Spiritual Growth Love

How do we find contentment in God when we feel so hidden? Sara Hagerty unfolds the truths found in the biblical story of Mary of Bethany to discover the scandalous love of God and explore the spiritual richness of being hidden in him. Every heart longs to be seen and understood. Yet most of our lives is unwitnessed. We spend our days working, driving, parenting. We sometimes spend whole seasons feeling unnoticed and unappreciated. In Unseen, Sara Hagerty suggests that this is exactly what God intended. He is the only one who truly knows us.

Do you worry that you're messing up your kids? Do you get stressed when you think about their futures? New York Times best-selling author Crystal Paine knows how you feel. A mom of four, Crystal has struggled with anxiety over parenting. She wanted to parent with grace, instead of a system of rules where kids are expected to do all the right things. She wanted to be a safe place for her children, and she definitely didn't want to be remembered as the sort of mom who yelled, wounded her kids with words, or worse, cared more about her reputation than her kids' hearts.

Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. So why are so many Christians taught to fear their neighbors? The American church is known as a people who are afraid, who have been nurtured through fear into hatred, and who have moved from hatred to violence - or at least to neglect. This fear, too often lived out boldly in the name of Jesus, is a false religion.

This Scripture-rich book explores what Pastor Alfred Cherubim, describes as, “five vital truths about love”: God loves unconditionally; He commands us to love; we are unable, in our own strength, to love as God loves; we can receive empowerment from God to enable us to love supernaturally; and we are able to access that love through faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. The author maintains that each person’s greatest need is to love and be loved, and he unwraps for the listener the distinctions in three Greek words translated into the one English word “love.

Rejection is inevitable. Yet we spend little time considering the significant impact it makes on an individual's whole self. When we do, we swaddle it in quippy statements and shallow encouragement—meaningful for just a moment. But rejection leaves aching wounds that challenge and forge our most intimate thoughts of who we believe God, others, and ourselves to be. Tabitha Panariso blends biblical truth, candid personal stories, and timeless wisdom forged through personal experience and her vocation as a therapist to invite listeners into a new way of living.

Hidden from the dawn of time by revealed to us in God's word, is the greatest mystery of all - oneness with Christ. We were created not just to be like him, but to become truly one with him. In Consumed By Love, Duncan tells the story of his journey into discovering the God of love who in Christ became one with all of humanity. This priceless act of love holds the key to each of us living an extraordinary life on earth that only God can live, accessing his infinite riches and supernatural power and giving it away to the world.

Many Christians misunderstand and trivialize the biblical meaning of love and miss the transformation that God wants for them. We may practice the disciplines without grasping the life that Jesus desires to give within us. Through many years of spiritual formation teaching, coaching, and spiritual direction, I have found that both pastors and lay folk seem to simply blow past the central teaching of Scripture that love forms the heart of the Gospel message.

We all need more energy, the vitality that helps us stay motivated, focused and productive in life. We know we receive energy from good nutrition, along with working out, adequate sleep and maintaining positivity. But there is another major source for the energy we need: having the right kinds of relationships with others. Not the ones that drain us, but the ones that refuel us.

When I Am Second launched in 2008, the organization intended simply to tell stories of lives changed utterly by people placing God first and themselves second. Although the organization has exploded in size and influence since, that original mission has remained the same - and continues to have enormous power and influence today.

With a fresh, uplifting perspective on an often-told story, Amy Boucher Pye unpacks the dynamics of Jesus’s remarkable friendships with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, inviting you to be transformed by the same love that upended their lives. With prayer exercises and reflection questions, Transforming Love is the perfect resource for your personal time with God as well as group discussion.

Our culture is obsessed with love and romance--so why are so few women experiencing satisfying, long-term love? In this insightful and encouraging book, sisters Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird help single women of all ages discover a radically better approach to navigating their love lives. Covering topics such as true love, romance, purposeful relationships, purity, boundaries, singleness, and glorifying God in our relationships, Love Defined unpacks God's original design for romance, showing modern women how to experience God's best for them in their relationships.

Lizzie Anne and Samuel have decided to get married, and Lindsay is about to be baptized in the Amish faith and is courting Matthew. While Katie Kauffman is happy for her friends who seem to have settled their futures, she is also finding herself something of a fifth wheel. When Lindsay’s sister Jessica returns to Bird-in-Hand, she finds that Jake Miller has moved on with his life. He lost hope that Jessica would ever be satisfied to settle in rural Pennsylvania and takes comfort in becoming close friends with Katie. However, it’s not an easy road....

These 100 love letters are a royal escort to the real you. They are spoken through the totally human and totally divine being of Jesus, identifying himself as “The Christ in You” to emphasize the true nature of your own being as unique, eternal, immutable, and holy. They were written to help each of us transcend polarity and to usher us into the integrity—the unity—of being.

The pressure of unmet milestones and unfulfilled dreams can make you feel like you’ve already missed out on the life you were “supposed” to have. But you don't have to exhaust yourself by trying to keep up to enjoy what's right in front of you. In You Are Not Behind, Meghan Ryan Asbury will help you create a life you love with the one you already have. Authentic and encouraging, You Are Not Behind will teach you to grieve the hard, celebrate the good, and embrace the in-between of where you are and where you want to be.

Bestselling authors Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk help you unlock a vibrant life uniquely suited to your personality, season of life, and schedule limitations. Packed with encouragement, biblical advice, real-world help, and personal discovery, this forty-day journey helps you discern and pursue your passions and priorities; craft a personalized action plan deeply rooted in Scripture; manage the tension between your relationships and your responsibilities; cultivate a life-giving routine of rest and productivity; and impact others for eternity through your life and gifts.

At age five, in the backyard of her suburban Long Island home, Anna Raimondi had a profound experience. A contemplative child, she slid her body into the small grotto that once held a statue of the Blessed Mother. Anna remembers “a feeling of pure and unadulterated peace”. In that peace, she heard a voice. It was gentle and strong, and it said, “Anna, I am here for you always. Always come to me.” That was the beginning of their first conversation.

Seeing the world through a lens of love is not easy, but when you commit to this practice, you will begin to see God’s power move in surprising ways. Through the Eyes of Love shows us how operating from a place of love is the most effective way to walk in the Spirit. This book will help you grow in spiritual authority and learn how to speak powerful words.

The book is a hands-on primer for bringing to life the basic message that Christ brought. In it, Meyer examines what will happen if we each decide that we will refuse to live only for ourselves and love intentionally through action.

“God is love is the radical claim of Christianity,” writes Frederick Bauerschmidt at the beginning of this little meditation on the essentials of Christian faith. In a rich yet accessible style reminiscent of C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton, Bauerschmidt breathes life back into that claim, drawing from Scripture, great Christian and non-Christian writers of the past, and his own lived experience to show just how countercultural and subversive Christianity is actually meant to be.

Puritan John Flavel (1630-1691) in Keeping the Heart (originally titled: A Saint Indeed or The Great Work of a Christian Opened and Pressed) has proven to be a steady and timely friend to many over the years. Using Proverbs 4:23 ("Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life."), Flavel creates a treatise designed for all professing Christians.