This past year has been troubling for many of us who have had to deal with the ravages of the COVD-19 pandemic. We have had to deal with a loss of freedom, and some of us have lost jobs and income. And most tragically, there was the loss of family and friends who were fatal victims of this virus. The result of which is that we have been forced to make many difficult transitions in our lives. Life, as we have known it, has changed. But did you know that there is great power in transitions? These transitions are here to announce that we must set aside some old ways of thinking and doing and set our eyes on a new reality. So where do we capture this new vision? Where is life taking us? How do we read the road signs? In this book, Walking through Troubled Waters, we will explore the process of finding peace in the midst of our chaotic world. We will do so by probing the life of an ancient biblical character--King David. What does such an ancient figure have to teach us about living through troubled times? His story may well reflect our own experience. David's story is a drama of his life-changing transitions, which he had to overcome; and through these changes, he has much to teach us. Each time he found himself facing a new transition, this great king revealed a heart for God. And with this strong belief system, he was guided through some troubling times. Through faith, he transformed some simple words into a prayer to the Almighty. His faith in God was, therefore, the foundation to overcoming many of the challenges he had to face as a king and as a man. What can faith do? It can turn a boy into a warrior. And with a warrior's spirit, he had the strength to defeat those challenges before him. With faith, he learned to hear God's voice as he was guided through those troubled waters. Through faith, God taught him patience; and with patience, David learned that everything happened in God's perfect time. David had to face many of his enemies who tried to destroy him. He had to face his own sin and the rebellion in his family; and each time he triumphed. His final challenge was facing his own death. Did he find peace? I will let you be the judge. More importantly, can you, like King David, find peace in these troubling times?

Baptism has been a contested practice from the very beginning of the church. In this volume, Ben Witherington rethinks the theology of baptism and does so in constant conversation with the classic theological positions and central New Testament texts. By placing baptism in the context of the covenant, Witherington shows how advocates of both believer's baptism and infant baptism have added some water to both their theology and practice of baptism.

Neuropsychologist Offers Hope to Those Struggling with Depression As a board-certified neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson sees the devastation of depression. Early on, she practiced the most effective treatments and prescribed them for her clients. But when she experienced depression herself, she found that the treatments she had recommended were lacking. Her experience showed her the missing component in treating depression. In Hope Prevails, Dr. Bengtson writes with deep compassion, blending her training and faith, to offer readers a hope grounded in God's love and grace. She helps readers understand what depression is, how it affects them spiritually, and what, by God's grace, it cannot do. The result is an approach that offers the hope of release, not just the management of symptoms. For those who struggle with depression and those who want to help them, Hope Prevails offers hope for the future.

If you have ever heard yourself say, “Surely there is more to life than this,” rest assured, you are not alone. Getting caught up in the day-to-day routine, it can be easy to feel as though you have nothing more to give, and yet there is so much you want to do to impact the world. Good news! For those who are willing to get out of the proverbial boat and trust in God’s ability to do miracles, there is more, so much more! In Willing to Walk on Water, Caroline Barnett helps you identify what you were created to do—unveiling your passions, gifts, and callings—and provides practical ways of integrating that purpose into your daily life. Drawing on real life experiences, Caroline points out two things that will be required: willingness and availability. Are you willing to trust God to do the impossible through you? Will you make yourself available to His leading? If so, get ready—you are about to walk on water!

Today more people than ever are suffering from emotional distress. Whether they are dealing with depression, anxiety, obsessiveness, fear, worry, or stress, their lives are limited and compromised by the ill-effects. People who suffer from emotional distress often feel isolated and unloved, either by God or by others, and often believe that there is no hope and no way out. There is good news, however! A truly biblical approach to healing emotional distress focuses on a holistic cure that integrates the mind, body, and spirit. Even when we feel truly alone, God is holding us in His hand. Even when we feel truly hopeless, God offers comfort and purpose. And even when we feel like we will never escape the pit of emotional distress, God sets our feet on firm ground and promises to never let us go. No matter what we have been through or what we are going through now, God can bring critically needed healing and transformation into our lives when we adjust what the authors refer to as “stinkin’ thinkin’.”

The first collected edition of legendary writer, actress, and adventurer Cookie Mueller's stories, featuring the entire contents of her 1990 book Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, alongside more than two dozen others, some previously unpublished. Legendary as an underground actress, female adventurer, and East Village raconteur, Cookie Mueller's first calling was to the written word: "I started writing when I was six and have never stopped completely," she once confessed. Muellerís 1990 Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, the first volume of the Semiotext(e) Native Agents series, was the largest collection of stories she compiled during her life. But it presented only a slice of Mueller's prolific work as a writer. This new, landmark volume collects all of Mueller's stories: from the original contents of Clear Water, to additional stories discovered by Amy Scholder for the posthumous anthology Ask Dr. Mueller, to selections from Mueller's art and advice columns for Details and the East Village Eye, to still "new" stories collected and published here for the first time. Olivia Laing's new introduction situates Mueller's writing within the context of her life—and our times. Thanks to recent documentaries like Mallory Curley's A Cookie Mueller Encyclopedia and Chloé Griffin's oral biography Edgewise, Mueller's life and work have been discovered by a new generation of readers. Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black: Collected Stories returns essential source material to these readers, the archive of Mueller's writing itself. Mueller's many mise en scènes—the Baltimore of John Waters, post-Stonewall Provincetown, avant-garde Italy, 1980s New York, an America enduring Reagan and AIDS—patches together a singular personal history and a primer for others. As Laing writes in her introduction, Collected Stories amounts to "a how-to manual for a life ricocheting joyously off the rails . . . a live corrective to conformity, conservatism, and cruelty."

Shares uplifting advice about the virtues of forgiveness, offering strategic and biblically based advice on how to achieve peace and personal fulfillment by letting go of past wrongs.