Tired of quick fixes and fast faith? The Sacred Slow is an invitation to unhurried honesty before God. If yesterday’s word was simple, tomorrow’s word will be slow. Our culture is shifting from fast food to healthy food both physically and spiritually. Self-care, soul-care, life coaches, and spiritual retreats all show our dissatisfaction in quick fixes and fast faith. The Sacred Slow is an invitation to unhurried honesty before God. Formatted as 52 experiences, The Sacred Slow reminds readers on every page that God never wanted to use them—He always wanted to love them. The overflow of Dr. Alicia Britt Chole’s more than thirty years as a spiritual mentor to leaders and learners as well as her personal, practical, and penetrating tone will guide you to a richer, more life-giving relationship with God. Perfect for use as a devotional or in small groups, each chapter features: A short, unexpected reading Two options for application—a thought focus or a heart exercise Encouragement to develop growing, sustainable intimacy with God Whether you’re exhausted by emptiness or worn from weariness, you’ll discover healing and restoration in these pages. In this age of distraction, learn to slow down and reorient your life to learn, grow, and experience God as never before.

In Anonymous, learn to recognize the riches in the uncelebrated seasons of your life. When your potential is unseen and your abilities are unappreciated, use those times as opportunities to develop an unshakable identity and to find rest in God's timing—just as Jesus did. Unsettling spaces are actually the surprising birthplace of true spiritual strength. Most of Jesus’ first thirty years went unnoticed by the world, but that season of quiet anonymity prepared Him for true greatness...and made Him unshakable when His time had come. Using Jesus' hidden years as inspiration, Alicia Chole memorably demonstrates how to: Resist resentment when your accomplishments go unnoticed Repurpose your own hidden years and experience deep growth Resolutely live out God's dreams for you with integrity and confidence We all experience times of hiddenness, when our potential is unseen and our abilities remain uncelebrated. This book will encourage you to not rush through those times by reminding you that these anonymous seasons of the soul hold enormous power to cultivate character traits that cannot be developed any other way!

What does God want for your life? Christine Valters Paintner, bestselling Catholic author and online abbess for Abbey of the Arts, uses reflections, stories, guided activities, prayer experiences, and a variety of creative arts to help you patiently and attentively listen to God’s invitation. Everyone wants to understand God’s will for their lives. Christine Valters Paintner shares one of the most ancient paths to understanding from her study of monasticism and immersion into Celtic spirituality while living in Ireland. The Celtic way, which Paintner distills into twelve practices, offers discernment that focuses on the environment rather than the intellectual focus present in other forms of discernment. It allows for what Paintner calls the “soul’s slow ripening,” coming into the fullness of our own sweetness before we pluck the fruit. Each chapter begins with a story of a particular Irish saint—some well-known like Patrick or Brigid, others less so, such as Ita and Ciaran—and then introduces a helpful practice for discernment that the saint’s life illustrates. Paintner explores the call of dreams, the importance of thresholds, the practice of peregrination (wandering for the love of God), walking the rounds, learning by heart, soul friends, blessing each moment, and the wisdom of the landscape and the seasons. Readers are invited to explore these concepts through photography and writing. She invites us to contemplative walks with specific themes along with poetic writing prompts for expression. As you explore an alternate way of discerning a spiritual path—one which honors the moment-by-moment invitations and the soul’s seasonal rhythms—you will discover that this book will help you become more aligned with creativity and wholeness.

What if you fasted regret? What if your friends fasted comparison? What if your generation fasted escapism? What if your community fasted spectatorship? Trigger a spiritual revolution with this daily devotional for Lent. Decrease life's unnecessary details and increase your relationship with the Lord so you can live in awe of Christ's resurrection! 40 Days of Decrease is a guide for those hungering for a fresh Lenten/Easter experience. Dr. Alicia Britt Chole guides you through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s realities, and journey cross-ward and beyond. Containing readings, refection questions, daily fasts, ancient quotes, and more, each day offers a meaningful consideration of Jesus’ journey and then invites you into a daily fast of heart-clutter—the stuff that sticks to your soul and weighs you down. You can begin your forty-day journey any time of the year, but you may find it especially meaningful as a Lenten preparation to live in awe of Jesus’ resurrection. Each daily, 1000-word entry includes a: Devotion based on Jesus’ life Reflection question to guide journaling or group discussion Heart fast to inspire a tangible response Thought-provoking Lenten quote Optional sidebar into the historical development of Lent Suggested reading that takes you from John 12 to John 21 Journaling space for reflection In the same way self cannot satisfy self no matter how long it feasts, self cannot starve self no matter how long it fasts. Decrease—like increase—is only holy when its destination is love. Dare to live awed by Christ’s resurrection!

Introduction : marking time -- What is slow art? (when images swell into events and events condense into images) -- Living pictures -- Before slow art -- Slow art emerges in modernity I : secularization from Diderot to Wilde -- Slow art emerges in modernity II : the great age of speed -- Slow fiction, film, video, performance, 1960 to 2010 -- Slow photography, painting, installation art, sculpture, 1960 to 2010 -- Angel and devil of slow art

Winner of the Booker Prize A historical novel set in the eighteenth century, Sacred Hunger is a stunning, engrossing exploration of power, domination, and greed in the British Empire as it entered fully into the slave trade and spread it throughout its colonies. Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain's drastic response provokes a mutiny. Joining together, the sailors and the slaves set up a secret, utopian society in the wilderness of Florida, only to await the vengeance of the single-minded, young Kemp.

How do we hear from God and discern His will when it’s time to make big decisions? Terry Looper shares a four-step process for doing just that - a process he has learned and refined over thirty years as a Christian entrepreneur and founder of a multi-billion dollar company. At just thirty-six years old, Terry Looper was a successful Christian businessman who thought he had it all—until managing all he had led to a devastating burnout. Wealthy beyond his wildest dreams but miserable beyond belief, Terry experienced a radical transformation when he discovered how to align himself with God’s will in the years following his crash and burn. Sacred Pace is a four-step process that helps Christians in all walks of life learn how to slow down their decision-making under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sift through their surface desires and sinful patterns in order to receive clear, peace-filled answers from the Lord, gain the confident assurance that God’s answers are His way of fulfilling the true desires he has placed in their hearts, and grow closer to the One who loves them most and knows them best. Sacred Pace is not another example of name-it-and-claim-it materialism in disguise. Instead, it walks Christians through the sometimes-painful process of “dying to self” in their decisions, both big and small, so that they desire God’s will more than their own.