her own year of transition—a milestone birthday, a wedding anniversary, the emptying of the nest—Walrond, in the buoyant and luminous style her listeners have come to love, does a deep dive into dimensions of getting older, including health, beauty, spirituality, connection, adventure, and meaning and purpose. Through conversations with social workers and neurologists, activists and clergy, Walrond satisfies her curiosity about why the dominant culture treats aging as a time of dwindling capacity.

Sondra y su mejor amigo, Jonathan, finalmente lograron ahorrar suficiente dinero para asistir al campamento de sus sueños: Camp Vert. Cuando sus cabañas se enfrentan en la competencia, ¿podrán los dos dominar el truco? Y más importante aún, ¿mantendrán su amistad en plena rivaldad?

When twins Lydia and Marco are approached to be on their dance studio's jazz team, Lydia is thrilled. She and Marco both love to dance and used to have fun dancing together as kids. But lately, it seems their relationship has grown more distant. Lydia can't wait to dance with her brother again, but Marco is worried. He's used to hip-hop and will be the only boy on the team. And when bullies start mocking Marco for doing "girl dances", it could spell trouble for the whole team.

In a land long ago, but not too long ago so as to forget, a young boy is praised for his valiance in battle and his strength and bravery. He wields his sword high above his head and everyone praises his name. He is a warrior! His joy is his weapon, and he brings joy to all people far and near. People look to him to feel better, to be able to smile, and to lift their own heads high.

Joy, a twelve-year-old trans girl, just moved to Texas with her mother and older brother. Her family has accepted Joy as the girl she is early in her transition, with little fuss, leaving Joy to explore her love of sports, competition, teamwork, school spirit, and worship. But when she is told she’s off the cheerleading team, Joy wants to fight for her right to cheer. As her battle with the school board picks up momentum, Joy attracts support from kids all around the country . . . she even gets the attention of her hero, trans activist Kai Shappley.

For years, I struggled with my self-image and how to make my dual pursuits of faith and fitness fit together. Maybe you can relate. Everything changed one day when I decided I was tired of looking in the mirror and started looking solely toward God. What he showed me is that true strength - physical, emotional, and spiritual - starts from the inside out. When you're staying connected to God, you'll find that eating well and exercising regularly will be so much easier. Your faith, food choices, and fitness will all just naturally flow together as part of your healthy and whole life.