Discover how unlikely friends can provide us with gifts beyond measure. Unwelcome guests are not generally greeted with gratitude but occasionally they become unexpected friends bearing gifts we never would have asked for. In Gifts from Friends We Never Wanted, Virginia Herbers introduces a sampling of these types of surprising guests in our lives—failure, disappointment, worry—and the gifts they offer us when they come visiting. Following the same pattern as her first book, Gifts from Friends We’ve Yet to Meet, Herbers chooses a gospel character to accompany us as we engage these uninvited “friends.” Weaving together the stories of Jesus’s contemporaries, his response to their foibles, and stories from her own experiences, Herbers invites us to join her on a journey of discovery, vulnerability, honesty—and hospitality. She asks if we dare to befriend the least appealing truths of ourselves to surrender them to a God who can enlighten even the greatest darkness? If we dare, then we will have truly understood the value of these gifts from friends we never wanted.

What does it mean to be anonymous in the gospels? Isn’t God the one who calls us by name and knows us even before we are born? In Gifts from Friends We’ve Yet to Meet, Virginia Herbers introduces readers to nameless gospel characters, each of whom provides us with a story, a journey, and a gift. Reflecting on experiences in her own life, Herbers journeys through these gospel stories, inviting us to reflect on seemingly insignificant encounters in our own lives. Who are the “anonymous figures” who have played a critical role for each of us? How do the experiences of the nameless gospel characters continue to reach and teach us today? Can it be that their anonymity allows their experience to be both individual and universal? In each of these anonymous characters, Herbers introduces us to dear friends we just haven’t met yet. And each of their ages-old encounters with Jesus contains a gift for all of us today.

The bonds of women's friendship can be more intimate than marriage, and just as essential to emotional health. From the childhood friend who broke your heart to the college roommate who witnessed you at your highest and lowest, from the lost friendship that ended bitterly to the devoted companion who is still in your life, from the bond that was forged due to shared grief to the shaky connection born with new motherhood, all women have stories to tell about their friendships. The HerStories Project: Women Explore the Joy, Pain, and Power of Female Friendship is a collection of essays from over 50 women writers, encompassing tales of friendship from the sandbox to the inbox. The book includes a foreword from Jill Smokler of Scary Mommy and several chapters on understanding friendship from friendship experts Shasta Nelson and Carlin Flora. In this book, you will read stories of childhood friendship, relationships between sisters, mothers, and daughters, grown-up friendships--both real life and online-- friendships during motherhood, and stories of friendship break-ups and losses. Whether you identify with the new mother who struggles with loneliness, the woman who looks forward to her social media notifications, the challenging and complex relationship of sisters, or the stories of friends that have drifted apart, you will recognize yourself somewhere in the pages of this book.

The Gifts from Losing You is a poignant chronicle that shares a family's experience of their first year grieving the sudden loss of their only son and brother, aged 19. Written by his mother, it is a story of personal tragedy, immeasurable love, heartbreak, and sadness, coupled with gratitude, courage, and perseverance. Her reflections explore the themes of loss, shock, pain, acceptance, and eternal love. She focuses on how her family found a way to weave their grief into the fabric of their lives while opening their hearts and minds to the gifts bestow on them. She discovers that deep despair and blessing can co-exist simultaneously in grief. This unique perspective has guided them in their healing, enabling them to live alongside their heartache. From her experience as a health coach, she shares the self-care practices that enabled her to cope with her devastating reality. For anyone suffering the loss of a child or a loved one, this part memoir, part self-help book provides hope and inspiration, with insights to help you navigate your path out of the dark, toward the light.