Dave and Jay, best friends from Cleveland, Ohio, both grew up with one goal in mindgetting paid! Both being natural-born hustlers, money came easy to them. Managing the lifestyle that came along with it was the hard part. Dave, a husband and owner operator of the Reason, an inner-city nightclub adorned with exotic dancers, did his best to balance both lifestyles. He believed that he was doing a good job too. His wife, Tracie, who wasn't exactly a saint herself, seemed to think otherwise. Eventually, Tracie's trust issues led her into the arms of another guy. Dave, feeling the distance between the two of them, reluctantly hired a bombshell named Shanina, who eventually swept him off his feet. Jay, a hustler turned general contractor, who believed in loyalty, had other problems. But with an extremely loyal girlfriend in Candace, who believed in him unequivocally, what real issues could Jay possibly have? The lifestyle! Jay wanted out. The further he tried to remove himself, though, the closer it came. With two best friends going in polar-opposite directions, see what unfortunate event reunites their lifestyles for a final time!

Why would an all-loving God allow suffering? Are not suffering and love opposed to one another? Does suffering have any meaning or benefit? Is there any objective evidence for God, for a soul that will survive bodily death, for the resurrection of Jesus? Who is God anyway – benevolent and loving, or angry and retributive? Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., gives a comprehensive response to these questions and many others, explaining the contemporary evidence for God, the soul, and the resurrection. He discusses how God uses suffering to lead us to compassion for others and eternal life. He also shows how the Holy Spirit guides us through times of suffering toward our salvation, explaining the signs and the interior movements that reveal the Spirit's actions. Fr. Spitzer not only addresses the perplexing questions associated with suffering but teaches us how to suffer well. He points out some of the most common mistakes people make when trying to interpret God's motives for allowing or alleviating suffering. He demonstrates why suffering – in combination with love – is one of the most powerful motivating agents for personal, cultural, and societal development.

Clinical psychologist and clergywoman Lucille F. Sider adds her voice to the chorus of women in the #WhyIDidntReport and #MeToo movements. This is Lucille’s story of resilience and hope as a survivor of sexual abuse. She explains the challenges of finding her way out of a fear-based spirituality into one that is full of grace, hope and forgiveness. The unique richness of her book is that she wrote it to spark healing discussion. As she describes her experiences in these pages, she also steps back and offers helpful analysis as both a psychologist and a clergywoman. At the end of the book, she includes a complete study guide with questions for reflection for individuals, small groups and classes. “The book is arranged to be a valuable tool in the hands of persons in the helping professions, such as clergy, social workers, psychologists,” writes the Rev. Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent Emerita and Ambassador of The Wesleyan Church. “This writing is so powerful, yet gentle, that people will be able to add their own words to combat the pain. Lucille’s credentials enhance the power of the story. Truly a book for these days!” Lucille was just 6 years old when she was abused both physically and sexually by a hired man on the family’s farm. Lucille’s inner conflict about these experiences, propelled her into a childhood of guilt and shame. While Lucille was an outstanding student, singer and athlete, she lived with an underlying fear, loneliness and mild depression. A second sexual abuse by her brother-in-law, when she was just 15 years old, added to Lucille’s fears. When she tried to tell her parents about this, their response was only to pray for her—so, she kept these painful events secret for years. Many years later, her brother in law was arrested for molesting a 15-year-old girl. Lucille and others, including his own daughter, testified against him and he was incarcerated. Raised in a conservative household and faith, Lucille went to college and seminary to search for a theology that was full of grace and forgiveness. She found this especially at Yale Divinity School, though she always lived with a mild depression. Her struggle to understand both her faith and psyche led her to earn a PhD from Northwestern University in psychology and religion. She became a clinical psychologist and pastoral counselor and later the Executive Director of The Samaritan Pastoral Counseling Center in Evanston, Illinois. At age 50, when her husband suddenly divorced her, Lucille was cast into darkness and despair which resulted in major depression. Lucille became dysfunctional and had to step down as Executive Director of her counseling center. Years of therapy led her to new ways of offering and sharing her gifts, which included writing stories and ministering to seniors, especially those suffering from dementia. In Light Shines in the Darkness, Lucille F. Sider shares her unique story of sexual abuse and severe mental illness, including depression and PTSD. She describes her legal battle in fighting for justice and her ongoing persistence in finding ways to remain stable. She calls these her mental health and spiritual practices and they include: counseling, medication, meditation, healthy diet, exercise, daily prayer and church attendance. In sharing her story, Lucille now is helping others along their journeys from sexual abuse to stability—to find their own hope and their own light that shines through the darkness. “Timely, compelling and courageous, this autobiography lays bare the trauma of both child and adolescent abuse,” writes Carol Schreck, Professor Emerita of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Palmer Theological Seminary. “This book deserves to be read by any adult who, living in a culture where 80 percent of females have experienced some form of sexual abuse by the age of 18, are no longer content to keep their proverbial head in the sand.”

A powerful, moving, and revelatory novel set in nineteenth-century Africa--the captivating story of the loyal men and women who carried the body of explorer and missionary David Livingstone from Zambia to Zanzibar so that his remains could be returned home to England. Dawn, 1 May 1873, on the outskirts of Chitambo's village, near Lake Bangweulu in modern-day Zambia. The Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone has died. He had been heading south in the African interior on an increasingly maniacal mission to penetrate the greatest secret of Victorian exploration. He wanted to find the source of the world's longest river, the Nile. Instead, on an isolated and swampy floodplain, Dr. Livingstone found his death. How Livingstone is to be buried will be decided by his African companions, a group of sixty-nine men, women, and children. They decide that come what may, Livingstone, his papers and maps, must all be carried to England. They bury his heart and other organs under a tree and dry his flesh like jerky in the sun. Over nine months, battling severe illness and hunger, hostile chiefs and unknown terrain, all while taking a tortuous route of more than 1,000 miles to the coast to avoid marauding slave traders, they march with Livingstone's body and the evidence of his explorations. Their journey has been called "the most extraordinary story in African exploration." In this novel, their story is retold anew in the distinct, indelible voices of Livingstone's sharp-tongued female cook, Halima; a repressed, formerly enslaved African missionary named Jacob Wainwright; and the collective voice of the retainers. The result is a profound and tragic journey--an epic like no other--that encompasses all of the hypocrisy of slavery and colonization while celebrating resilience, loyalty, and love. In Out of Darkness, Shining Light, Petina Gappah has created an ambitious and artful masterpiece.

"You're stupid and no one will ever love you." These were the words Karen Cooper grew up with. While classmates took college prep courses, Karen carefully chose a skill that would allow her to escape her abusive father and her hometown in upstate New York. But despite surviving a childhood of fear, pain, and shame, Karen's low self-esteem brought a multitude of problems, mirroring the terrors of her past, and at 19 she found herself pregnant and on her own. Rejected by the father, Karen entered a home for unwed mothers and then placed the infant up for adoption; two years later she was pregnant again by the same man and looking for an illegal abortion. Failing and feeling worthless, she married the child's father, but the baby died of SIDS at nine weeks. This double trauma led to years of upheaval and secrets...until she finally married the man God had chosen for her. Through hard work and counseling, Karen fought her demons and overcame her past. She enjoyed professional success, found the peace of God's unconditional love, and even earned a college degree. A Light Shining in the Darkness is a painfully honest yet eloquent account of a life that seemed predestined for failure. But with God's love in her life, Karen was able to find beauty in ashes and light where there was only darkness before. Her memoir will inspire others who are struggling to hold on to hope and find the healing and restoration God has in store for us all.

You've been trying to keep a positive outlook on life. But, a quick flip through a news channel and you are once again reminded that these are dark times. Where is the light in the world? Unless you make a practice of searching for good news, you may think there is nothing but bad beyond the walls of your home. The Light Over Darkness reading plan and journal provides daily Scripture references to help you guard your heart with remembrances of the One True Light. Whether you're going through your own personal time of darkness or you want to surround your heart with God's sovereign power, this journal will help you. Spending time each day meditating on the Scriptures will bring an illumination to your heart and spirit that comes from the only true Light. His light pierces through the darkest of situations. Are you ready to bask in a daily scriptures about light so you can understand and know God better? In this prayer journal, you will meditate on a daily scripture and prayerfully ask God to speak to your spirit. This act of contemplative prayer with the scripture is also referred to as lectio divina, or Divine Reading.This daily journal contains sections for: Daily gratitudeDaily confessionDaily prayerPrayer isn't a magic pixie dust by following a certain pattern ensuring an answer. But, prayer is an intimate conversation with God. A prayer journal is a tool to lead you into a deeper conversation with Him. It is my hope that the scriptures listed in this journal helps you to deepen your relationship with Him. Whether you spend five minutes in prayer or five hours, the important thing is your quality of time in prayer, not the quantity of time.

I'm evangelist Eva M. Lucious. I was born in Bainbidge, Georgia. At the age of three, my family and I moved to Steubenville, Ohio. I was married for twenty-eight and half years before I lost my husband in the year of 2000. I also have two daughters and eight grandchildren. My mission in life is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve others. My goal in life is to let others know that Jesus Christ is still active and living in the lives of all those that will receive him. I am an evangelist that have been preaching and teaching the word of the Lord for about twenty-two years before I lost my husband. We have people that say they had these near-death experiences when they had some type of tragedy almost unto death. But I would like to tell the world my story. While I was still walking around in my body, God took me to hell and back. He led me out of the dark, cold, lonely, and strange place by telling me to "follow the light, ." I had an encounter with God that changed my life so dramatically and supernaturally. After this experience, He began to show me himself through miracles, angel signs and wonders. Then he told me "to tell the story" regardless who believes it or not. Jesus is very much alive and rules and reigns in this cold dark world. He wants to show his power through and in every one of us. Its an encounter with God that changes your life. Jesus is the light that shines in darkness.