We might believe in God's love in the abstract, but we often live our lives without experiencing it in any deep or lasting way. In this warm, engaging book, pastors Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw share personal stories and simple, clear teaching from the story of Scripture that God not only likes us and wants to be with us, he also wants to work through us to bless the whole world.

Popular speaker, teacher, and author Sharon Jaynes (more than 235,000 copies sold) reveals the stories of women in the Bible who had meaningful encounters with Jesus. With her trademark biblical perspective, Sharon spends time with Jesus' mother, Mary, the woman at the well, Mary Magdalene, and others, and brings to life their experiences with the forgiveness, healing, and love of Jesus. As Sharon explores how God interacted with women of the Bible, she uncovers some surprises and is excited to share the news with readers today--God has great dreams for them and continues to transform women from insignificant to highly esteemed disgraced to full of grace guilty to forgiven Readers will discover God's heart and hope for them as He lovingly exchanges their heartache, hopelessness, or shame for the beauty of wholeness.

Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. When life hurts, we often feel pressure--from others and ourselves--to keep it together, suck it up, or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who lovingly invites us to give honest voice to our emotions when life hits hard. For most of her life, Esther Fleece Allen believed she could bypass the painful emotions of her broken past by shutting them down altogether. She was known as an achiever and an overcomer on the fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you've done the same. Esther's journey into healing began when she discovered that God has given us a real-world way to deal with raw emotions and an alternative to the coping mechanisms that end up causing more pain. It's called lament--the gut-level, honest prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament, taking you on a journey down the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God's own language to come closer to him as he leads us through our pain to the light on the other side, teaching you that: We are robbing ourselves of a divine mystery and a divine intimacy when we pretend to have it all together God does not expect us to be perfect; instead, he meets us where we are There is hope beyond your heartache, disappointment, and grief Like Esther, you'll soon find that when one person stops faking fine, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.

“Fascinating, thoughtful, and important. [Jeff Chu] captures the fractures and conflict at a moment when the issue of what to do with L.G.B.T. people is tearing Christian denominations apart. Does Jesus Really Love Me? deserves to be widely read.” —Dan Savage, New York Times Book Review In this timely work—part memoir, part investigative analysis—a prize-winning writer explores the explosive and confusing intersection of faith, politics, and sexuality in Christian America. When Jeff Chu came out to his parents as a gay man, his devout Christian mother cried. And cried. Every time she looked at him. For months. As a journalist and a believer, Chu knew that he had to get to the heart of a question that had been haunting him for years: Does Jesus really love me? The quest to find an answer propels Chu on a remarkable cross-country journey to discover the God “forbidden to him” because of his sexuality. Surveying the breadth of the political and theological spectrum, from the most conservative viewpoints to the most liberal, he tries to distill what the diverse followers of Christ believe about homosexuality and to understand how these people who purportedly follow the same God and the same Scriptures have come to hold such a wide range of opinions. Why does Pastor A believe that God hates me, especially because of my gayness? Why does Person B believe that God loves me, gayness and all? From Brooklyn to Nashville to California, from Westboro Baptist Church and their god hates fags protest signs to the pioneering Episcopal bishop Mary Glasspool, who proclaims a message of liberation and divine love, Chu captures spiritual snapshots of Christian America at a remarkable moment, when tensions between both sides in the culture wars have rarely been higher. Both funny and heartbreaking, perplexing and wise, Does Jesus Really Love Me? is an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual pilgrimage that reveals a portrait of a faith and a nation at odds.

What would it be like if someone were completely, 100 percent for you? The loser. The rising star. The drug addict. The good Christian kid gone bad. The undeserving overwhelmed with gratitude. Whoever you are and wherever you’ve been—Jesus is for you. Not when you clean up your act or when do the right thing or when put your life back together. Jesus is for you—in the midst of now. Whether you woke up amazed by your blessings or shamed by the worst mistake of your life. Jesus is for you and with you, and He’s not going anywhere. The heartfelt and honest stories in these pages reveal what it means to experience Jesus and discover the real life He promises. With insight from New York Times–bestselling author Judah Smith and backed by Scripture, this book will allow you breathe deeply the profound truth that Jesus is for you.

Christian music icon and forty-time Dove award winner Sandi Patty has long astounded listeners with her powerful voice. And yet, off the stage, Sandi struggled to have a voice at all. Journey with Sandi and discover the tools you need to listen for God's voice and find your voice along the way. With a history of sexual abuse, infidelity, divorce, and crises of self-image, Sandi lived much of her life feeling unworthy of love or value. Like so many of us, she coped by living through the voices of others, allowing other people to prescribe her identity. As she performed around the world, Sandi met others just like her who hid their wounds behind quiet smiles and struggled to live with fractured identities. Through deeply intimate stories of her life and the empowering spiritual truths she's learned, Sandi offers readers wisdom to navigate the journey from voicelessness to discovering the voice God has given you, teaching you to: Embrace your true self Share your story Become the person God created you to be Sandi's warm and invitational writing will draw you to the voice of the God who sings over your life, saying you are seen, you are loved, and your voice is worth hearing. With timeless wisdom, The Voice will help you uncover your God-given identity and a voice of your very own. Praise for The Voice: "I've known Sandi for more than a quarter of a century. I'm one of the millions who have been blessed by her voice and touched by her words of wisdom. Her story is one of grace, hope, and second chances. May it impact all who read it." --Max Lucado, pastor and New York Times bestselling author "My favorite kind of spiritual leader is the one who tells the truth and gives others permission to tell the truth. I don't need shiny, polished, or tidy. I need genuine. Sandi, my dear friend, whom I love wholeheartedly, has given us this and more in The Voice." --Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author

The author writes: John 3:16 is often referred to as 'the gospel in a nutshell'. I believe it is one of the most mistranslated verses in the Bible. Like most Christians I totally misunderstood the verse. So I am warning you now that I may spoil John 3:16 for you for the rest of your life. But I hope that this book will also give you the true meaning of what is a wonderful message, and a very important one, especially for Christians.