Their odds were 100,000 to one. Her faith was 1 in a million. In The Gift of Love, bestselling fiction author Amy Clipston shares her story of almost losing the love of her life to kidney disease and the ultimate sacrifice that kept their family together. An ordinary woman who cherishes family above all else, Amy was challenged in every way—from her strength of character to the depths of her faith to the close-knit family that surrounds her. Enduring the good, the bad, and the really bad, she was determined to help her husband once again be the husband and father their family needed. Amy’s story will give hope and encouragement to anyone who finds themselves waiting on God. Staring down adversity, Amy and her family received the most important gift of all, the gift of love. And regardless of your situation, this gift can be yours too. An inspirational story of strength and determination, The Gift of Love is the triumph of one woman’s faith against all odds, and a soul-filling reminder that no matter how hard life gets, it is worth fighting for.

Bless you! We say it because someone has suffered loss or has made a positive difference in someones life. We say it because someone sneezed. But what does bless you even mean?

The classic collection of sixteen sermons preached and compiled by Dr. King As Dr. King prepared for the Birmingham campaign in early 1963, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love, a volume of his best-known homilies. King had begun working on the sermons during a fortnight in jail in July 1962. Having been arrested for holding a prayer vigil outside Albany City Hall, King and Ralph Abernathy shared a jail cell for fifteen days that was, according to King, ‘‘dirty, filthy, and ill-equipped’’ and “the worse I have ever seen.” While behind bars, he spent uninterrupted time preparing the drafts for classic sermons such as “Loving Your Enemies,” “Love in Action,” and “Shattered Dreams,” and continued to work on the volume after his release. A Gift of Love includes these classic sermons, along with two new preachings. Collectively they present King’s fusion of Christian teachings and social consciousness, and promote his prescient vision of love as a social and political force for change.

Advent is a busy and sometimes stressful time of year, but in God’s Gift of Love, Donna Schaper reminds us that Advent also gives us an opportunity to slow down, recognize that God’s love has found us, and live in peace. By changing our attitude and our understanding of time, we can prepare for and look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ. We can be ready to conceive God’s love in us and reconceive our lives and our behavior toward others. Schaper’s writing helps us understand that love is not a sentiment but a way of life that emerges from the knowledge that in Jesus Christ, we experience God’s love. God’s Gift of Love offers the opportunity and challenge to appreciate and live in the amazing gift of God’s love by studying the Revised Common Lectionary readings designated for Advent, Year A. Donna Schaper helps readers experience the blessings of Jesus’ birth and Christ’s second coming in the fullness of time. A Leader Guide by Nan Duerling, with Bible background and suggestions for group activities, is included in this book.

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