Extend the Blessing is a guided journal that walks you through Burdens to Blessings one principle at a time. If you feel like you rushed through the book, this is your invitation to slow down and sit with what you've read. Let it put down roots in your heart and mind, and let it bear fruit. You can spend 30 minutes or several days on one bite. Take a year to go through the journal or take a month. Create a pace that's realistic for you. If you studied Burdens to Blessings with a group, walk through Burdens to Blessings with the same group, talking about insights you gained from your journaling. Take your time. Take small bites. Live blessed and watch God extend the blessing through you to others

Everyone wants a home that is beautiful and clutter free. But most of us are unsure how to get there without breaking the bank. Popular interior designer Shannon Acheson takes the guesswork out of creating a lovely home. Home Made Lovely is a mind-set: decorating should be about those who live there, rather than making your home into a magazine-worthy spread. Shannon walks you through how to · decorate in a way that suits your family's real life · declutter in seven simple steps · perform a house blessing to dedicate your home to God · be thankful for your current home and what you already have · brush up on hospitality with more than 20 actionable ideas that will make anyone feel welcome and loved in your home In Home Made Lovely, Shannon meets you right where you are on your home-decorating journey, helping you share the peace of Christ with family members and guests.

What is a blessing? Do you have to believe to receive one? Can you doubt while you pray? And can you extend grace to others while still desperately in need of it yourself? Once a week Episcopal priest Adrian Dannhauser stands outside her Manhattan church beside a chalkboard sign that reads "Ask me for a blessing (because God knows you need one)." Passersby stop, chat, and ask for prayer: for a sick friend, an addicted son, an upcoming job interview, the state of our nation, or the grief of our world. Bus drivers sometimes open their doors for a quick prayer before the light turns green, and someone once took her to meet their doorman so she could bless him too. Half of those who stop are in crisis. Someone always cries. A few are simply curious. Through the heartfelt, frank, and sincere stories of her unique ministry, Dannhauser offers glimpses into the tender, holy, and sometimes hilarious moments of sidewalk prayers. With a potent blend of reverence and irreverence, as well as insights from Christian scriptures, she delves into the power that ancient ideas--blessing, forgiveness, miracles, and prayer--hold in a disenchanted world. For people of Christian faith, other faiths, or no faith at all, having spiritual conversations, even awkward ones with strangers on the street, can help us face our vulnerability, where we may discover a grace sufficient for all.

Loving a prodigal is a long and desperate journey, filled with fear, worry, anger, self- recrimination. You wait for the phone call--will it be from jail or the hospital? You plead with your loved one. You search for help. You feel the shame. You cry out to God, "How long, Lord?" Author Judy Douglass knows these lovers of prodigals well. She is one herself and has created a large and growing community with others. When You Love a Prodigal is a collection of 90 essays--90 days of perspective on what God offers to you as you love your prodigal. At the end of each brief essay, response questions will help you process how God intends to use the wilderness journey to mold your spiritual life. You can work through it day by day, or you can read it straight through. Judy has traveled this road with her own prodigal--reading, learning, praying, and seeking God. Over and over he continued to give her wisdom, he sustained her, he covered her with grace, and he filled her with hope. May you, too, be strengthened and filled with hope as together you discover how God will take you through your own valley.

From the time Kim Crabill experienced a life-altering trauma at age four, she became an expert in hiding her hurt and confusion behind a mask. The trick, she discovered, was to sing a little louder in choir, study a little harder at school, and smile a little wider with friends. Then no one would notice how damaged her heart was. Kim became a classic overachiever academically and socially. As an adult, she could even speak before crowds with her mask fully intact. But she could not hide from the pain of her past, and pain that expressed itself through anorexia and diet pill addiction, loneliness, depression, and anxiety attacks. In her transparent story, Burdens to Blessings, Kim invites you along her journey from shame and sadness toward healing and hope. In the process you will encounter the upside-down truth that God uses you because of your hurt and uncertainty. The very things you regret the most--the things you hope no one ever discovers about you--are what God wants to use to enrich your life and the lives of others around you. Discover the confidence and courage to quit hiding and show your true self to God and others. Then watch out, because you will be showered with opportunities beyond your wildest dreams to help other hurting people change their burdens to blessings.

"Bursting with wise observations." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Engagements and Maine "Gleams like a jewel." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer "Stunning. . . Unique and unforgettable." -- Glamour Hailed as one of the best books of 2014 by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Elise Juska's The Blessings is a moving novel about a tight-knit Irish Catholic clan over the course of twenty years. The Blessings rally around one another in times of celebration and those of sorrow, coming together for departures and arrivals, while its members harbor private struggles and moments of personal joy. College student Abby ponders homesickness in her first semester away from her Philadelphia home, while her cousin Stephen commits a petty act of violence that takes a surprising turn, and their aunt Lauren faces a crisis in her storybook marriage she could never have foreseen. Through the lens of one unforgettable family, this beautifully moving novel explores how our families define us and how we shape them in return.

An inspiration for the creation of houses of prayer around the world, The Grace Outpouring is a captivating account of spiritual renewal on a Welsh hillside. When Roy Godwin turned his back on a lucrative consulting job to lead the quiet retreat center Ffald-y-Brenin in West Wales, he wasn’t sure what was next. Then God showed up. In the years since the Godwins welcomed their first surprise guests to Ffald-y-Brenin, God has drawn thousands of seekers to this converted hill-farm with a tangible presence of healing and power. Along with its accompanying study guide, The Grace Outpouring offers fascinating stories of God’s work on a remote hillside as well as inspiring insight into how God can work in readers’ own communities.