Learning Religion

If I asked you to name your favorite things - the things you love - how long would it take for you to name yourself? If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried to love God and love others without thinking too much about yourself. Wanting to avoid self-centeredness, I doubted myself and condemned myself - I even hated myself - until I noticed the ancient words of Mark 12:31: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” A gentle whisper led me in a new direction, and everything in my life began to change.

In a society where raging narcissism dominates the moral landscape, the virtue of humility is often dismissed as irrelevant. Not only is humility vanishing from contemporary culture, but we are also witnessing how destructive a lack of humility has become among our churches and ministry leaders. And yet, Richard Foster, the founder of Renovare, insists that humility is central to the journey toward character formation and spiritual transformation. For this reason he decided to spend a year studying the virtue of humility.

A method of interpretation—a hermeneutic—is indispensable for understanding Scripture, constructing theology, and living the Christian life, but most contemporary hermeneutical systems fail to acknowledge the principles and practices of the biblical writers themselves. Christians today cannot employ a truly biblical view of the Bible unless they understand why the prophets and apostles interpreted Scripture the way they did.

Join New York Times best-selling author Shauna Niequist as she invites you to experience the precious gifts and wisdom that only come the hard way - through change, loss, and transition. In this collection of poignant essays, Shauna reflects on her own journey of making peace with change, the nuanced mix of excitement and heartbreak that comes with it, and the practices that offer us strength and hope along the way. A tribute to life at the edges, Bittersweet is a love letter to the bittersweet and sacred work that change does in us all.

Here are the devastating revelations that triggered a crisis within the Catholic Church. Here is the truth about the scores of abusive priests who preyed upon innocent children and the cabal of senior church officials who covered up their crimes. Here is the trail of "hush money" that the Catholic Church secretly paid to buy victims' silence - deeds that left millions of the faithful in the US and around the world shocked, angry, and confused.

Someone loves you. Unconditionally, unshakable, unfailingly. That someone is God himself. But how can that be possible? Why would God love you so? Because he has fashioned an unbreakable covenant between himself and you. And he always keeps his promises.

Each of this book's four chapters covers one of the most important questions a person must ask themselves: What is the purpose of my life? How can I best realize the purpose of my life? Who do I want to be? How do I want other people to think of me? Rather than give you answers to these questions, this guide provides a framework that helps you develop your own answers while equipping you with the neuroscientific tools necessary to transform yourself into whomever you choose to be.

For those seeking a spiritual deepening and a way to respond to the challenges of our time, this book offers a path close to the heart of God. A challenge to awaken unfolds through 10 spiritual practices for the journey. Beginning with sitting meditation, the book explores myriad ways to enter the silence, including walking the labyrinth, engaging in sacred conversation, cultivating gratitude, divine reading (lectio divina) with sacred texts and nature, mindful eating, listening contemplatively throughout the day, participating in contemplative rituals and engaging in centered action.

Homeschool days can be long and hard. Even when we lose our vision, God does not lose His. While we attempt to teach and disciple our children, we find that it is ourselves needing the instruction and discipleship. We also find that God provides both, using our decision to homeschool to draw us closer to Himself. To continue with love and perseverance, we need confidence not in our work, but in God’s. These 30 readings will lift up your eyes and spirit so you can focus on what truly matters while doing the daily work of educating your kids.

For when your trust has been broken: Discover how to set firm boundaries again, how to connect deeply without being hurt, and how to safely grow your most intimate relationships. Painful relationships violate our trust, causing us to close our hearts. But to experience the freedom and love God designed us for, we eventually have to take another risk.

We tend to think being "stressed out" is a normal state of affairs, and that contentment means sitting back and just bottling things up. For the Christian, however, contentment is something we must apply, work at, and make our own in every circumstance, because anxiety and frustration are not neutral behaviors.

This collection is a comprehensive guide for the beginner or advanced student to develop their knowledge of divination, astrology and tarot and learn the different ways in which they interact. It also allows you to learn western and eastern astrology so that you have an in-depth understanding of all your birth charts, as well as adding to your directory of meanings when reading tarot.

Christy Nockels knows firsthand how easily our desire to serve God - even when using the gifts he has given us - can overshadow our delight in simply being with him. When God called her to lay down her ministry for a season, Christy was forced to confront how her sense of purpose and worth had become tangled up in her work. God then lovingly invited her to discover true rest in his presence as she learned to live as the Beloved.

At a time when we are all more rudderless than ever, we look for the very best teachers and mentors to guide us. In Fully Alive, an unusual and gripping memoir, Timothy Shriver shows how his teachers have been the world's most forgotten minority: people with intellectual disabilities. In these pages we meet the individuals who helped him come of age and find a deeper and more meaningful way to see the world.

In this second book from the Duggars, they focus on the principles that equip them to face life's challenges—drawing from their most recent challenge with the 3-month premature birth of their newest child, Josie. They also share the new challenges their older children are facing as they prepare for adult life. Central to the book is a section on the principles that the Duggars have consistently taught their children. These simply worded principles are basic to the Duggar family and are shared in a way that other parents can incorporate in their own homes.

Tarot cards have been used for hundreds of years as a method to help guide those that seek answers to life’s questions. The cards can offer hope and support to help you through the ups and downs in life. Everything from love and family to money and more can be reflected in the cards, all you have to do is learn to understand them, and that’s what Reading the Tarot can do for you.

As Christians, we often struggle to find the words to speak in the presence of God. Praying to God may feel foreign or like a ritual, and adding to that frustration, we worry that God isn't listening. Even if he hears, will he reply? This book will show you that God not only listens but also answers. He is waiting to provide an outpouring of blessings, if only you will ask him. God wants you to be a prayer warrior and will help you.

Enjoy this single-voice audio recording of the Contemporary Chinese Bible, which offers a concise “thought-for-thought" translation. By focusing on delivering a clear rendition of the Bible’s stories and concepts, the Contemporary Chinese Bible in the Mandarin dialect offers a better comprehension of Scripture for the listener than a word-for-word translation.

Abba Father has heard and captured every single tear you have cried. He is patiently intentional to bring his healing presence in Jesus to your worst trauma and transform it into your greatest victory. In Learning to Be Loved: Finding Your Way from Distressed to Rest, you will discover a whole new way of living, free from disturbance and distress. You will learn to live and experience what it is to be genuinely loved, joyfully at rest in the heart of God.

In his last recorded letter to the Church, the Apostle Peter highlighted a peculiar list of seven qualities as his final legacy. What he said about this carefully constructed guide is extraordinary. This remarkable list was Peter’s summary of how Jesus Christ had discipled him. Jesus identified Peter as his prototype disciple, the first of many as the kingdom of God advances throughout the world. Peter’s guide will help anyone who wishes to follow Jesus as he did.