The first book in the Ada's House series, The Hope of Refuge is a moving story of love, hope, and new beginnings from New York Times bestselling author Cindy Woodsmall. The widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore is struggling against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When her stalker ransacks her home, Cara and her daughter, Lori, flee New York City for an Amish community, eager for a fresh start. But she discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. One Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God—“Be me to her”—despite how it threatens his way of life. While Ephraim tries to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything, including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life? A complete opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose—or will it push Mahlon away forever?

The New York House of Refuge, the first institution in America to deal with the juvenile delinquent as a special problem, opened its doors in 1825. This is the story of the critical early years of juvenile reform, which soon became a national movement.

A Powerful Story Set Against the Backdrop of Today's Israel Nothing in Abigail MacLeod's life as a wife, a mother, and a teacher has prepared her for what she will experience during her summer in Israel. At forty-two, her life is in chaos, even before she leaves home--her marriage is dissolving before her very eyes, her faith is in shambles. This pilgrimage to Israel was supposed to be a new beginning for her. But by the end of the first day, she is forced to board an Israeli jetliner in spit of a bomb threat, and watches helplessly as a kind, fatherly gentleman she befriended on the plane dies in her arms. This is a summer Abby will spend learning about archaeology, delving into the past. And it's a summer that will change her life in ways she never imagined.

Many times Christians excitedly receive a promise or vision from God. From that moment forward, they want to tell the whole world what God is going to do in and through them. It’s so exciting to have a promise from God. The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). But when God gives us a promise or vision, it takes time to see it fulfilled. Rarely is the vision for tomorrow or even the next year. It’s for a certain time set by God. He shows it to you early, but He still wants to prepare you for the journey ahead. Many Christians get discouraged during this process and walk away from God. But so many people in the Bible—like Abraham, Joseph, and David—had to go through years of preparation before they saw their visions fulfilled. They waited a long time, probably longer than most of us. Be encouraged and don’t let a thing called time destroy you before you even start. God is for you, and what He’s promised He will bring to pass.

“A moving and timely book that strips away misleading politics to reveal the complexities of real human lives." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A provocative, conversation-sparking exploration of refugee experiences told in their own words, for readers of Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s The Undocumented Americans and Viet Thanh Nguyen Forced to leave their homes, they came to America... In this intimate and eye-opening book, Diya Abdo--daughter of refugees, U.S. immigrant, English professor, and activist—shares the stories of seven refugees. Coming from around the world, they’re welcomed by Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR), an organization Diya founded to leverage existing resources at colleges to provide temporary shelter to refugee families. Bookended by Diya’s powerful essay "Radical Hospitality" and the inspiring coda “Names and Numbers,” each chapter weaves the individual stories into a powerful journey along a common theme: Life Before (“The Body Leaves its Soul Behind”) The Moment of Rupture (“Proof and Persecution”) The Journey (“Right Next Door”) Arrival/Resettlement (“Back to the Margins”) A Few Years Later (“From Camp to Campus”) The lives explored in American Refuge include the artist who, before he created the illustration on the cover of this book, narrowly escaped two assassination attempts in Iraq and now works at Tyson cutting chicken. We learn that these refugees from Burma, Burundi, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Uganda lived in homes they loved, left against their will, moved to countries without access or rights, and were among the 1% of the "lucky" few to resettle after a long wait, almost certain never to return to the homes they never wanted to leave. We learn that anybody, at any time, can become a refugee.

In the spring of 1983 Terry Tempest Williams learned that her mother was dying of cancer. That same season, The Great Salt Lake began to rise to record heights, threatening the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the herons, owls, and snowy egrets that Williams, a poet and naturalist, had come to gauge her life by. One event was nature at its most random, the other a by-product of rogue technology: Terry's mother, and Terry herself, had been exposed to the fallout of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. As it interweaves these narratives of dying and accommodation, Refuge transforms tragedy into a document of renewal and spiritual grace, resulting in a work that has become a classic.