Through the years and the struggles, when life seemed more about hurt and loss than hope and mercy, God was positioning the Smiths for something extraordinary--the death and resurrection of their son.

When Joyce Smith's fourteen-year-old son John fell through an icy Missouri lake one winter morning, she and her family had seemingly lost everything. At the hospital, John lay lifeless for more than sixty minutes. But Joyce was not ready to give up on her son. She mustered all her faith and strength into one force and cried out to God in a loud voice to save him.

Miraculously, her son's heart immediately started beating again.

In the coming days, John would defy every expert, every case history, and every scientific prediction. Sixteen days after falling through the ice and being clinically dead for an hour, he walked out of the hospital under his own power, completely healed.

BREAKTHROUGH is about a profound truth: prayer really does work. God uses it to remind us that He is always with us, and when we combine it with unshakable faith, nothing is impossible.

Previously published as The Impossible.

THE IMPOSSIBLE reveals prayer's immediate and powerful impact through the true account of a family whose son died and was miraculously resurrected.

Through the years and the struggles, when life seemed more about hurt and loss than hope and mercy, God was positioning the Smiths for something extraordinary - the death and resurrection of their son.

When Joyce Smith's 14-year-old son John fell through an icy Missouri lake one winter morning, she and her family had seemingly lost everything. At the hospital, John lay lifeless for more than 60 minutes. They asked themselves, How could God do this to us? But Joyce was not ready to give up on her son. She mustered all her faith and strength and cried out to God in a loud voice to save her son.

Immediately, her son's heart miraculously started beating, again.

In the coming days, her son would defy every expert, every case history, and every scientific prediction. Sixteen days after falling through the ice and being clinically dead for an hour, John Smith walked out of the hospital under his own power, completely healed.

THE IMPOSSIBLE is about a profound truth: prayer really does work. God uses it to remind us that He is always with us, and when we combine it with unshakable faith, nothing is impossible.

One of the first unaccompanied refugee children to enter the United States in 2000, after South Sudan's second civil war took the lives of most of her family, Rebecca's story begins in the late 1980s when, at the age of four, her village was attacked and she had to escape. WHAT THEY MEANT FOR EVIL is the account of that unimaginable journey. With the candor and purity of a child, Rebecca recalls how she endured fleeing from gunfire, suffering through hunger and strength-sapping illnesses, dodging life-threatening predators-lions, snakes, crocodiles, and soldiers alike-that dogged her footsteps, and grappling with a war that stole her childhood. Her story is a lyrical, captivating portrait of a child hurled into wartime, and how through divine intervention, she came to America and found a new life full of joy, hope, and redemption.

When you're in the trenches, sometimes you're up to your neck in mud. That's the not-so-glamorous life of a pastor's wife. Felicia's family is...complicated. That's putting it nicely. Now they're flying in from LA -- all at once -- to stay with her...just when her brother-in-law, Javier, and Mama aren't even speaking to each other. And the whole church will be there to witness the feud. Mimi has a lot on her mind with her four energetic kids -- especially Milo the screamer, with his Pavarotti voice. Then her live-in alcoholic dad starts to mow their lawn at midnight. Lisa has her hands full with loudmouth Tom Graves and the other troublemakers at Red River Assembly. Then vicious rumors start to fly about the Barton family...and the attacks and threats get increasingly personal. Jennifer is pushing her adopted daughter, Carys, in a stroller, when she notices a black town car -- the same car she's seen several times over the past week. Could someone be following her? The PWs plunge into an unnerving mystery...and discover what "family" really means.

LIFE IS SOMETIMES MESSY...
"especially when people expect you to be perfect."
Jennifer, who volunteers at a crisis pregnancy center, has waited years for a baby. Why is it so easy for girls like Jessica to get pregnant -- and so hard for her? Is it possible to want a baby too much?
Lisa's teenage daughter, Callie, is giving her the silent treatment. And her attitude at church -- when she goes -- majorly stinks. The board already criticizes her husband's ministry. What will they say now?
Mimi is overwhelmed. Baby Milo cries continually until she's so tired she can't see straight. Will anybody ever see her for her -- not just as a mom and a house slave?
Felicia's four-year-old, Nicholas, is biting people again. And the timing couldn't be worse...especially when Felicia's boss is about to close her Cincinnati PR office.
Then there's the snobby Katherine Katt, who's determined to lord it over them all....
A WORD FROM THE WIVES...
"Mimi thought of her kids -- especially her second child, MJ. If she instituted a naughty corner, he'd basically end up living there. She could set up a small cot and etch the words MJ's Naughty Corner right into the wall. "If we could only have a naughty corner for ornery church members..." Jennifer said with a mischievous smile." -- Mimi
""Sometimes I look at my family and at the ministry and wonder if the sacrifice is too great. We're doing all this for God's kingdom...but, in the process, losing our daughter. Is it worth it? Is this really what God had in mind? I don't know."" -- Lisa
""You listen to me, Kitty. If you tell Sam that secret, I'll tell Norm your secret "" -- Jennifer
""Hey, how tough can being a stay-at-home mom be, really? I ran a public relations office; I'm used to challenges. This should be a piece of cake."" -- Felicia

Four pastors' wives. All desperate for something.
"Is it possible that their desperation will lead to hope?"
Mimi, Lisa, Jennifer, and Felicia all live in the fishbowl of Red River, Ohio. Everyone expects something from them. Gourmet casseroles. Perfect husbands. Well-behaved children. They expect even more of themselves.
The constant demands and always-ringing phones are enough to drive any sane woman crazy. Add to all that the condescending Katherine Fleming Katt -- self-promoting pastor's wife of the town's largest church -- who loves to flaunt her superior position. In the midst of such chaos, will each woman find the one thing she longs for?
When the unflappable Kitty Katt starts showing up at odd places, the four friends get suspicious. Is Kitty hiding something? What secrets lie behind her "perfect" exterior? But even more significant than unraveling Kitty Katt's secrets is finding answers for themselves.

When Kim de Blecourt and her husband decided to adopt a child from Ukraine, they knew that the process might be challenging. Nothing, however, could have prepared de Blecourt for the twisted nightmare she would endure. During her year-long struggle to extricate her newly adopted little boy from that post-Soviet country's corrupt social service and judicial systems, de Blecourt was intimidated, physically assaulted, and arrested. Worse, her months of loneliness, worry, and fear drove her to the brink of spiritual despair. But God had no intention of abandoning de Blecourt or her family. Her amazing story-culminating in a spine-chilling race to freedom-offers dramatic proof that God's light shines on even in the deepest darkness.