Come near. Stop striving. The Master of the banquet has raised His glass to welcome you as His dear child. So often Christians view Christ as someone who’s far away and can’t be approached until they have their lives in order. In Arms Open Wide, author Sherri Gragg proves that Christ is a kinder, more tender, more loving Savior than many understand Him to be. Sherri writes in fictional narrative form while mixing biblical history with scripture, creating a setting that transforms readers back in time and places them right in Jesus’ presence. For thirty-four days readers walk with the Savior to witness miraculous healings and events, and give fresh insight into His power by thinking and feeling with people whose lives became instantly transformed by His love and grace. Readers journey with Jesus and His disciples in the most important time in history. Hearts will be stirred and lives will be changed as readers draw near and walk with the Savior as never before. Features & Benefits: Helps readers experience the kindness and grace of Jesus Instills a deep, lasting impression about the love and forgiveness our Savior offers Will transform readers as they engage in a first-person experience of what it might have been like to walk with Jesus when He was on the earth Brings to life biblical traditions and customs while helping readers experience Jesus’ life and the miracles He performed

The author of The Blue Cotton Gown recounts living free and naturally against all odds—and discovering her true calling as a midwife—in this deeply moving memoir In her first, highly praised memoir, Patricia Harman told us the stories patients brought into her exam room, and her own story of struggling to help women as a nurse-midwife in medical practice with her husband—an OB/GYN—in Appalachia. Now, Patsy reaches back to the 1960s and 1970s, recounting how she learned to deliver babies and her youthful experiments with living a fully sustainable, natural life. Drawing heavily on her journals, Arms Wide Open goes back to a time of counter-culture idealism that the boomer generation remembers well. Patsy opens with stories of living in the wilds of Minnesota in a log cabin she and her lover build with their own hands, the only running water being the nearby streams. They set up beehives and give chase to a bear competing for the honey. Patsy gives birth and learns to help her friends deliver as naturally as possible. Weary of the cold and isolation, Patsy moves to a commune in West Virginia, where she becomes a self-taught midwife delivering babies in cabins and homes. Her stories sparkle with drama and intensity, but she wants to help more women than healthy hippie homesteaders. After a ten-year sojourn for professional training, Patsy and her husband return to Appalachia, where they set up a women's health practice. They deliver babies together—this time in hospitals—and care for a wide variety of gyn patients. They live in a lakeside contemporary home, though their hearts are still firmly implanted in nature. The obstetrical climate is changing. The Harmans' family is changing. The earth is changing—but Patsy's arms remain wide open to life and all it offers. Her memoir of living free and sustainably against all odds will be especially embraced by anyone who lived through the Vietnam War and commune era, and all those involved in the back-to-nature and natural-childbirth movements.

These poems are revelations received from the Holy Spirit. They talk about Gods love for us, authority in the name of Jesus, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, power in Gods word and in prayer, and dealing with issues of the flesh. They draw on different situations people find themselves in, challenge doubt and fear, confront events in the world, and show us how to apply the power of Gods word in our lives. These revelations are deeply moving and spiritual and talk about the benefits of salvation. They encourage believers in prayer and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. They talk about the tools that Jesus gave us to confront and overcome some of the unique issues that believers face daily. Intense and rich in imagery, these poems speak to humankind, offering guidance, love, and reassurance. They clearly turn us to God, His word, authority in the name of Jesus, and the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to change from our current way of thinking to Gods way. God wants us to hear from Him for ourselves. He has a unique message for each of us. He wants to talk to us about our dreams, our problems, our doubts, and our fears. Weve all got questions. And Hes got the answers we need. He truly loves us!

With it bucketing down outside, Yvonne heads home to surprise her wife rather than go for her usual lunchtime walk. Only, she's the one who ends up surprised. Too embarrassed to confront Julie, Yvonne flees with barely a word.Baffled as to what is bothering Yvonne, and hating the distance between them, Julie sits her wife down and finally gets to the bottom of things. A romantic night away, soaking in a hot tub, takes them down a path neither of them ever could've imagined.Will exploring their options draw them closer together or make them question everything they know?

In this adaptation of her dissertation, Estwick focuses generally on aspects of contemporary American religion and more particularly on the resolution of conflicts surrounding gay inclusion. Discussions of clerical experiences reconciling social conflicts with personal faith serve to guide individuals struggling with issues that can be painful and contentious, but which can lead ultimately to healing and spiritual growth.

A bird's eye view of a group of people undertaking major change, this is the story of one child psychiatric unit and a profound questioning of the humanity of current practice in child welfare. It offers the experience of building, through collaborative effort, a child and family-centered care facility as an alternative to the existing model.

“And Ruth said,‘ Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.’” —Ruth 1:16 During a cold Massachusetts winter, a man’s car fatally skids on black ice, leaving a mother childless and her daughter-in-law a widow. Naomi and Ruth, bound together as kin, are now each other’s only comfort. Naomi lost her own husband, Eli, eight years ago, and now she has lost her son. Watching Ruth struggle through grief, Naomi suddenly realizes what she must do to make herself whole again: She must return to her childhood home in coastal South Carolina. There, she remembers, was the innocence of youth and first falling in love. But when she tells Ruth about her plan, she receives an unexpected reply: “Where you go, I will go. Where you live, that’s where I’ll live too.” So the two women plan the journey together. The only family Naomi has down South are in-laws, people she hasn’t seen in decades, having kept in touch over the years only through annual Christmas cards. But when she phones, apprehensively, to tell them of her plan, they welcome her with openness and warmth. Arriving at a home full of sons and daughters and grandchildren, Naomi and Ruth are flooded with a love they are nearly too fragile to accept. Yet Naomi carries a deep secret in her soul—and not even this change of scenery can erase its dark shadow. As the long Southern days seep into their hearts, both she and Ruth begin to find themselves reawakened. And as the love of her newfound family and her enduring bond with Ruth prove themselves stronger than sin, stronger than heartache, redemption finds Naomi once and for all. A Song I Knew by Heart is about the healing power of family—in particular, the bond between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. As Ruth and Naomi share their individual sorrows, together they find an uncommon strength. The pages of Bret Lott’s deeply moving novel flow with a lilting beauty that is as heartrending and as restorative as the relationship at its center.