Looking out into the universe, most of us have asked at one time or another, “Is anybody there?” Some have yet to hear an answer. Others have found the answer lies much closer, even in the events of their own lives. What they have experienced is so convincing it leaves no doubt. The script being followed shows a wisdom far greater than any human mind, and a goodness none of us understands or deserves. These remarkable stories show what happens when God comes along and when ordinary people have the faith to trust in Him.

"Livy darling, it was flattering, at the Lord Mayor's dinner, tonight, to have the nation's honored favorite, the Lord High Chancellor of England, in his vast wig & gown, with a splendid, sword-bearing lackey, following him & holding up his train, walk me arm-in-arm through the brilliant assemblage, & welcome me with all the enthusiasm of a girl, & tell me that when affairs of state oppress him & he can't sleep, he always has my books at hand & forgets his perplexities in reading them!" (10 November 1872) On his first trip to England to gather material for a book and cement relations with his newly authorized English publishers, Samuel Clemens was astounded to find himself hailed everywhere as a literary lion. America's premier humorist had begun his long tenure as an international celebrity. Meanwhile, he was coming into his full power at home. The Innocents Abroad continued to produce impressive royalties and his new book, Roughing It, was enjoying great popularity. In newspaper columns he appeared regularly as public advocate and conscience, speaking on issues as disparate as safety at sea and political corruption. Clemens's personal life at this time was for the most part fulfilling, although saddened by the loss of his nineteen-month-old son, Langdon, who died of diphtheria. Life in the Nook Farm community of writers and progressive thinkers and activists was proving to be all the Clemenses had hoped for. The 309 letters in this volume, more than half of them never before published, capture the events of these years with detailed intimacy. Thoroughly annotated and indexed, they are supplemented by genealogical charts of the Clemens and Langdon families, a transcription of the journals Clemens kept during his 1872 visit to England, book contracts, his preface to the English edition of The Gilded Age, contemporary photographs of family and friends, and a gathering of all newly discovered letters written between 1865 and 1871. This volume is the fifth in the only complete edition of Mark Twain's letters ever attempted, and the twenty-fourth in the comprehensive edition known as The Mark Twain Papers and Works of Mark Twain.

The Sacred Art of Marriage explores married life as an art studio with fifty-two tools to creatively craft your spiritual life together. Drawing upon the fourth chapter of The Rule of St. Benedict, this book offers married couples fifty-two weeks of spiritual practices and ancient wisdom to deepen your marriage. Newlywed couples planning and preparing for married life will encounter in this book a variety of creative plans and patterns to put into practice, including daily, weekly, seasonal, and annual patterns of healthy, married living. Journeying through a year of marriage, readers move seasonally through this four-part book, from Summer, into Fall, through Winter, and around to Spring. In The Sacred Art of Marriage, you'll discover ancient wisdom and practical ways to deepen your spiritual life together across seasons as you grow together in God's gift of marriage.