Life Growth

As no sensible person would make a long road trip without first consulting a map, so the person intent upon gaining Heaven should first resort to a competent guide to reach that Goal of all goals. And no better guide to Heaven exists than An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Doctor of the Church. It is at once easy to listen, being laid out in short sections, yet thorough, authoritative, reliable, kind and gentle - a mirror of its author. It is an audiobook, moreover, for all, because all are called to the devout life.

Help your child understand and live out God’s purpose in their life with The Purpose Driven Life Devotional for Kids by Pastor Rick Warren. Based upon the themes and ideas found in his bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life, this 365-day devotional for children 8 to 12, shows how to authentically live out God’s plan and trust Him along the way.

Life is often messy. We hear people say, “My life is a mess,” or “This situation is a mess.” What they mean is that life has become difficult, painful or confusing. But God never promised us a trouble-free life. In fact, His Word tells us to expect the opposite. In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (NIV). In Blessed in the Mess, beloved Bible teacher Joyce Meyer shows us how to be blessed in the midst of life’s most challenging circumstances.

In Crushing Chaos, pastor and self-proclaimed Bible nerd Manny Arango unfolds the ways that God faithfully, lovingly does just that, showing you how to conquer the chaos you’ve carried with you for far too long and restoring passion and purpose to your life. You’ll discover how a path of surrender and self-sacrifice can lead you from a place of turmoil and confusion to a place of hope and peace. The answer is in saying “yes” to a radically reordered life.

Psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, one of the world's experts on motivation, shows you how to chart a new approach to living with "flexible optimism." Dr. Seligman's principles of reasoned, flexible optimism will help you rise above pessimism and the depression that accompanies negative thoughts.

King's Cross is Timothy Keller's revelatory look at the life of Christ as told in the Gospel of Mark. There have been many biographies of Jesus, but few will be as anticipated as this one by Keller, the man Newsweek calls "a C. S. Lewis for the 21st century". In it, Keller shows how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to look anew at our relationship with God.

Who would imagine being friends with Eve - the woman who’s been held responsible for the fall of humanity (and cramps) for thousands of years? Certainly not Sarah Jakes Roberts. That is, not until Sarah discovered she is more like Eve than she cares to admit. Everyone faces trials, and everyone will mess up. But failure should not be the focus. Your focus should not be on who you were but rather the pursuit of who you can become.

Dallas Willard, one of today's most brilliant Christian thinkers and the author of The Divine Conspiracy ( Christianity Today's 1999 Book of the Year), presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life.

People living with mental health challenges are not excluded from God’s love or even the fullness of life promised by Jesus. Unfortunately, this hope is often lost amid the well-meaning labels and medical treatments that dominate the world of mental health today. In Finding Jesus in the Storm, John Swinton makes the case for reclaiming that hope by changing the way we talk about mental health and remembering that, above all, people are people, regardless of how unconventionally they experience life. This means accepting the reality and ramifications of suffering while also affirming that there is more to humanity than cells and synapses.

How do you make a change in your life when the tools you used to rely on start letting you down? Whether we’re struggling with a problem, a bad habit, or life in general, we often think we need to “tough it out” or “try harder.” But when we do that, our brains double down on the patterns that got us stuck in the first place. Fortunately, the science of sensation provides the key.

Is there really any hope for a spiritual way of living that actually works? Admiration, comfort, love, power, success, pleasure, escape, control: we’re all addicted to something, whether we realize it or not. In this deeply heartfelt book, author John Ortberg offers a guide for transformation when we know something needs to change but we can’t do it on our own.

The lack of revelation of what you now possess and how to intimately access God may result in a less-than-fulfilling Christian experience and lifestyle. The Glory Within awakens your spiritual senses and inner spirit so you can become the person God created you to be.

The Critical Journey, at its core, is a description of the spiritual journey: our response to our faith in God with the resulting changes that follow. In this book, authors Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich address the following issues: the struggle to find meaning and wholeness, the crisis of values and identity at mid-life, the quest for self-actualization, the healing of early religious experiences, and questions about the spiritual journey. Their goal is to help us understand where we are on our individual faith journeys and also appreciate where others are in theirs.

Blending her own experiences with an intimate grasp of spirituality, Sue Monk Kidd relates the passionate and moving tale of her spiritual crisis, when life seemed to have lost meaning and her longing for a hasty escape from the pain yielded to a discipline of "active waiting." Full of wisdom, poise, and grace, Kidd’s words will encourage us along our spiritual journey, toward becoming who we truly are.

Prayer is the lifeblood of the Christian faith—but many followers of Jesus still struggle to make prayer part of their daily lives. Why is it that so many Christians find it difficult to develop a vibrant and exciting prayer life? Pastor Chris Hodges has spent years studying the prayers of the Bible and the models of prayer that the scriptures provide for Christians. Now, he shares the teachings and methods he's used to successfully help hundreds of thousands of people understand how to spend time in conversation with God—and enjoy every minute.

This year, strengthen the core of your life and faith like never before. Beloved Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy is known for his truly uncommon character—as a coach, a dad, and a mentor. Yet it didn’t happen overnight. He learned that the path to significance and ultimate success starts with a challenge that we can all take: to discover what God has in store for you by spending time with Him every day.

The Emmy-nominated host of Netflix’s Queer Eye follows up his New York Times-bestselling memoir, Over The Top, with this collection of thought-provoking essays on grief and healing, cannabis reform, LGBTQIA+ rights, imposter syndrome, personal style, the HIV safety net, and of, course, how to make your hairdresser love you.

We are all spiritual seekers, intuitively knowing there is more to life than we suspect. This is a book for anyone who is hoping there is something more while we’re here on Earth. There is. We are being called to join the revolution, and Wright insightfully encourages readers to find new purpose and clarity by taking us on an eye-opening journey through key biblical passages that promise to radically alter the work of the church and the direction of our lives.

What is my purpose in life? What is a good life? Why is there so much wrong with our world? What can I do to help make it right? These are some of the big questions that everyone must answer. And any lasting change in our lives will start with a change to one or more of our answers to these questions. Jesus changed the life of every person he met in the Gospels, through powerful experiences and words that led them to unexpected and transforming answers to their big questions. These conversations can still address our questions and doubts today.

Every church is driven by some controlling force: tradition, finances, programs, events, personalities, or even the building itself. But author and pastor Dr. Rick Warren, the founder of Saddleback Valley Community Church in California, believes that a church can only be truly healthy if it becomes "purpose-driven," built around the 5 goals Jesus stated in the New Testament.