A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

The "duet" of calls-to follow God and to become a mother-began with Sarah's story in Genesis and continues in God's people today. As more women follow God's call into ministry, many are discovering the power of this duet. These women are gifted for ministry, trained and shaped through excellent educations, and affirmed in their call. They serve as pastors in churches, on campuses, in impoverished areas, prisons, hospitals, hospices, the military, and in academia. And many of them are also called to be mothers: birth mothers, adoptive mothers, mothers to other people's children, mothers to their students. As they continue to follow God, the call story and the birth story combine, and the duet rings true. Each essay in this inspiring collection is as different as the mother-minister who wrote it, from theologians to chaplains, inner-city ministers to rural-poverty ministers, youth pastors to preachers, mothers who have adopted, birthed, and done both.

Here is a tender blending of memoir and theology, a joining of heart and mind, a sober yet joyful consideration of Scripture in the face of one of life's deepest and most grievous trials. What exactly happens to those who die as Christians? What do they immediately experience? What is their existence like right now? What will happen to them when Christ returns to earth? These questions can be especially acute for grieving loved ones who remain. What comfort and assurance does Scripture offer you? What can you truly know and be confident of? These are the questions and concerns that faced Pastor Albert N. Martin following the death of his wife of nearly 50 years. He knew that, if he were to grieve in a way that glorified God, he needed to know the answers to those questions, as clearly as possible, directly from Scripture. This book is the product of his grief, his tears, his travails, his prayers, and his concentrated study of God's Word. A beloved pastor and widely respected preacher for half a century, Albert Martin handles Scripture with the greatest of skill, care, wisdom, and respect. In this book, you will learn what God tells us with regard to the burning questions that so often accompany the death of a loved one in Christ. There is comfort for the grief. There are answers to the questions. The Bible does offer hope, solace, healing, and confidence. Pastor Albert Martin has been there. Let him share with you the deep comfort, encouragement, and joy that he found, through Scripture, in the midst of his grieving.

The essentials of pastoral care involve the pastor's distinctive task of caring for those who are estranged--the lost sheep. Taken from the biblical image of the shepherd, the pastor by virtue of his or her professional calling cultivates wise judgment in order to hear the hurting and offer guidance, reconciliation, healing, sustaining presence, and empowerment to those in need. This book will outline the quintessential elements pastors need to wisely minister in today's context by discussing four major kinds of lostness: grief, illness, abuse, and family challenges. The purpose of the Abingdon Essential Guides is to fulfill the need for brief, substantive, yet highly accessible introductions to the core disciples in biblical, theological, and religious studies. Drawing on the best in current scholarship, written with the need of students foremost in mind, addressed to learners in a number of contexts, Essential Guides will be the first choice of those who wish to acquaint themselves or their students with the broad scope of issues, perspectives, and subject matters within biblical and religious studies.

No matter what the circumstances, death shakes us to the core. It seems so wrong, and it is! We long for comfort, but we don't know where to look. Can God really help when we are overwhelmed with grief? With compassion and biblical wisdom, Paul David Tripp shows us how to think and what to do when death enters our door. He reminds us that ...