A course in spiritual growth.

Joy isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. But how do we find joy—and hold onto it—when so much in our life stands in the way? Living Joy: 9 Rules to Help You Rediscover and Live Joy Every Day equips you with the wisdom you need to experience joy to the fullest. With evidence, experience, and common sense, Chris Stefanick presents nine rules that will empower you to overcome the obstacles that are keeping you from unspeakable joy. You’ll learn why gratitude is the first key to unlocking deep joy silence creates space in your life for happiness rest, friendship, and fun are integral to joyful living and so much more. No matter the circumstances of your life, Living Joy will show you exactly how you can claim the joy you were created for.

Women today feel a constant pressure to improve themselves and just never feel like they're "enough." All too often, they live their daily lives disheartened, disillusioned, and disappointed. That's because joy doesn't come from a new self-improvement strategy; it comes from rooting their identity in who God says they are and what he has done on their behalf. This book calls women to look away from themselves in order to find the abundant life God offers them—contrasting the cultural emphasis on personal improvement and empowerment with what the Scriptures say about a life rooted, built up, and established in the gospel.

What if it is death that teaches us how to truly live? Keeping the end in mind shapes how we live our lives in the here and now. Living life backward means taking the one thing in our future that is certain—death—and letting that inform our journey before we get there. Looking to the book of Ecclesiastes for wisdom, Living Life Backward was written to shake up our expectations and priorities for what it means to live "the good life." Considering the reality of death helps us pay attention to our limitations as human beings and receive life as a wondrous gift from God—freeing us to live wisely, generously, and faithfully for God's glory and the good of his world.

How can you begin to live your life joyfully each and every day? How can you identify within yourself thoughts and feelings that prevent you from being joyful? From the beginning to end, this book provides insights into these and other questions. These may arise from the present or past and expose the deepest yearnings of your spirit. Have you ever wondered, Why did I do that? or How in the world did I get into this? Many of us have asked these questions and many more. Through insightful commentary and the sharing of his own spiritual journey, the author invites you to examine your own life experiences. You will come to understand what the unification of mind, body, and spirit truly means. Along the way you will find reunion with God. You will begin living your life in joy through understanding oneness. In that life should be a fascinating voyage of discovery, the author has long been intrigued by why we seem to respond to lifes circumstances in very similar ways. From an early age, he sought to find answers to the reasons behind our actions. Why did events, in many instances, come in repetitive cycles? Why do many of us emit preprogrammed responses to the simplest of questions we encounter on a daily basis? The responses often appeared to be automatic and devoid of conscious thought. What was the underlying cause? Did people really stop and think about what they said and why? Did people really take notice of the world around them, or were they just going through a daily routine on automatic pilot? Coupled with these questions was the search for spiritual truth. His early exposure to spirituality was not gained through organized faith. Principles of living, that is, the way to conduct your life, was taught by his family. His one experience with organized religion at the age of six is revealed within the narrative as well as the search that followed for many years. This culminated in an event at thirty-seven that was to change his life. Over the next twenty years, he gradually began to put together each event that had occurred to form a cohesive picture of all life experiences. A series of challenges that followed was the key to unlock the door to a heightened awareness and expanded consciousness. These events reached their climax when he had to face the thing he feared most. That was surgery. This was another milestone in spiritual growth. The experience transformed his life. It was as if a door was opened to previously unknown levels of awareness. Inspiration flowed. The dots were connected. Life suddenly made perfect sense, not only within himself but on a universal level as well. That which he had been searching for all his life became manifested. He had come to understand and live oneness. Throughout this book, the author shares with you the steps that outline and explain the process of awakening as he experienced them. They may serve to assist the reader not only to attain an in-depth understanding but also to provide a benchmark to help you assess your own spiritual growth. This enables the contents to be practically applied in terms of your actual life experiences, not just in a theoretical manner. It is the authors intent to afford the reader with practical knowledge to accelerate your spiritual advancement along the path to oneness by pointing out the misconceptions he had to work through and their often-discomforting results. Perhaps these will be of benefit to you in your own spiritual development. If so, then the authors intent will have been achieved. The following is an excerpt from the book. Our purpose throughout these pages is to become aware of who we are, why we are here, and what we came here to do. To understand that no matter what our circumstances in life may be, we can live our lives in happiness and joy. We reach this level of consciousness by understanding oneness. Oneness, simply stated, is the unification of all life.

"While happines is in part genetically determined, a large proportion of our chances for happiness lies within our control. Part self-help book, part psychology primer, LIVE HAPPY will inform your attitudes and inspire a positive outlook. Written by two leading positive psychologists and harnessing the latest research, this affirmative guide features 100 pieces of proven advice to help you take charge of your life choices and find your own fulfillment." -- page 4 of cover.

We all spend a lot of energy reaching for happiness, but we're never quite able to hang on to it. Real life happens, and our circumstances take us on an emotional rollercoaster. Oftentimes, the Bible's call to "be joyful always" seems out of reach--but it doesn't have to be. We are called to live. And, miraculously, to live with joy. Join bestselling author Stasi Eldredge as she shows us how to choose a joy that stands against the tides of life's real and often overwhelming pain. Defiant Joy reminds us that a joy that is defiant in the face of this broken world was meant to be ours. This joy isn't simply happiness on steroids, it's the unyielding belief that sorrow and loss do not have the final say. It's the stubborn determination to be present in whatever may come and interpret both goodness and grief by the light of heaven. Defiant Joy will give you the encouragement you need to: Finally experience daily joy Learn how to have a posture of holy defiance when circumstances threaten to weigh down your soul Find new perspectives on the painful circumstances you've faced In Defiant Joy, Stasi invites us with courage, candor, and tender vulnerability to a place beyond sadness or happiness, leading the way as we learn how to maintain a posture of holy defiance that neither denies nor diminishes our pain but dares to live with expectant, unwavering hope.