For many of us, believing in Jesus feels like the first step on a journey that can only get better and better with every step. Then trials come and it can be hard to keep walking. When faced with disappointment, disillusionment, doubt, and death, we may be tempted to turn back. The road ahead seems too hard, too long, too fraught with danger and difficulty. With great passion and deep understanding of the struggles believers go through, Rashawn Copeland encourages and inspires you to stay the course. In No Turning Back he shares practical and productive ways you can experience true and lasting growth based on the promises God makes to those who follow him. He shows you how to apply the truths of Scripture to be transformed by God's power, grow your identity in Christ, renew your mind, free yourself from your past, and become the person God has called you to be.

Fear is the devil's favorite tool in the toolbox of schemes he uses to destroy God's good plan for you. He uses it to hold you back and prevent progress in your relationships, career, and more.

In Do It Afraid, Joyce Meyer explains that fear is everywhere and affects everyone. It rules many people, but it doesn't have to rule you any longer. She will teach you how to:

• Understand fear and recognize how it works in your life.
• Confront those fears that are holding you back.
• Change your mindset for lasting freedom from some of the most common fears people face.

Remember, courage isn't the absence of fear; it is learning how to move forward in the presence of fear. Courageous people do what they believe in their hearts they should do, no matter how they feel or what doubts fill their minds. When you take ownership of your problems and open your heart to God, He will help bring light into darkness so that you can be free.

Imagine raising six spirited kids on a grass farm-today. Newspaper columnist Dorcas Smucker and her brood live out their days in full view in this collection of musings-picking blueberries while watching for bears, hoping for angels while driving off the freeway, moving into the "thousand-story house," and enduring lectures from teenage children about the virtue of respect. Three books in one, this collection includes Smucker's Ordinary Days: Family Life in a Farmhouse, Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting: More Family Life in a Farmhouse, and Downstairs the Queen Is Knitting. Often slightly off-stride and with disarming humility, Dorcas finds endless materials for stories and life lessons in everyday happenings. As she says, "I, like my mother, feed my children mashed potatoes and stories. I repeat the ones I heard from Mom and turn our family escapades into tales to be repeated while washing dishes or snapping buckets of green beans on the front porch. A story is much more than just a story, of course. It is entertainment, identity, interpretation, and lessons. This is who we are, this is why we do what we do, this is important, that is not, and don't ever whack your brother's finger with a hatchet like your dad did to Uncle Philip." This delightful trilogy includes some of Smucker's best writing. She covers topics and dilemmas everyone can relate to while also inviting readers to explore her Mennonite family's more personal experiences. Her voice is humorous, encouraging, and at times, doubting, but she never takes herself too seriously. As you read, her stories will entertain you and ultimately soothe your soul.

How to Defeat the Enemy During These Dark Days As the time approaches for Jesus' return, the spiritual battle between good and evil is heating up. Evidence is all around: shootings, genocide, civil wars, increased persecution. Our enemy is real, and it seems as if he is winning. The good news is that God is at work in powerful ways--and that Satan is not winning. But we need to know how to wage war against him and his plans for these turbulent days. We must understand not only the intensified warfare environment of the end times, but how we can walk in our authority in Jesus Christ. Here are the practical insights you need on how to fight using the spiritual weapons God has given us: the blood of Jesus, the Word of God, our own testimony, and more. When we learn how to wield these weapons, we will see victory over Satan and his kingdom and bring hope to these dark days.

Moving on is not a one-time decision. It's a way of living.

There are times in life when we look back and feel desperate to make time stand still, particularly when we get blindsided by unexpected changes. But we can't stop the flow of life, and we can't stop time. What's more, looking back doesn't enable us to go back. More often than not, it just makes us stuck. In a place. In a space. In a memory. In a mindset. In a habit.

In Luke 17:32, Jesus drops three little words: "Remember Lot's wife." We don’t know her name, history, or story. All we know is that when she was fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah, she was told not to look back, and she did the one thing she was asked not to do. She looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. And out of the 170 women referred to in the Scriptures, she's the only one Jesus told us to remember.

With a rallying cry to "Remember Lot's wife," Bible teacher, international speaker, activist, and bestselling author Christine Caine motivates us to stop looking back, to get unstuck and to keep moving forward into God's promises and purpose for our lives.

We may not know all God's plans for us. We may not know where we are going, how long it will take us, or what we will encounter along the way, but with the strategies Christine Caine gives, we can move on from where we are to where God wants us to be.

A daily devotional for advent using nativity sets from around the world. Nativity sets are a given at advent. They come in all shapes and sizes and appear in churches, homes and even garden centres. Some are a treasured family heirloom, and some are a new addition to enjoy throughout December. They are all so different though, from the kitsch to the contemporary, and everything in between. But what do they tell us about the original story, and about ourselves, as the people who buy them? Richard Littledale shares his own personal collection of nativity sets from around the world as he provides food for thought and spiritual reflection this advent. For each day of advent Richard includes a reflection, a bible reading, a question to ponder and a prayer. Just like unexpectedly finding a figure of a budgerigar in one of his nativity sets, Richard Littledale's accessible devotional allows us to be surprised anew as we see the wonder of the nativity story with fresh eyes.

'n Reis na innerlike vrede en wysheid - Hierdie 365 oordenkings verken elke aspek van die Gebed om kalmte en hoe jy dit daagliks op jou lewe kan toepas.

Ons lewe is gejaagd. Ons omstandighede – goed en sleg – stoot ons hiernatoe en daarnatoe. Ons voel asof gebeurtenisse buite ons beheer ons lewe bepaal. Ons smag na vrede, na ’n plek waar veiligheid en rus is. As antwoord op hierdie soeke na vrede herinner die geliefde predikant en skrywer Trevor Hudson lesers aan die beproefde wysheid in die alombekende Gebed om kalmte:

God, skenk my die gemoedskalmte, om die dinge te aanvaar wat ek nie kan verander nie, die moed om die dinge te verander wat ek kan, en die wysheid om te weet wat die verskil is.

Hierdie 365 oordenkings verken elke aspek van hierdie gebed en hoe jy dit daagliks op jou lewe kan toepas. Namate jy die Gebed om kalmte gebruik as gids om elke dag in vriendskap met jou Here en Skepper te lewe, sal God se geskenk van vrede jou lewe vul en deur jou vloei waar jy jou ook al bevind. Elke oordenking word afgesluit met ’n praktiese voorstel hoe jy hierdie gebed elke dag kan uitleef. Só sal jou lewe ál meer op God gefokus word, en sal jy die innerlike vrede ervaar waarna jou hart smag.

Trevor Hudson is ’n Metodistepredikant, en tans ook betrokke by The Institute for Creative Conversations by die Northfield Metodistekerk in Suid-Afrika. Trevor se bediening behels onderrig, die aanbied van lesings en naweekseminare dwarsoor die land, sowel as internasionaal. Hy is die skrywer van verskeie boeke, waaronder ’n Dieper verhouding met God, Gebed om kalmte en Vrae wat God ons vra.

Jamie Winship spent nearly 30 years living and working in conflict zones, and during that time he has learned an important truth: all human conflict originates from fear, and fear originates from a false view of God, ourselves, and others. Until we exchange what's false for what's real, we will never experience being fully alive, fully human, and fully free. Unpacking the power of knowing our true identity in Christ, Winship takes us on a journey of telling ourselves the truth, changing our mindsets, and experiencing actual life transformation that leads to radical courage in the face of all that life throws at us. With humor, clarity, and real-life practicality, Living Fearless is your invitation to listen closely to what God is trying to say to you about himself, about the person he created you to be--and also about all those other people he created and loves. If you want to discover the incredible difference abiding in Christ will make in your life and faith, get ready to do "a new thing" with God.