Most of us feel the world is more contentious and less civil than it was a generation ago, or a few years ago, or maybe even last week. We long to be reassured that everything is going to be okay, that God is still at work, even in small ways. The good news is, even when our circumstances change, God does not. He is still in control, and he still offers us good gifts. We just have to know where to look for them. Exploring the beautiful admonition found in Philippians 4:8 to think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, author Alexandra Kuykendall encourages us to keep seeking out goodness even when we are mired in a time of fear, division, and negativity. Through personal stories and clear biblical insight, Alex helps us see God at work right now, right in our midst, no matter how messy life feels. She helps us appreciate other people even when we disagree with them, move past false dichotomies, celebrate goodness in others when we find it, and hope for a brighter tomorrow even as we celebrate the good gifts we receive today.

Sometimes people think of God as uncaring and disengaged from the human experience. Other times, people think of God as angry and vengeful, looking for reasons to punish. Still others imagine God to be confusing, hard to understand, and harder to know. People don't often think of God as being near. God is not as distant as we make Him out to be. God does not sit on the sidelines waiting for people to come to Him. Instead, He pursues us. Jackson Crum wants people to know that truth. Using both personal stories and biblical narratives, Jackson invites you to understand the truth of a God who loves and pursues you. Experience the shocking goodness of the God who chases after you because you are sought... you are loved... you are known. Jackson Crum's heartbeat is for people to understand, in the simplest of terms, that they are known and loved by God. That truth changed the trajectory of his life while in college. Jackson loves exploring the world with his wife, Donna. He is a rabid sports fan who is unable to root for his teams with an "inside" voice, being convinced they can hear him through the TV. These days he is often found reading stories that rhyme with one or more of his six grandchildren with thanks to his two sons and their fabulous wives.

Illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies. People love what’s natural: it’s the best way to eat, the best way to parent, even the best way to act—naturally, just as nature intended. Appeals to the wisdom of nature are among the most powerful arguments in the history of human thought. Yet Nature (with a capital N) and natural goodness are not objective or scientific. In this groundbreaking book, scholar of religion Alan Levinovitz demonstrates that these beliefs are actually religious and highlights the many dangers of substituting simple myths for complicated realities. It may not seem like a problem when it comes to paying a premium for organic food. But what about condemnations of “unnatural” sexual activity? The guilt that attends not having a “natural” birth? Economic deregulation justified by the inherent goodness of “natural” markets? In Natural, readers embark on an epic journey, from Peruvian rainforests to the backcountry in Yellowstone Park, from a “natural” bodybuilding competition to a “natural” cancer-curing clinic. The result is an essential new perspective that shatters faith in Nature’s goodness and points to a better alternative. We can love nature without worshipping it, and we can work toward a better world with humility and dialogue rather than taboos and zealotry.

New York Times bestseller How do you hold on to hope when you don’t get the ending you asked for? When Katie Davis Majors moved to Uganda, accidentally founded a booming organization, and later became the mother of thirteen girls through the miracle of adoption, she determined to weave her life together with the people she desired to serve. But joy often gave way to sorrow as she invested her heart fully in walking alongside people in the grip of poverty, addiction, desperation, and disease. After unexpected tragedy shook her family, for the first time Katie began to wonder, Is God really good? Does He really love us? When she turned to Him with her questions, God spoke truth to her heart and drew her even deeper into relationship with Him. Daring to Hope is an invitation to cling to the God of the impossible—the God who whispers His love to us in the quiet, in the mundane, when our prayers are not answered the way we want or the miracle doesn’t come. It’s about a mother discovering the extraordinary strength it takes to be ordinary. It’s about choosing faith no matter the circumstance and about encountering God’s goodness in the least expected places. Though your heartaches and dreams may take a different shape, you will find your own questions echoed in these pages. You’ll be reminded of the gifts of joy in the midst of sorrow. And you’ll hear God’s whisper: Hold on to hope. I will meet you here.

This is a journey of spititual self-regeneration by a mean-spirited, dried-up cynic. The author looks at the icons of goodness, such as Sting and Susan Sarandon, and sets out to make sure people get the facts and figures about being a wonderful person.

One of PureWow’s 9 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in October! A chilling look into an alternate near future where a woman and her daughter seek refuge in a women-only colony, only to find that the safe haven they were hoping for is the most dangerous place they could be. Miranda Reynolds always thought she would rather die than live in Femlandia. But that was before the country sank into total economic collapse and her husband walked out in the harshest, most permanent way, leaving her and her sixteen-year-old daughter with nothing. The streets are full of looting, robbing, and killing, and Miranda and Emma no longer have much choice—either starve and risk getting murdered, or find safety. And so they set off to Femlandia, the women-only colony Miranda's mother, Win Somers, established decades ago. Although Win is no longer in the spotlight, her protégé Jen Jones has taken Femlandia to new heights: The off-grid colonies are secluded, self-sufficient, and thriving—and Emma is instantly enchanted by this idea of a safe haven. But something is not right. There are no men allowed in the colony, but babies are being born—and they're all girls. Miranda discovers just how the all-women community is capable of enduring, and it leads her to question how far her mother went to create this perfect, thriving, horrifying society.

Short fiction was an immensely innovative art in the medieval Arab world and speaks to the urbanization of the Arab domain after Islam. It reflects the bustling life of Muslim Arabs and Islamized Persians and the sure stamp of an urbanity that had settled very staunchly after big conquests. Reading these texts today illuminates the wide spectrum of early Arab life and the influences and innovations that flourished so vibrantly in medieval Arab society. Classical Arabic Stories selects from an impressive corpus, including excerpts from seven seminal works: Ibn Tufail's novel, Hayy ibn Yaqzan; Kalila wa Dimna by Ibn al-Muqaffa; The Misers by al-Jahiz; The Brethren of Purity's The Protest of Animals Against Man; Al-Maqamat (The Assemblies) by al-Hamadhani and al-Hariri; Epistle of Forgiveness by al-Ma'arri; and the epic romance, Sayf Bin Dhi Yazan. Organized thematically, the volume begins with pre-Islamic tales, stories of rulers and other notables, and thrilling narratives of danger and warfare. It follows with tales of love, religion, comedy, and the strange and the supernatural.