Smiles mean we are happy right? Have you ever smiled when you were sad, when you felt like your life was falling apart, or even when you were angry? If so, you are living your life hiding behind your smile. When I lost my son to suicide, I was not living a good life, in fact, I was living life hiding behind my smile. One day, I woke up tired living this way, and went on a journey to find out if there was more in life and I discovered there are many people living this way. If you are one of them, I invite you to learn about the journey I took to make my life something that I never thought it could be.

Karla was a misguided youth who witnessed everything that she was supposed to be protected from. Growing up without a father in her life and a mother who didn't know how to show her love forced her to go out into the world unprepared for the realities of it. She became a mother at the age of eighteen by a man who was six years older with children. Although she never felt love at home, she still opened herself up to the possibilities of being loved and loving someone in return. That search led her to a young man whom she eventually spent eight years of her life with and shared two more children together. During their time together she suffered from mental, physical, and emotional abuse, causing her to finally get up enough courage to leave him. Single again, Karla started doing things that she never had the opportunity to do while with such a controlling man. She started to drink and go out more, which eventually caused her to make decisions that affected and disrupted her household. She met a few men and settled down with one that caught her eye. While trying to pick up the pieces of her life, she started doing a little better and was looking forward to her future without the hurt and pain that she suffered through for years. Trying to better her relationship with her siblings, she invited them to her apartment so that they could spend time together, but nothing would prepare herself for what lay ahead. One night with her family had turned her whole world upside down and left her fighting for her freedom. With everything that she had already gone through, nobody would have ever expected for her to end up in jail, not even her. Leaving behind her children, Karla had to adjust to her new life behind bars. There was no turning back now, she had to fight harder than she had ever fought before. During that fight, she was sexually assaulted by a male deputy that worked at the courthouse. Leaving her with distrust for the same people put in place to protect her, she started to give up and accept things as they were, but God didn't want that for her, so He gave her the vision and sign that she had been waiting for. After being away for almost two years, Karla was released back out into the same cold, cruel world that she was abruptly taken from and had to start rebuilding what was torn down. She also needed to repair the broken relationship with her children, but none of that would come easy for her. Battling depression, being homeless, and running into people that had taken advantage of her instead of helping only made her stronger, and after two years of parole Karla packed the few things she had along with her children and headed for a new life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving behind everything that was meant to break her and starting a new life for herself and children.

Lisa was only a young little girl who was raised without her biological parents and lived her fear behind her smile. From molestation and staying with different family members to wanting to be loved, it all developed into a mental shutdown. Searching for love in the wrong places, she finally grows and accepts her past and learns that what she had been through will not define who she has become as an adult. Lisa learns that her past life has made her stronger and wiser and begins to put all that love, time, and her past pain into her intelligent son, who brings her back to reality from giving up on her own sanity. No one would have ever known and believed the things Lisa was faced as a child from her hiding behind her smile.

Somewhere between a memoir and a how-to, Hiding in My Pajamas is a uniquely refreshing funny and candid look at the emotional costs of retirement. Closing that work-life career door behind you as you start Chapter 2 of your life, while working out the emotional aspects, has become the best kept secret with professional women today. Retiring from a successful career as partner in a commercial architecture firm, Becky shares her own personal journey as she started a new life, 1,600 miles from her home, while struggling with the emotional stereotypes that deal with retirement and aging. She exposes the fears and anxieties, along with the marital turbulence, and financial challenges she faced along the way. Utilizing wit and wisdom, she bares her soul and her marriage to encourage women to try and not hang on to the past. For women from 40 to 65, Becky shares her “Plan” for a secure financial and emotional retirement. She outlines strategies to get your plan in place, sharing not only her story, but heartfelt stories of women who have tried to stop the runaway freight train of emotions as they close the door on their careers. Exploring why ”this wasn’t what I planned”, she offers the courage to identify a brand new you as you joyously move on to a different life with new purpose and meaning. Finally someone has published a brutally candid look at a 25 year plan to retirement from a woman’s perspective that resonates with honesty.

Emily Freeman offers advice to the Christian woman on letting go of expectations and trusting in God.

Leaving Islam for Christianity cost her more than she imagined, but gave more than she could have dreamed. Rifqa Bary grew up in a devout Muslim home, obediently following her parents’ orders to practice the rituals of Islam. But God was calling her to freedom and love. He was calling her to true faith. He was calling her to give up everything. Hiding in the Light is the story of Rifqa’s remarkable spiritual journey from Islam to Christianity. It is also the untold story of how she ran from her father’s threats to find refuge with strangers in Florida, only to face a controversial court case that reached national headlines. Most of all, it is the story of a young girl who made life-changing sacrifices to follow Jesus—and who inspires us to do the same.

It begins slowly, so slowly that I hardly notice at first. My chest tightens and my heart begins to beat a fraction faster. I try to draw breath, but instead I choke on oxygen I can't inhale. As I realise that I can't breathe, the panic wraps itself around my mind. I can't make myself draw a breath. Rachael was aged just six when she had her first suicidal thought. Over the next decade, life would become increasingly fraught with depression and self-harm, and her outlook only bleaker. Before her eighteenth birthday, Rachael would twice try to take her own life. And yet amidst this darkness, a flicker of faith lived on. This is Rachael's story of her journey into, and out of, the darkness of depression. With unflinching realism and complete honesty, she shows us what it looks like to live with mental illness, and how God can find us and rescue us even in the most desperate of places.