This is a story about two different lives, and how God brought them together. Their lives were as different as night and day. One lived a righteous life, and the other lived a border life. Our first life is the life of Grace. For a long time Grace grew up on a cotton farm, in the State of Texas. Then one day a hard sand storm came, and they lost everything they had. Her father sold the farm and moved to a little town just outside of Waco. Grace lived a righteous life; her father would read the bible to her and her brothers. Sunday's they would go to Church. At nights after supper, Grace, her father and mother would gather around the piano and sing songs from the Church Hymnal. This went on even after Grace was married. Our second life is the life of John. John's life was doomed from birth. Just as Grace, John lived on a farm. John was born and raised in West-by-god-Virginia. John's parents had separated by the time he was two. His oldest brother was killed by a mule at the young age of sixteen. After his mother sold the farm they moved to Charleston, WV. John stayed there until the 10th grade. He dropped out of school and joined the Navy. After two years in the Navy, John went back to finish High School. After High School, he joined the Air Force. John was not brought up in a Christian home. When he was younger he was forced to go to Church and Sunday school with his strict mother. Therefore John did not like Church, after High School John never went again. Here we have two people, so far apart, in so many ways, and how God brought them together to fulfill his plans, and his love for them.

This book is based on scriptures from Nehemiah, a Jewish servant of a Persian king and an effective leader who organized and guided the rebuilding of the city walls around Jerusalem. While on this special assignment, he faced great opposition. In spite of harassment, he along with others persevered and finished the work. When faced with opposition, allow it to bring us to a place of unity as well as strength.

My intention in writing this book is to share the intimacies of my heart, leading up to a personal, powerful, and life-changing experience of God's unconditional love. First for the clergy and teachers of faith, this book is given to you for the benefit of those who are in your care and second yet foremost, for those who have been surpressing pain within their own and often times repressed experience. My hope is that in sharing my struggle to let God be God, and do what God does best, namely to love those who will come to Him with all of their brokenness and need, that you too may come closer to peace in your own life. Can you find identity in one of these groups? * Those who have been hurt by fear and insecurity based upon a harshly taught understanding of God's law without real knowledge of His love;* Those having sadly experienced divorce and the guilt coming from that failure with its painful confusion, what really happened;* Catholic women practicing what is termed by the Catholic Church as as artificial birth control and its affect on their peace of mind;* Those troubled by the Catholic Church's requirement of integral sacramental confession as the only ordinary means of receiving forgivness for sin;* Protestants and Evangelicals counting on Baptism alone, apart from any growth in personal righteousness, as affecting their eternal reality.Did you find yourself listed above? Today there are many who are under spiritual oppression and needlessly suffering separation from real knowledge of God's unconditional love for them. The question everyone needs to answer is this, can I receive God's mercy and love and can I return that love to Him? This capacity is evidence of and at the very heart of salvation

When, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the US Supreme Court held that bans on same-sex marriage violate the Constitution, Christian conservative legal organizations (CCLOs) decried the ruling. Foreseeing an “assault against Christians,” Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver declared, “We are entering a cultural civil war.” Many would argue that a cultural war was already well underway; and yet, as this timely book makes clear, the stakes, the forces engaged, and the strategies employed have undergone profound changes in recent years. In Defending Faith, Daniel Bennett shows how the Christian legal movement (CLM) and its affiliated organizations arrived at this moment in time. He explains how CCLOs advocate for issues central to Christian conservatives, highlights the influence of religious liberty on the CLM’s broader agenda, and reveals how the Christian Right has become accustomed to the courts as a field of battle in today’s culture wars. On one level a book about how the Christian Right mobilized and organized an effective presence on an unavoidable front in battles over social policy, the courtroom, Defending Faith is also a case study of interest groups pursuing common goals while maintaining unique identities. As different as these proliferating groups might be, they are alike in increasingly construing their efforts as a defense of religious freedom against hostile forces throughout American society—and thus as benefitting society as a whole rather than limiting the rights of certain groups. The first holistic, wide-angle picture of the Christian legal movement in the United States, Bennett’s work tells the story of the growth of a powerful legal community and of the development of legal advocacy as a tool of social and political engagement.

Throughout his childhood and during his twenty years of professional service in the New Zealand Army, author Michael J. Roberts repeatedly heard a message: grown men don't cry. To cope with life's ups and downs, Roberts put on a mask and effectively concealed his emotions behind it-that is, until he was diagnosed with cancer. In Grown Men Don't Cry, Roberts shares his story and describes how he found inner peace by allowing himself to cry and by turning to be Jesus to be saved. This memoir narrates his personal journey as he faced recovery from a major operation, the fight against late stage-three cancer, radiation, and chemotherapy and ensuing depression. He tells how through these challenges and despair he found hope and God. A story about one man's triumph over great odds and the fear of death, Grown Men Don't Cry shows that no matter the despair or the pain, one must always have hope.

In the process of writing two short collections of light hearted material, (one published and one yet to be published), the author became acutely awarethat he could not continue forward without addressing what he considered to be the most important issues of human existence. All of us have askedourselves the questions, "What is the meaning of life" and "Why am I here"? Some have rejected the idea of an eternal soul, some are undecided, whileothers are largely unconcerned, but the author has chosen to embrace the concept and run with it. He believes there is a single overriding mission forevery individual alive today. The sole purpose of this life is to prepare for the next one, and every person has been given the ability to control hisown destiny. When compared to eternity, our lives are like a single knot in a rope that stretches around the world. From the foundation of the earth, a plan has been in place to allow humanity to share the wonders of eternity with the Creator of all things. Those who follow that plan will berewarded accordingly, while those who prefer to separate themselves from the influence of a Higher Power, will be granted their wish in eternity. Ifthis book convinces one person to follow the plan that leads to redemption, then it will have been well worth the effort.

Today, 1 in 110 children will exhibit signs and receive a diagnosis of autism. Many parents will live in confusion, seeing the early signs but not understanding them. They will experience many varying emotions ranging from denial to panic to desperation. By understanding the early signs and seeing God's hand in the circumstances of dealing with this disability, parents will begin to approach the care of their children with autism from a position of hope. This book chronicles the journey of one mother who has traveled down the path of life with a child with autism. It contains strategies, techniques, and curricular suggestions that proved helpful to her child. In addition, it details a journey of faith and hope that ends in a new way of valuing the lives of our individuals with special needs. May it bring hope and help to others who have entered upon this unique journey.

If you are interested in religion, or in enriching your own religion, or in searching for a religion that suits you, you will enjoy this book. It is the story of the author's religious journey in stories, poems and sermons. Early in life, her father took her brother, the oldest sibling, to one church, and she and her two older sisters went with their mother to another church. But, she recalls that her first significant religious experience happened at home when she was alone.The author's spiritual growth began in this religiously divided family. She found her way, slowly and questioning, to a different religion and to her own theology. The fruits of her journey are, basically, what the book is about - poems and sermons. The poems chronicle the changes that occur in her life through this questioning: the meaning of life, relationships, love, nature, the seasons, and holidays. Writing and delivering sermons involve the head and the heart, knowledge and intuition, sensitivity and frankness. These sermons demonstrate the author's commitment to a religion that fits her science, not a separation between the two. The sermons are about how to live in this world with all of its complexities, while understanding that not only do religions differ widely, but so do individual theologies, convictions, and personalities. The goal of the sermons is to help us all make this world a better place to live by respecting the worth and dignity of every person with justice, equity, and compassion; engaging in an ongoing search for truth and meaning; exercising our conscience and the democratic process; and acknowledging the interdependent web of all existence.

The position of women in Islam remains deeply contentious. While conservative elements both within Islam and among its Western critics continue to claim that Islamic law and values are fundamentally incompatible with modern notions of gender equality, since the 1980s there has been a growing body of scholarship which seeks to make the case for feminism and gender justice within a distinctly Islamic paradigm. In Islamic Feminism, Mulki Al-Sharmani examines the goals, approaches and methodologies which key scholars have adopted in their efforts at crafting an Islamic feminist discourse. Encompassing scholars from both the Islamic world and the Muslim diaspora, ranging from the pioneering scholar activist Amina Wadud to Egypt's Omaima Abou Bakr, the book also looks at how these scholars have translated their work into meaningful political action through groups such as the global Musawah movement and the Egyptian Women and Memory Forum. Crucially, Al-Sharmani also shows that Islamic feminism is a phenomenon which extends far beyond academia. Drawing on the author's own extensive research and interviews with women in Egypt, the UK, Malaysia, Finland and elsewhere, the book explores how ordinary Muslim women in both the West and the Islamic world are increasingly asserting their autonomy and challenging patriarchal interpretations of their religion, as well as exploring the linkages between Islamic feminist scholarship and the realities of these women's lived experiences. In the process, Islamic Feminism not only uncovers new directions for Islamic feminist scholarship, but upends many of our preconceptions about Islam and the role of women within it.

Real life change, real peace, and real love that lift us above the things of the world in the same way that Jesus walked - isn't this how we were meant to walk in life? Do you desire new revelations that expand you further into the mysteries of Christ? The Redeeming Power of Presence is not simply about becoming aware of the Lord's presence but about our learning to become present and available to Him in a way that makes His powerful presence accessible to us. Experience this "narrow way" that Jesus walked before us that loses the old self's life by walking simply in the present moment where the powerful presence of "I Am" reigns. As you read, experience this living water and pathway to more of the mysteries of Christ that believers are just now beginning to awaken to in their walk with Christ.

This book is special, unusual, but not formidable. You can hardly fully read it without the bible; so it is designed to attract Christian world. Because of the long-standing Church controversies about "being under grace," and "not under the law, there are confl icting ideas of what bornagain Christians' obligations to the Lord are supposed to be if you are under grace. This book attempts to clarify this, in details, and should settle the matter for true truth seekers for good. Th is is one of the highlights of the book because this matter touches, not only life, but eternal life too. It points out (not with proud holier- than- thou attitude) areas of life Christians need examine & improve upon, with God's help- but it is not a book of doom and gloom. With every such area attention is drawn to, there are way outs and exhortation of what can be done. - pointing to God, (not the book's author) for the Answers. The author hopes you will not hate the book, but welcome it as Exhortations from a loving sister to her well-beloved fellow Christians, and prays it serves as ladder to Newness of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. The book enhances the loving kindness of God to us; and gently tries to wake the Church up, so we stop incurring God's anger, and start seeking His Favour. Another highlight of this book is the "Call" for united Fasting-Prayers crying out to God, humbly and genuinely for the Holy Spirit- anointing and heaven-sent Revival; to help us truly repent, be forgiven and be renewed. Thus seeking for His compassion, it is certain that our Saviour and Lord will in no wise cast us out.

Ten years ago, I was diagnosed as having chronic depression. I was living and walking in darkness and it had consumed my entire being. I was in a relationship that was going no where, being used and emotionally damaged. I had one foot in the world, one foot in the church and no relationship with God. I was at the end of my rope and could not take life any longer. One night, I decided I was going to take my life. I was hurting and the pain was too much to bear. I sat on the floor, crying, thinking about how to end it all. I clearly heard Satan giving me ways to do it, until I opened my mouth and called on the name of the Lord, who interrupted Satan's plan to kill me that night. I asked the Lord to take the hurt and pain away. And He did it, immediately I remember getting up without the weight that had consumed me and I decided from that day forward that I would serve the Lord. My Damascus culminates this life changing experience and journey of letting go of the world and hanging on to God. "At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes." - Romans 6:19 To receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior, simply pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am sinful and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died to pay the penalty for my sin. I want to turn from my sin nature and follow You instead. I invite You to come into my heart and life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The title Liquid Sunshine is a symbolic expression derived from simply taking the trials throughout life (rain) and merely perceiving them as growth from the Lord (sunshine). Understand this is the reason why sunshine and rain, good days and bad ones, have been given to us from God-so we can grow in moderation as plants do, trusting in him. In this story of love, life, and fi nding the will of God, Jayden Rockaway, a charming senior in college, struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with the Lord, while involved with his girlfriend and an unwanted third party. After multiple breakups and much tension between the three of them, the Lord's will for his life is found. Throughout this challenging experience, God paints a beautiful work of art and only by Jayden's willingness was it created. Once he stopped chasing the temporary and meaningless things of this world and pursued the perpetual and everlasting things that God wanted for him, he mentally saw a completed image, what many call the big picture, right before his very eyes. Now, we can all agree that hindsight is a wonderful explosion of revelation; however, to receive a glimpse of a painting before it is fi nished is a gift like none other. Step into this story and share my umbrella, if you will. See how the good and bad weather of a particular season can blend together and create one beautiful day.

Sand between my toes, the salt air wrapping around me like a warm, summer blanket, the crashing of waves, and the meeting of sky and water. The beach is where I see the handiwork of God. As a young child, it was there that I wished that I could walk on the water as Jesus and Peter had in Matthew 14. It was there that I learned of faith, the faith that requires you to not only step out of the boat but also to focus on Jesus and learn to walk toward Him daily. It is not enough to just get out of our comfort zones, but now we need to learn to grow and walk toward Him constantly. The Faith to Walk on Water takes a look at why standing still in our faith is no longer an option, how doubt and fear are overcome by Jesus. He does not watch from a distance, but He is always there holding out His hand for us to take hold. So what are you waiting for? Take that step, and walk on the water