BOOKS WE LOVE

Cindee Snider Re

This 10-chapter study invites participants to experience radical hope and compassionate change in a life with chronic illness.

No matter how dark the days, how wild the storm, how deep the valley, or how long the winter, there is hope.

There is always hope.

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Cindee Snider Re

What if purpose looks different than we believe?

This 10-chapter study invites participants to release cultural and traditional definitions of purpose, and instead, to embrace God's - a timeless definition rooted in His Word and as refreshing as a gentle spring rain.

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Cindee Snider Re

Rejuvenate, revitalize, rekindle, and reconnect with this insightful and enriching 10-chapter study (designed just for couples) that offers you and your spouse a safe place to grieve, heal, grow, and begin to dream together again – to thrive as one – in sickness and in health.

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Heather MacLaren Johnson

With this incredible resource you can learn to: lead through God's grace, create a space for spiritual growth and healing, empathize, listen and engage with those in pain, grow in prayer and compassion, foster hope and encouragement, and build small group communities that thrive.

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Mel Lawrenz

"Eva not breathing. Pray." That text message was entrance into the harsh reality of losing his thirty-year-old daughter. Things would never be the same. How could he and his family cope with this devastating loss? In this narrative of grief, Pastor Mel Lawrenz chronicles how his family struggled to survive the sudden death of their chronically ill and beloved daughter. In raw, vivid episodes, he describes the immediacy of the pain and the uncertainty of what comes next.

 Douglas Kaine McKelvey

Volume 2 of Every Moment Holy is a book of liturgies for seasons of dying and grieving — liturgies such as "A Liturgy for the Scattering of Ashes" or "A Liturgy before a Medical Treatment" or "A Liturgy for Embracing both Joy and Sorrow." Here are ways to remind us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose and eternal hopes even when—especially when—suffering and pain threaten to overwhelm us.

H. Norman Wright

At one time or another, we will all find ourselves facing a dark journey—the passage through grief. Experiencing Grief is written for a person who is in the wake of despair grief leaves. This brief but powerful book will help lead readers out of their grief experience through five stages of grief. At the end of the journey is peace and a seasoned, more mature faith.

Jerry Sittser

Loss came suddenly for Jerry Sittser. In an instant, a tragic car accident claimed three generations of his family: his mother, his wife, and his young daughter. While most of us will not experience such a catastrophic loss in our lifetime, all of us will taste it. And we can, if we choose, know as well the grace that transforms it. A Grace Disguised plumbs the depths of sorrow, whether due to illness, divorce, or the loss of someone we love.

C.S. Lewis

Written after his wife's tragic death as a way of surviving the "mad midnight moment," A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis's honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This is a beautiful and unflinchingly honest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings.

Patricia McKernon Runkle

"The Wilderness is new--to you. Master, let me lead you."  Emily Dickinson wrote these words to her mentor shortly after his wife died. In "Grief's Compass," Patricia McKernon Runkle takes Dickinson as her guide after the devastating loss of her brother. As she charts a path through the holy madness of grief and the grace of healing, she finds points on a compass and lines from Dickinson that illuminate them.

Angie Smith

In 2008,  Angie and her husband Todd (lead singer of the group Selah) learned through ultrasound that their fourth daughter had conditions making her “incompatible with life.” Advised to terminate the pregnancy, the Smiths chose instead to carry this child and allow room for a miracle. That miracle came the day they met Audrey Caroline and got the chance to love her for the precious two-and-a-half hours she lived on earth.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

This book reflects on the spiritual significance of death and life in this moving meditation dedicated to "all those who suffer the pain that death can bring and who search for new life." A long letter to Nouwen’s father after the death of his mother. A book to pass on to anyone who is going through a period of grief after loss.

Kate Motaung

Since everyone endures loss in their own way, this collection of nine reflective letters to grief personified is descriptive, not prescriptive. It offers readers encouragement and hope to deal with loss and grief in the midst of their own unique circumstances. Readers are invited to reflect on their personal grief experience by writing in the journaling pages throughout the book.

Bill Dunn 

If you've lost a spouse, child, family member, or friend, you've discovered that few people understand the deep hurt you feel. Where do you turn for daily comfort and help? How do you move forward? This book is a helpful 365-day devotional designed to support and uplift you in the first, most difficult year of bereavement.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

In times of suffering, simplistic answers ring empty and hollow. But Henri Nouwen, beloved spiritual thinker and author, offers real comfort in the concrete truth of God's constancy. Nouwen suggests that by greeting life's pains with something other than despair, we can find surprising joy in our suffering.

Barbara Brown Taylor

Discover the sacred in the small things we do and see, from simple practices such as walking, working, and prayer. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of meditation if we pay attention to what we're doing and take time to notice the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Making eye contact with the cashier at the grocery store becomes a moment of true human connection. Allowing yourself to get lost leads to new discoveries. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do. Find guidance and delicate, thought-provoking pros to live with purpose, pay attention, slow down, and revere the world we live in.

Leighton Ford

Your attention, please. That's what God wants. It's the path to becoming like Christ. Distractions, fear and busyness keep us from seeing God's work in and around us. If you're busy, distracted, rushing through each day, you might be feeling disconnected from God, unable to see how he's working. You might be missing him. But the way toward him starts with a pause and a prayer―with intention and attention―and becomes a way of life, awake and alive to the peaceful, powerful presence of God.

Diane Comer

This book is a search for the kind of intimacy with God every woman longs for. It is a story of trying to be a good girl, of following the rules, of longing for a satisfaction that eludes us. Using vivid parallels between her own deafness and every woman’s struggle to hear God, Diane learned to listen to God, finding intimacy with her Savior and the soul deep satisfaction.

Charles Stone

Does your life ever feel like one series of rushed moments after another? Do you want to feel more present and connected to those you love? Is it possible to listen without thinking the whole time of what you’re going to say next? Do you want to feel less distracted, less busy, and more whole? Most of us spend our distracted lives longing to get to the next, better moment and fail to notice the present one. We lack space between one task and the next, one thought and the next, one email and the next.

Ruth Chou Simons

We were made for joy. And yet, true and lasting happiness is sometimes harder to hold on to than it seems. With one thought, one word, it can slip out of our grasp. In a world of countless counterfeits, if you struggle to cultivate and experience true joy, these short meditations will encourage you to preach truth to your own heart.

Margaret Feinberg

When Margaret learned she had cancer, she knew she would need great strength to overcome it. She believed the weapon she selected for the battle would change everything. And she decided that weapon would be joy. Joy is more than whimsy. It’s the weapon you can use to fight life’s greatest battles.

Tim Hansel

Life can be tough. Stress, disappointment, heartache, hurt -- all are part of the human condition. While pain is unavoidable, misery is optional! No matter what your circumstances, you can choose to be joyful. In Hansel's powerful account of God’s working in one man’s physical and emotional suffering, he and we discover the real meaning of joy.

Mark Vroegop

Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God—but it is a neglected dimension of the Christian life for many of us. We need to recover the practice of honest spiritual struggle that gives us permission to vocalize our pain and wrestle with our sorrow. Lament avoids trite answers and quick solutions, progressively moving us toward deeper worship and trust.

Christina Fox

For many of us, busy-ness with projects or working long hours keeps our mind off our pain. We might look at our circumstances and seek to change our situation in the hope that we will finally feel at peace once our life has changed. The question is, how often do you look to God's Word for help and direction? How often do you turn to Him when you feel anxious, distraught, or abandoned? How often do you bring your burdens to your Savior? Take a journey of hope through the Psalms of lament.

Michael Card

Most of us, at some point, experience the sense of God's absence. The author says that rather than letting the distance widen, this is exactly the time for a deeper pursuit of God. The method he proposes is recovery of the profound, biblical practice of lament.

Aubery Sampson

When you’re in the midst of suffering, you want answers for the unanswerable, resolutions to the unresolvable. You want to tie up pain in a pretty little package and hide it under the bed, taking it out only when you feel strong enough to face it. But grief won’t be contained. Grief disobeys. Grief explodes. In one breath, you may be able to say that God’s got this and all will be well. In the next, you might descend into fatalism. No pretending. Here, you are raw before God, an open wound.

Michael Card

Have you ever thought of lament -- that sacred sorrow -- as a form of worship? God desires for us to pour out our hearts to Him, whether in joy or pain. From the example of men and women in the Bible, learn how to recover this lost language and deepen your worship of God.

Heather MacLaren Johnson

With this incredible resource you can learn to: lead through God's grace, create a space for spiritual growth and healing, empathize, listen and engage with those in pain, grow in prayer and compassion, foster hope and encouragement, and build small group communities that thrive.

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Kenneth C. Haugk, PhD

Haugk has written an essential guide on how to care for and relate to people as they encounter difficult times in life. This book draws on extensive research of those who have experienced various kinds of suffering in their lives, offering key insights and suggestions of what to say and do—and what not to say or do—when people are hurting. With its biblical foundation, compassionate approach, and concrete ideas, this book will help you bring God’s loving presence to hurting people when they need it most.

BUY FROM STEPHEN MINISTRIES

Henri J.M. Nouwen

For a society that measures successful leadership in terms of the effectiveness of the individual, Father Nouwen offers a counter definition that is witnessed by a “communal and mutual experience.” For Nouwen, leadership cannot function apart from the community. His wisdom is grounded in the foundation that we are a people “called.” This beautiful guide to Christian Leadership is the rich fruit of Henri Nouwen’s own journey.

Terry Powell

Serve the Lord long enough and discouragement or some form of opposition is inevitable. Joy-sapping workloads, feelings of inadequacy, lack of fruitfulness, or battle fatigue from spiritual warfare often spurs God's servants to quit or sabotages their passion. The purpose of this book is to infuse them with biblical perspectives that buoy flagging spirits, boost motivation, and cultivate endurance.

Ruth Haley Barton

"I'm tired of helping others enjoy God. I just want to enjoy God for myself." With this painful admission, Ruth Haley Barton invites us to an honest exploration of what happens when spiritual leaders lose track of their souls. Weaving together contemporary illustrations with penetrating insight from the life of Moses.

Mary Margaret Funk 

Sister Mary Margaret's describes the process and combines her personal life and everyday practice with the history and the theory of lectio divina. She suggests "sustained lectio." Often Lectio is seen as taking a text, meditating on it, praying about it and moving on to the next text. Her suggestion is that the reader take a text and stay with the text for a longer period. She also includes art, music, and talking with others about the text to savor the text.

Jan Johnson

Jesus is speaking to us here and now. Lectio divina is a practice of Scripture reading that treats the Bible not only as a text to be examined, but also as the living Word of God spoken anew to us. Discover forty Scripture meditations, organized topically, giving us the tools we need to practice lectio divina on our own.

David G. Benner

Prayer is not merely something we do; prayer is what God does in us. Benner invites us to discover openness to God as the essence of prayer, spirituality, and the Christian life. Using the four movements of lectio divina, he explores prayer as attending, pondering, responding, and being. He opens us to a world of possibilities for communion with God: praying with our senses, with imagination, music and creativity, and much more.

Thelma Hall

This book is a great for both those who are familiar with and new to the practice of lectio divina. Discover a step-by-step guide for being nourished deeply by scripture, allowing the rhythm of meditation of a word of phrase will guide you to experience a deeper level of spirituality .

Sarah Clarkson

Amid the daily realities of sickness and isolation, disappointment and pain, it can be profoundly difficult to grasp the real goodness of God. But this is where God breaks into our darkness with beauty. In the wonder of creation, in art or film, story or song, in the kindness of his people and the good they create, God breaks into our pain in a tangible way, teaching us to trust his kindness and hope for his healing.

The terms mental illness and mental health are often used casually, but many don’t believe mental illness is relevant to their lives.

This is the story of one family’s journey through schizophrenia, navigating the uncharted waters of mental illness to find help for their daughter and support for their family. This memoir is an honest look at the stress, anger, education, and finally, hope experienced through eyes of a mother.

John Piper

John Piper invites you into the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd to discover how God takes the privilege of faith and strengthens it with trials so that we experience a greater hunger for him. The perseverance of these godly servants exemplifies the essential fruit that affliction can produce in your own life.

Curt Thompson

We're all infected with a spiritual disease. Its name is shame. Whether we realize it or not, shame affects every aspect of our personal lives and vocational endeavors. It seeks to destroy our identity in Christ, replacing it with a damaged version of ourselves that results in unhealed pain and brokenness. But God is telling a different story for your life.

Amy Simpson

Mental illness is the sort of thing we don't like to talk about. It doesn't reduce nicely to simple solutions and happy outcomes. So instead, too often we reduce people who are mentally ill to caricatures and ghosts, simply pretending they don't exist. They do exist...

Lysa TerKeurst

Do you ever feel like your emotions are working against you? We may sometimes find ourselves stuffing down our emotions, exploding with emotions, or reacting in unhealthy ways, but it’s possible to make our emotions work for us. The good news is, God gave us emotions to experience life, not destroy it. Learn to use our emotions for good.