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Flourish: Finding Purpose in the Unknown and Unexpected Seasons of Life
by Grace Wabuke KleinThis guide to living well through all the seasons of life encourages readers to trust God's timing and hold onto hope in the periods of waiting. The trials of life can wear us down. Unexpected events force us to face a new reality and unanswered prayers lead us to a growing frustration about why God doesn&’t intervene. We wonder if anything good can come out of this painful, dark, winter season. Grace Wabuke Klein knows that there is purpose in our darkest days and seasons of waiting. In Flourish, Grace meets the reader in their heartache, disappointment, and pain and gives encouragement and a fresh perspective on the winter seasons we all go through, as well as practical steps to not just survive but to find purpose in the unknown and unexpected. Drawing insight from her own winter seasons, Grace reveals the divine purpose in each season of our lives. She explains how: Fall is a time of release—a necessary season of letting go of offenses, unhealthy relationships, hurts, bad habits, toxic friendships, pride, unforgiveness and other heart issues before we can ever move on to the next season Winter is a time of unexpected challenges and unknown futures—yet lessons learned in life&’s storms are deep and full of growth to shape us and makes us stronger. Spring is a time of new things that require us to be open to new experiences, people, ideas, and perspective—stepping out into the unknown and uncomfortable. Summer is a time when everything is flourishing—we clearly see how each season cultivated a deeper level of faith and spiritual muscles, developing our character and perseverance. Grace discovered there is value and unseen gifts in each season, but only in the hard seasons and storms of life are vital spiritual disciplines developed. Flourish connects with the reader in the tension and storms of life to bring a word of hope.
Flourish: Live Free, Live Loved
by Margaret FeinbergWhat would a flourishing life look like for you? Take a moment to imagine. Instead of surviving your days, you savor each moment. Every hour you feel dazzlingly aware of God's love and presence. Join Margaret Feinberg for this 52-week devotional that's like reading a treasured letter from a longtime friend. Through her winsome stories and heart for Scripture's healing beauty, you'll discover deep encouragement on every page. Beautiful coloring pages beckon you to slow down and reflect on Scripture. Plant yourself in the depths of God's love.Grow in courage through persistent and consistent prayer.Blossom in freedom by facing the fears that hold you back. No matter what you've been through or what you're facing, God longs for you to thrive.A lush life awaits. Are you ready to flourish?
Flourish: The NIV Bible for Women
by ZondervanA Bible That Helps You See Yourself as God Sees You.No matter your life stage, you're probably facing a challenge or a change. Whatever you're facing, you probably wish you had somewhere to turn for guidance and support. Imagine you had a resource that could not only share wisdom, but also lift you up and show you that you are more than just your struggles. That's what Flourish: The NIV Bible for Women is about: becoming who you are in Christ through your relationship with him.Drawing on the truths of Scripture, the features in this Bible will strengthen you with insights and encouragement for the issues you face. Myths articles expose commonly accepted myths of our culture that many women believe—misconceptions about love, relationships, God, fulfillment, sex, faith, identity, and more. Each article opens with the first-person story of a woman who believes a particular myth and how that affects her life. Then, principles from the Bible refute the myth and offer practical guidance and help.In addition, the Think About notes take you to the heart of important topics such as marriage, conflict, money, sex, and pride, equipping you with biblical insights that help you face common concerns with uncommon wisdom. In the form of personal interviews, Ask Me Anything profiles introduce you to 30 women from the Bible. Offering frank insights drawn from the best and worst of their lives, they have much to say about life today.You'll find questions to reflect on, either alone or with a friend or mentor, in the Flourish: Questions for Growth. And the He Is notes highlight attributes of God, giving you a bigger picture of the God who loves you and longs to be in a relationship with you. Altogether, these resources combine to offer you the knowledge, strength, and clarity to navigate life's challenges with God's Word as your guide and to be the capable woman God created you to be.Features:Complete text of the accurate, readable, and clear New International Version (NIV)100 Myth articles—States a commonly accepted myth that the world tells you is true, then refutes the myth with the truth of God&’s Word.30 Ask Me Anything profiles—Interviews a woman from the Bible who speaks to modern readers about the life issue she faced.200 Flourish: Questions for Growth—Questions to reflect on, either alone or with a friend or mentor.200 He Is notes—Highlights an attribute of God as shown or taught in Scripture and teaches how that affects a woman&’s identity.300 Think About notes—Short teaching notes on life topics such as money, sex, and pride.Articles on topics such as mentoring, developing a consistent time with God, Bible reading plans, and more66 book introductionsSubject index
Flourishing
by Miroslav Volf Tony BlairMore than almost anything else, globalization and the great world religions are shaping our lives, affecting everything from the public policies of political leaders and the economic decisions of industry bosses and employees, to university curricula, all the way to the inner longings of our hearts. Integral to both globalization and religions are compelling, overlapping, and sometimes competing visions of what it means to live well. In this perceptive, deeply personal, and beautifully written book, a leading theologian sheds light on how religions and globalization have historically interacted and argues for what their relationship ought to be. Recounting how these twinned forces have intersected in his own life, he shows how world religions, despite their malfunctions, remain one of our most potent sources of moral motivation and contain within them profoundly evocative accounts of human flourishing. Globalization should be judged by how well it serves us for living out our authentic humanity as envisioned within these traditions. Through renewal and reform, religions might, in turn, shape globalization so that can be about more than bread alone. "
Flourishing Enterprise: The New Spirit of Business
by Chris Laszlo Judy Sorum BrownThe notion of responsible business has infiltrated our markets, and "going green" is now a part of our mindset. But, sustainability as we know it is not enough. Flourishing-the aspiration that humans and life in general will thrive on the planet forever-should be a key goal for every business today. This is a bold concept, like sustainability was a decade ago. Just as sustainability has become a matter of course, so too will flourishing become a cornerstone of business tomorrow. How are companies to attain this big-picture goal? Drawing together decades of research along with in-depth interviews, Flourishing Enterprise argues that many strategic, organizational, and operational efforts to be sustainable reach the potential of flourishing when they incorporate one additional ingredient: reflective practices. Offering more than a dozen such practices, this book leads readers down a path to greater business success, personal well-being, and a healthier planet. Readers will find that adding reflective practices to existing business efforts does not require more work; it simply changes the way we do our work and, more importantly, the results we achieve. Cultivating emotional and spiritual health is the next frontier; this future-oriented guide develops these core competencies while stretching the ongoing conversation about profitable, sustainable business.
Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators, and Schools
by Andy Wolfe Lynn E. SwanerHow do students, educators, and schools flourish together—especially in an era of increasing pressure from standardized testing, growing challenges to student mental health and well-being, and frequent educator burnout? Many schools strive toward academic achievement as their primary marker of success, but this well-meaning approach can lead to a reductionist view in which students are too often seen as statistics rather than whole human beings. Teachers, school leaders, parents, and of course students know that flourishing is a much broader and more holistic aim for education. But what is to be done? The goal of this book is to call Christian educators back to a better vision of flourishing within a robust theological framework, with the practical guidance necessary for implementation. To accomplish this, Lynn Swaner and Andy Wolfe take readers through an exploration of five essential domains identified through extensive empirical research—purpose, relationships, learning, resources, and well-being.An ideal resource for professional development and strategic planning, Flourishing Together persistently adheres to the principle that &“anything that is worth building cannot be built alone.&” Thus, the vision for flourishing here is one in which the school community is understood as an interconnected ecosystem, in which &“each one&’s flourishing is dependent on their flourishing together.&” Accordingly, teachers and administrators will be inspired and equipped to reshape their schools as places where they—alongside their students—can flourish together in a community of abundant life.
Flourishing: Health, Disease, and Bioethics in Theological Perspective
by Neil MesserWe use such words as "health," "disease," and "illness" all the time without stopping to consider exactly what we understand by them. Yet their meanings are far from straightforward, and disagreements over them have important practical consequences in health care and bioethics.In this book Neil Messer develops a distinctive and innovative theological account of these concepts. He engages in earnest with debates in the philosophy of medicine and disability studies and draws on a wide array of theological resources including Barth, Bonhoeffer, Aquinas, and recent disability theologies.By enabling us to understand health in the wider perspective of the flourishing and ultimate destiny of human beings, Messer's Flourishing sheds new light on a range of practical bioethical issues and dilemmas.
Flow: Self-care sessions for your menstrual, lunar, life and seasonal cycles
by Samantha RedgraveThrough sacred rituals, wellness hacks and self-care practices, you can optimize your wellbeing - physically, emotionally, and spiritually - and feel rooted in your inner sovereignty.Find your flow with self-care that taps into your natural rhythmsWe are dynamic and ever-changing beings. Seasons change, the moon waxes and wanes, the womb flows, and we move from Maiden, to Mother, to Wild Woman, to Crone. This highly practical guide is your invitation to listen to the wisdom of your natural cycles through self-care practices, rituals, and tried-and-tested actionable tips, including:chakra healing / candle ceremonies / food medicine and kitchen witchcraft / rewilding / sex tips / intention planting / creative prompts / incantations / seasonal crafts / shadow work / relationship insights/ stress-relief meditations / lunar spells / hormonal advice / and so much more…Step into your flow, aligning the four sacred wheels, and discover a new depth of self-compassion, resilience, empowerment and joy.
Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship
by Lester RuthIs there a way to do the prescribed or suggested orders of worship from denominational worship resources—such as the United Methodist Book of Worship, Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship, the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), or the Book of Common Prayer—in a way that feels legitimately and authentically contemporary?This practical, how-to book will help churches plan and implement passionate and invigorating worship. Step by step, author Lester Ruth and contributors Zachary Barnes, Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Adam Perez, Glenn Stallsmith and Deborah Wong break down the process of re-thinking what the official or recommended order of worship is truly suggesting, so pastors and worship leaders can plan and lead a service of Word and Table that feels genuinely relevant and attuned to the congregation’s culture. With this goal, Flow casts a new, but classic, understanding of traditional worship as well as spurs a reconsideration of how contemporary worship can be done by honoring the traditions of denominational congregations.
Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things
by Amanda Lovelacewithin these pages, you will find that each of us has the ability to be both soft & fierce at the same time. there is no need to choose one or the other.
Flower Essences from the Witch's Garden: Plant Spirits in Magickal Herbalism
by Nicholas Pearson• Provides detailed instructions for making single-flower essences and magickal and therapeutic essence blends • Shares new magickal uses for flower essences, from creating sacred space to dressing candles to preparing incense, as well as how to use essences in meditation, potions, spells, spagyrics, and ritual • Includes a detailed directory of 100 flower and plant essences, complete with astrological, elemental, and magickal correspondences In this practical guide to using flower essences in witchcraft, alchemy, and healing, Nicholas Pearson provides detailed instructions for making and using flower essences based on traditional Western magick practices. He shares new magickal uses for essences, from creating sacred space to dressing candles to preparing incense, as well as how to use them in meditation, potions, spells, spagyrics, and ritual. He shares exercises for attuning to plant spirits, finding your plant spirit allies, and connecting more deeply to the energies of the green world as well as exploring how essences can be used in traditional sacraments of witchcraft like the Great Rite. In the hands-on formulary, the author details recipes for essence combinations for the eight sabbats and formulas based on familiar blends like traditional flying ointments of European witchcraft. He also includes blends for love, abundance, healing, and protection as well as a magickally inspired rescue remedy. He shares his method for creating flower essence spagyrics--alchemical preparations made from the body, mind, and soul of the plant that offer the highest vibrational potency for therapeutic and spiritual uses. The author also provides a detailed directory of 100 flower and plant essences, complete with astrological, elemental, and magickal correspondences, and the therapeutic indications for each essence. Weaving together magickal herbalism, traditional plant lore, and flower essence therapy, this guide allows you to see flower essences not just as vibrational remedies, but also as powerful tools for transformation, magick, and spiritual practice.
Flower Girl Bride
by Dana CorbitI always prayed for a happily-ever-after. . . Then I, Cassie Blake, got divorced and lost my faith in men. Well, that isn't exactly true. . . my aunt and uncle are proof of love's enduring power. After a quarter century, they're renewing their vows and want the original wedding party to help celebrate. But I can't believe who's also been invited: Luke Sheridan, former ring bearer to my flower girl. He probably doesn't remember the kiss we shared under the reception table. Luke's a widowed single dad now. With several matchmakers on hand, The biggest question is, will we end up being the ones to tie the knot this time?
Flower Magic of the Druids: How to Craft Potions, Spells, and Enchantments
by Jon G. HughesA practical guide to using flowers in magical practice• Provides detailed instruction on every stage of the harvesting, crafting, and practical use of flower magic potions, including a comprehensive herbarium of all the flowers that may be used• Discusses what type of flower and form of flower magic is best for specific enchantments and rituals in the areas of love and sex magic, healing and focusing, and protection• Looks at the physical and spiritual gifts of bees and the importance of bee culture in Druidic flower magicFlowers are found in magic traditions around the world, from those in ancient Egypt, China, and India to the traditions of the Norse and Native Americans. Yet many of today&’s well-established flower traditions—like bridal bouquets—originated in the Druidic magical lore of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. As fifth-generation Druid Jon G. Hughes explains, flowers hold a preeminent position in Druidic folk magic with their own special branch of magical workings. In this practical guide, Hughes details how to use flowers in magical practice, focusing on flowering plants with a long history of magical use going back to Druidic times yet many of which are commonly found throughout the world, such as buttercup, blackberry, and dog rose. He discusses what type of flower and form of flower magic is best for specific enchantments and rituals in the areas of love and sex magic, well-being and good fortune, and protection. He looks at the magical use of fresh flowers and provides detailed instruction on every stage of the harvesting, crafting, and practical use of flower magic potions, including a comprehensive herbarium of all the flowers that may be used. Examining the complex relationship between flowers and bees, the author looks at the physical and spiritual gifts of bees, such as honey, propolis, and beeswax, and the importance of bee culture in Druidic flower magic, including the tradition of the honeymoon, the significance of the hexagon, and medieval beekeeper lore. Inviting you into the gentle yet powerful realm of Druidic flower magic, the author also details how to plan, plant, and take care of your own magical flower garden with all the botanicals you will need to pursue the path of flower magic.
Flowers In The Desert: Learning to Love the Prophets (Bible Discovery Series)
by Robert J KoesterIt isn’t always easy to read through the books of the Bible by Old Testament prophets.Laws, warnings, and God’s wrath seem to dominate the Old Testament landscape, and prophets are often channels for his righteous judgment. However, when we look closely, we see that it is through these men that the beauty of the gospel message begins to bloom.Flowers in the Desert will help you appreciate the Old Testament prophets and the messages they conveyed to God’s people. It will also provide a sense of purpose when you’re reading through the Old Testament books of the Bible. From Isaiah to Malachi, you’ll discover the gospel flowers that bloom even in the most barren landscape.This book is part of the Bible Discovery Series, which provides you with background resources to help you unearth and understand the Bible’s greater meaning for you.
Flowers for Rachael: An Amish Garden Novella (Amish Garden Novellas)
by Kathleen FullerGardens are a place to rest, to draw near, and to heal.Rachael Bontrager&’s flower garden is beautiful, but at twenty-four, she&’s lonely. Gideon Beiler fell in love with Rachael almost at first sight. After her grandfather has a stroke, her days are filled with caring for him, and one day Rachael finds her garden in shambles. However, she won&’t accept Gideon&’s offers of help. Will she realize she doesn&’t have to do everything on her own and that God is in control?
Flowers in the Dark: Reclaiming Your Power to Heal from Trauma with Mindfulness
by Sister Dang NghiemLearn the accessible and deeply compassionate practices for healing trauma, known as the Five Strengths of applied Zen Buddhism. More than a philosophy, these body-based practices are backed by modern neuroscience research, and they can be applied by anyone suffering from trauma to begin experiencing relief.Mindfulness teacher Sister Dang Nghiem, MD, is an inspiration for anyone who has ever suffered from abuse, life-changing loss, severe illness, or the aftermath of war. In Flowers in the Dark, she brings together her lived experience as a survivor, certified MD, and ordained Buddhist teacher to offer a body-based, practical approach to healing from life's most difficult and painful experiences. Offering insights from Buddhist psychology and simple somatic practices for tapping into our Five Strengths--our inner faculties of self-trust, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and insight--Sister Dang Nghiem's approach to trauma is radically accessible; it begins with awareness of our breathing. With each chapter containing a progression of guided reflections an exercises, this book can be read as an adjunct to therapy and a helpful guide for moving through trauma in the body. With the practice of mindfulness, we can access our strength as survivors and our joy in being alive.
Flowers on the Rock
by Alexander Soucy John S Harding Victor Sōgen HoriWhen Sasaki Sōkei-an founded his First Zen Institute of North America in 1930 he suggested that bringing Zen Buddhism to America was like "holding a lotus against a rock and waiting for it to set down roots." Today, Buddhism is part of the cultural and religious mainstream. Flowers on the Rock examines the dramatic growth of Buddhism in Canada and questions some of the underlying assumptions about how this tradition has changed in the West. Using historical, ethnographic, and biographical approaches, contributors illuminate local expressions of Buddhism found throughout Canada and relate the growth of Buddhism in Canada to global networks. A global perspective allows the volume to overcome the stereotype that Asia and the West are in opposition to each other and recognizes the continuities between Buddhist movements in Asia and the West that are shaped by the same influences of modernity and globalization. Flowers on the Rock studies the fascinating and ingenious changes, inflections, and adaptations that Buddhists make when they set down roots in a local culture. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism, religious life in Canada, and the broader issues of multiculturalism and immigration. Contributors include Michihiro Ama (University of Alaska), D. Mitra Barua (University of Saskatchewan), Paul Crowe (Simon Fraser University), Melissa Anne-Marie Curley (University of Iowa), Mavis Fenn (University of Waterloo), Kory Goldberg (Champlain College), Sarah F. Haynes (Western Illinois University), Jackie Larm (University of Edinburgh), Paul McIvor (independent), James Placzek (University of British Columbia), and Angela Sumegi (Carleton University).
Flowers on the Rock: Global and Local Buddhisms in Canada
by Alexander Soucy John S. Harding Victor Sōgen HoriWhen Sasaki Sokei-an founded his First Zen Institute of North America in 1930 he suggested that bringing Zen Buddhism to America was like "holding a lotus against a rock and waiting for it to set down roots." Today, Buddhism is part of the cultural and religious mainstream. Flowers on the Rock examines the dramatic growth of Buddhism in Canada and questions some of the underlying assumptions about how this tradition has changed in the West. Using historical, ethnographic, and biographical approaches, contributors illuminate local expressions of Buddhism found throughout Canada and relate the growth of Buddhism in Canada to global networks. A global perspective allows the volume to overcome the stereotype that Asia and the West are in opposition to each other and recognizes the continuities between Buddhist movements in Asia and the West that are shaped by the same influences of modernity and globalization. Flowers on the Rock studies the fascinating and ingenious changes, inflections, and adaptations that Buddhists make when they set down roots in a local culture. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism, religious life in Canada, and the broader issues of multiculturalism and immigration. Contributors include Michihiro Ama (University of Alaska), D. Mitra Barua (University of Saskatchewan), Paul Crowe (Simon Fraser University), Melissa Anne-Marie Curley (University of Iowa), Mavis Fenn (University of Waterloo), Kory Goldberg (Champlain College), Sarah F. Haynes (Western Illinois University), Jackie Larm (University of Edinburgh), Paul McIvor (independent), James Placzek (University of British Columbia), and Angela Sumegi (Carleton University).
Flowing Streams
by Stuart BriscoeA flowing stream cuts its own channel. --Major W. Ian Thomas, founder of Torchbearers International Over the past sixty years, Stuart Briscoe's life stream has cut a very deep channel. Thousands of sermons preached. Hundreds of thousands of airline miles flown. Seven continents visited. Thousands of church members added and eight churches planted. More than forty books authored. A lifetime of touching his audience with plainspoken, accessible Bible teaching. Now Briscoe looks back over his years to share his accumulated wisdom, with the point that every life matters--and everyone has a significant part to play in the grand cosmic flow of the Spirit. With a reputation built in the twentieth century, Stuart Briscoe has a fresh, vibrant message for twenty-first-century Christians. It is a vision of what one person can be and do, what God can call a single person to accomplish in his name. Flowing Streams is sage. It is poignant. It is Stuart Briscoe's legacy.
Flows of Faith
by Wendy Smith Matt Tomlinson Lenore MandersonUnique local transformations of the practice of established religions in Asia and the Pacific are juxtaposed with the emergence of new religious movements whose incidence is growing across the region. In Flows of Faith, the contributing authors take as their starting point questions of how religions manifest outside their cultural boundaries and provide the basis for new social identities, political movements and social transformations. With fresh insights into the globalization of beliefs, their local inflections, and their institutionalization, the authors explore how old and new religions work in different settings, and how their reception and membership challenge orthodox understandings of religion and culture. The chapters - set in Asia, the Pacific, Australia, and the US - illustrate the contrasts and commonalities of these belief systems, and their allegiances and networks in the region and beyond. They include new religious movements - Falun Gong, Brahma Kumaris, the Hare Krishna movement, based in East and South Asia with outreach posts in Australia and the U.S. - and established 'old' religions - Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam - that are revitalized and recreated in different settings and places. Flows of Faith describes the transnational reaches of faith. Religious practices and their local manifestations track the movement of peoples, through mission outreach, flight, migration, and pilgrimage. In each new setting, religions are shaped by and in turn shape political and cultural forces, proving that they are resilient and generative, originary and distinctive. The volume is a major contribution, providing readers with a fresh and creative approach into the living experience of religious communities in a contemporary globalised world.
Fluid Jurisdictions: Colonial Law and Arabs in Southeast Asia
by Nurfadzilah YahayaThis wide-ranging, geographically ambitious book tells the story of the Arab diaspora within the context of British and Dutch colonialism, unpacking the community's ambiguous embrace of European colonial authority in Southeast Asia. In Fluid Jurisdictions, Nurfadzilah Yahaya looks at colonial legal infrastructure and discusses how it impacted, and was impacted by, Islam and ethnicity. But more important, she follows the actors who used this framework to advance their particular interests. Yahaya explains why Arab minorities in the region helped to fuel the entrenchment of European colonial legalities: their itinerant lives made institutional records necessary. Securely stored in centralized repositories, such records could be presented as evidence in legal disputes. To ensure accountability down the line, Arab merchants valued notarial attestation land deeds, inheritance papers, and marriage certificates by recognized state officials. Colonial subjects continually played one jurisdiction against another, sometimes preferring that colonial legal authorities administer Islamic law—even against fellow Muslims.Fluid Jurisdictions draws on lively material from multiple international archives to demonstrate the interplay between colonial projections of order and their realities, Arab navigation of legally plural systems in Southeast Asia and beyond, and the fraught and deeply human struggles that played out between family, religious, contract, and commercial legal orders.
Flunking Sainthood Every Day: A Daily Devotional for the Rest of Us
by Jana RiessIn her memoir, Flunking Sainthood, Riess failed twelve different spiritual practices over the course of a year but discovered to her surprise that even the ones she failed most spectacularly taught her something important. In this beautiful daily devotional, readers who want to go deeper into the twelve spiritual practices will find 365 days of guidance, arranged according to monthly practices such as gratitude, generosity, prayer, Sabbath-keeping, and hospitality. Each day includes a short scripture verse, an inspirational reading from a contemporary or classic spiritual thinker, and a brief prayer, reflection, or follow-up action related to the day’s theme. These daily devotions help readers understand that spiritual growth is a lifelong journey without a fixed destination—and that there is great compassion for all of us who are flunking sainthood.
Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor
by Jana RiessThis wry memoir tackles twelve different spiritual practices in a quest to become more saintly, including fasting, fixed-hour prayer, the Jesus Prayer, gratitude, Sabbath-keeping, and generosity. Although Riess begins with great plans for success ("Really, how hard could that be?" she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing—not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself. Praise for Flunking Sainthood:" Flunking Sainthood is surprising and freeing; it is fun and funny; and it is full of wisdom. It is, in fact, the best book on the practices of the spiritual life that I have read in a long, long time." - Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath Jana Riess reminds us that saints are different from most of us: They are special, we are barely normal. They get it right, we rarely get it. They see God, we strain to see much of anything. And, Jana is no saint. Rather than climbing to the pinnacle and sitting on a pedestal to tell us how it could be, Jana slides right next to us and reminds us that sainthood is overrated. With humor and insight she whispers to is that our lives matter just as they are. She prods us to never let our failures hold us back. She calls us to something greater than spiritual success - ordinary faithfulness. Flunking Sainthood is the book I'm giving to my friends who are seeking to make sense of their emerging faith. - Doug Pagitt, author of A Christianity Worth Believing "Jana Riess may have flunked at sainthood, but she's written a wonderful book. It's both reverent and irreverent, and it will make you want to become a better Christian -- or Jew, or Muslim, or Zoroastrian, or Jedi, or whatever you happen to be." - AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically"Warm, light-hearted, and laugh-out-loud funny, Jana Riess may indeed have flunked sainthood, but this memoir assures us that she is utterly and deeply human, and that is something even more wonderful. Honest and sincere, she will endear you from page one." -- Donna Freitas, author of The Possibilities of Sainthood"With a helpfully hilarious account of her own grappling with godliness, Jana Riess proves to be a standup historian well-practiced in the art of oddly revivifying self-deprecation. She loves her guides, historical and contemporary, even as she finds them alternately impractical, harsh, or "infuriatingly jolly." The book is freaking wonderful—a candid and committed tale of prayers that resists supersizing and spirituality that has no home save the glory and the muck of the everyday."--David Dark, author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything"Jana Riess's new book is a delight—fun, funny, engaging and a powerful reminder that the greatest work in our lives is not what we'll do for God but what God is doing in us." --Margaret Feinberg, www.margaretfeinberg.com, author of Scouting the Divine and Hungry for God"Flunking Sainthood allows those of us who have attempted new spiritual practices-- and failed-- to breathe a great sigh of relief and to laugh out loud. Jana Reiss's exposÉ of her year-long and less-than-successful attempts at eleven classic spiritual practices entertains and educates us with its honesty and down-to-earthiness. In spite of Jana
Fly Away Home
by Vanessa Del FabbroA loving husband, two beautiful adopted sons, an amiable stepdaughter and the possibility of an addition to the family--Monica Brunetti has it all. But suddenly her idyllic life in a picturesque South African village unravels. Her boys respond to the siren call of America, and her husband's daughter may be leaving as well. Change might be easier to bear if only a baby were on the way. . . . Then Monica's friend Francina, also threatened with an empty nest, sets off on what may be a fool's errand--or her household's salvation. Can Monica, too, find the faith and courage to reunite her family?