Everyday countless numbers of believers experience crisis that tests their faith. Once thrust into the storm, the sifting begins, and we must make a choice to stand on truth. To complicate the matter, we may respond in sin and continue in error by pointing the blame on others. After our faith falters through a trial, we may abandon it and suffer the stigma of what the Apostle Paul called, a shipwrecked faith. Not understanding why this happens to loyal believers, who once felt so close to God, we turn away from our faith. Like spiritual nomads, we leave the congregation, fleeing for refuge in a desert of our own making. What we may not comprehend, or appreciate is that Gods grace sustains us during our season of separation. This book helps the reader to regain stability during a stretch in the desert and see it as an opportunity for refining and redefining our faith. Alternatively, faith failure occurs when a believer naively misplaces faith to truth in a system of religious works, or persons and suffers when they do not uphold the teachings of Jesus. When we walk from false religious teachings, associates label us as failures and reject us. Broken hearted and disillusioned by our situation, we give up our religion and turn our back on everything we once believed in. We may spend years hiding in the desert making little progress in our faith, until we realize that we are spiritually thirsty. We long for Gods love and wish someone would help us find the way to restore our faith. Our cry is like the title of this book, Help Me! Im a Religious Wreck and You Can Find Me in the Desert and here it is with care, placed into your hands, from one who understands the cry.

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

Reclaim Your Headspace and Find Your One True Voice As a hospital chaplain, J.S. Park encountered hundreds of patients at the edge of life and death, listening as they urgently shared their stories, confessions, and final words. J.S. began to identify patterns in his patients’ lives—patterns he also saw in his own life. He began to see that the events and traumas we experience throughout life become deafening voices that remain within us, even when the events are far in the past. He was surprised to find that in hearing the voices of his patients, he began to identify his own voices and all the ways they could both harm and heal. In The Voices We Carry, J.S. draws from his experiences as a hospital chaplain to present the Voices Model. This model explores the four internal voices of self-doubt, pride, people-pleasing, and judgment, and the four external voices of trauma, guilt, grief, and family dynamics. He also draws from his Asian-American upbringing to examine the challenges of identity and feeling “other.” J.S. outlines how to wrestle with our voices, and even befriend them, how to find our authentic voice in a world of mixed messages, and how to empower those who are voiceless. Filled with evidence-based research, spiritual and psychological insights, and stories of patient encounters, The Voices We Carry is an inspiring memoir of unexpected growth, humor, and what matters most. For those wading through a world of clamor and noise, this is a guide to find your clear, steady voice.

Volume II picks up where Volume I left off--with practical advice and tools for ministry with the aging in a variety of settings. Gerontological and theological perspectives undergird the practical guidance and a final section treats of the unique ethical issues involved in ministry with the aging.