Ruth Haley Barton's award-winning, practical introduction to the spiritual practice of silence and solitude is an invitation to you to journey into the real presence of God and hear and his voice. Much of the Christian faith is about words - preaching, teaching, talking with others. But the hectic demands and noise of daily modern life can drown out God's words, and keep us from fully meeting him. Taking the story of Elijah the prophet as inspiration and example, Invitation to Solitude and Silence explores the power of quietness and stillness in connecting with God. Filled with practical exercises that draw on Ruth's own experience, it encourages and challenges us to rethink how we see silence and solitude and to use them to invite God deeper into our lives. Invitation to Solitude and Silence is ideal for anyone looking for spiritual disciplines to help them connect more fully with God and practices to aid their spiritual formation. Ruth's gentle wisdom will expand your idea of what prayer can be, and help you find time to rest and renew your faith so that your relationship with God is strengthened. Helpful and hopeful, this book is a reminder that God does not push himself where he is not wanted but waits for us to respond from the depths of our desire. Will you say yes?

Upon Waking is a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publisher's Weekly bestseller! Join the thousands of others who have picked up Upon Waking to help start their day.

What do you wake up to each day? What do you discover once your eyes have opened and you put your feet to the floor? A mountain of notifications? An endless feed of headlines that make you angry? A flood of tasks that you can’t possibly get done in the next twenty-four hours?

What if you could wake up each day to discover something so much bigger—and so much better for you—than all that chaos? What if you could discover God? What if you could discover yourself in light of that God? What if your eyes could be opened to the things that really mattered? What if, in one simple devotional a day, you could glean principles from timeless wisdom to sharpen you for each day's inevitable challenges?

In her lyrical, compelling, and poignant voice, bestselling author and Bible teacher Jackie Hill Perry offers sixty short, daily reflections on specific passages from Scripture to help you awaken to the God you were made for, the life you were made for, and the person you were made to be.

Have you forgotten how wondrous life can be? Christopher de Vinck offers a timeless collection of wisdom on family, childhood, God, love, compassion, buttered toast, snowmen, Hamlet, Bugs Bunny, bees. For anyone who is caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, weary and perhaps a little jaded by all that seems wrong in the world, this is a book that helps us to see again. In essays that are warm, evocative, and often amusing, Christopher De Vinck gives us back the eyes of a child, the fresh vision of delight, and a renewed reminder that we are surrounded with awe that we often take for granted. This is a book about living with a perpetual array of treasures: the voices of people we love, the taste of marzipan, the sounds of October geese. This is a book that reminds us to look, smell, see, touch, and listen to what is revealed to us each morning. Chris invites us to realize life as we live it, every minute. Reflecting on the joys of family, writing, and education, Chris doesn't shy away from loneliness, disappointments and regrets. His is a voice that combines both the joys and sorrows of living, speaking with hope and acceptance, and celebrating the power of simplicity in our modern age. "In his classic book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery famously suggested that 'it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.' With the elegance of a poet, the wonder of child-like eyes, and the discipline of one who steadfastly pays attention to the world around and within him, Christopher de Vinck's Things That Matter Most helps us see with our hearts-to see rightly-those things that are essential to a life well-lived: A place to truly call home, friends who sustain and nurture one another, and the love of a God who knows us as children of great worth." -Jeff Crosby, author of Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts