Stories retold by Dave and Neta Jackson from the Martyrs Mirror, these stories reflect a cross-section of the thousands of men and women who lost their lives because of their faith during the 16th century. 184 pages.

In the thick of the holiday season, God gives the Yada Yadas an unforgettable celebration. It's that time of year, and the holidays are just around the corner. The Yada Yada Prayer Group is in a tizzy of excitement-kids home from college, turkeys to be roasted, gifts to buy, trees to decorate ...not to mention getting decked out for a huge New Year's Eve party to welcome back a few Yada Yada sisters who've been away too long. But when Jodi Baxter is thrown into a series of events that include a frenzied wedding, a newborn baby, and some strange encounters with a former student, the holiday season suddenly becomes just a jumble of chaos. As Jodi slows down long enough to look at each unexpected event from God's point of view, she discovers what it means to be a part of God's upside-down kingdom, decked out in compassion, kindness, and a huge willingness to let go of control. This will be a holiday that Jodi, her family, and her prayer-group sisters will never forget as they don their most festive outfits and raise the roof in a celebration of prayer and praise.

The Yada Yada Prayer Group is in trouble"--"and they're having a hard time getting out.

Jodi Baxter is feeling overwhelmed, to say the least. Every day it seems that more blessings, problems, and everything in between crop up among her Yada Yada sisters, and their prayer list is getting out of control.

Not only are the Yada Yadas still recovering from the vicious racial attack on Mark, but Ruth and Ben's midlife pregnancy takes a dangerous turn, Avis's daughter and grandbaby show up unannounced, Florida's artistic son gets caught tagging, and Uptown is talking about merging with New Morning into one racially mixed church--raising anxiety and stress to new levels. To top it all off, Jodi keeps saying yes--to everything. It's getting harder to see God in the everyday rat race of life, especially in the face of exhaustion.

With so many burdens resting on her circle of sisters, Jodi fi nds herself trapped by the good--and bad--habit of trying to fi x everything and everyone. After lots (and lots) of failures, Jodi begins to learn that God can use anything, even the messes we make, to accomplish His good purposes.

What will it take to help the Yada Yadas focus on God's promises instead of getting caught by the lies we so easily believe?

You can only walk forward when you learn how to lean. Just months after her husband threw her out of their penthouse and sent their two sons away, Gabrielle Fairbanks is finally getting back on her feet. She has a job she loves at the homeless shelter, an apartment for her and the boys, caring friends, and even a new love interest. Best of all, an unexpected windfall has given her a brand-new dream--a House of Hope for homeless mothers and their children. Piece by piece, Gabby's new life is coming together--but the old one keeps dragging her back. First her husband Philip hints at a reconciliation...then hits her up for a loan to pay his gambling debts. And when Gabby tells him no, he makes a desperate move that puts them all in harm's way. How can she even think of embarking on a new venture when so much is up in the air? Gabby is realizing that she needs something far greater than her own strength or even that of her friends. That to move forward, she must first lean on the only One who knows what the future holds.

Prayer is a powerful spiritual weapon. And the Yada Yadas are about to learn just how strong it really is.

The women of the Chicago-born Yada Yada Prayer Group have developed a strong sisterly bond. They've had a wild year full of joy, sorrow, and a healthy dose of laughter. Lots of laughter.

But just when life gets comfortable, things get shaken up. The sisters don't expect trouble to crop up so soon after the exuberant wedding of Yada Yada member Avis Johnson. But it happens, and sorrow meets their joy head-on.

It's the kind of sorrow that shakes up their whole town, their whole group, their lives. And it's not just sorrow--it's fear and hate and a whole lot of tension. A white supremacy hate group targets a local university and viciously attacks Nony's husband, barely sparing his life.

With their loved one balancing between life and death, the mismatched sisters get tough--really tough--and their prayer group becomes much more than just a Bible study. It becomes a lifeline.

Lucy Tucker has been on the streets of Chicago for 50 years. Why won't she come home? Fifteen-year-old Cindy worked long days beside her migrant worker family in Michigan's sugar beet fields in the early 1940s-the "war years"-until she met a dashing young man from a traveling carnival, bringing some joy and fun into her hard-scrabble life. But a tragic twist of fate-and a dead field boss-sent the two young people on the run, leaving behind family and everything she'd ever known. Lucy Tucker, the crotchety old bag lady from the popular Yada Yada House of Hope series, is a veteran of the Chicago streets and not about to give up her independence, even as she approaches her 80th birthday. Until, that is, a young displaced woman with her gentle ageing mother and a dog named Dandy seem to need her-unsettling the secretive Lucy, who doesn't let anyone get too close. But just when it seems her past is catching up with her to bring her in out of the cold ... Lucy disappears again. How these two tales intersect and intertwine between past and present gradually shines light into the dark corners of Lucy's murky past. But ... why won't Lucy come home?

LIVING TOGETHER IN A WORLD FALLING APART The classic "handbook on Christian community," with updated reflections By Dave and Neta Jackson When LIVING TOGETHER IN A WORLD FALLING APART was first published in 1974, tensions in society-an unpopular war, racial divisions, fearful economics, the seeming futility of "success," and widespread alienation-were not addressed in most churches. Racism still thrived, worship meant three hymns and you're out, and relationships had deteriorated to weekly handshakes. But many believed-based on New Testament descriptions of the early church-that this couldn't be all God planned for his people. These restless souls eagerly read about Dave and Neta Jackson's personal search as they experimented with household living and took a road trip visiting the crop of emerging Christian communities around the country. Written in a breezy, candid manner, LIVING TOGETHER became not only a bestseller and classic "handbook on Christian community," but provided perhaps the only sociological snapshot of the many Christian communities from that era. Now, because many conditions in church and society are repeating themselves, interest in Christian community is reviving-whether through small groups, house churches, the emerging church movement, the new monasticism, or among Christians experimenting with communal living as a way to be more faithful, effective, and connected. This updated edition contains the original text of LIVING TOGETHER as well as many of the Jacksons' personal reflections and evaluations after living in Christian community for over 25 years, thereby providing nearly 30 percent new material.

Sometimes you find hope in the last place you look.

Gabrielle Fairbanks has nearly lost touch with the carefree, spirited young woman she was shen she married her husband sixteen years ago. But when the couple moves to Chicago to accommodate Philip's ambition, Gabby longs for the chance to find real purpose in her own life.

A chance encounter with a homeless woman suddenly opens a dooor she never expected. The women of Manna House Women's Shelter need a Program Director--and she has the right credentials. Gabby's in her element, feeling God's call on her life at last, even though Philip doesn't like the changes he sees in her. But she never anticipated his ultimatum: quit your job at the shelter or risk divorce and losing custody of our sons.

In this moment, Gabby's entire foundation shifts. She must find refuge, as in the song they sing at Sunday worship: "Where do I go when there's no one else to turn to . . . I go to the Rock I know that's able, I go to the Rock."

For everyone who loves the best-selling Yada Yada Prayer Group novels comes a brand new series sprinkled with familiar faces and places from the Yada Yada world. It's the perfect novel to start with--or to meet friends from past Yada stories.

What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student and a married mother of two have in common?

Nothing, or so I thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a prayer group as mismatched as ours the closest of friends? I almost didn't even go to the Chicago Women's Conference--after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn't exactly my "comfort zone." But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together, and the Yada Yada Prayer Group" was born When I faced the biggest crisis of my life, God used my newfound Sisters to show me what it means to be just a sinner saved by grace.

In the last place she ever imagined she'd be, Gabby will discover what she's made of--and for.
Gabrielle Fairbanks knew her husband was upset with her. But she never expected him to change the locks on their Chicago penthouse, cancel her credit cards, and disappear with their two boys. Now she's literally on the streets with her elderly mother, her mom's dog...and $220 to her name.
Thank goodness she has somewhere to go--Manna House, the women's shelter where she works. But even in the bustling shelter--surrounded by residents and the Yada Yada Prayer Group--Gabby feels more alone than ever. She longs for someone she can really talk to, someone to help mend together the pieces of her broken life. Her warm-hearted lawyer seems ready to offer more than legal counsel...but is he the answer to prayer or just a pleasant distraction?
As her fragile plans fall apart, Gabby hits on a possibility so wild and wonderful it has to be one of those "God things." Something she's only seen happen to other Christians. Until now.
For everyone who loves the best-selling Yada Yada Prayer Group novels...The Yada Yada House of Hope series features familiar faces and places, with a fresh new life all its own.

Just when the Yada Yadas want to get comfy, they realize God is on the move. It's time for the sisters to let go ...and let God take the lead. These aren't easy times for the Yada Yadas: a devastating fi re, an HIV diagnosis, loss of loved ones, and possible prison time loom over the sisters' heads. More than once, they dissolve into tears and worry. But when so much seems to be going wrong, the sisters know where to turn ...prayer. And as Jodi Baxter's prayer life continues to be revolutionized by the Yada Yada Prayer Group, she begins to recognize God's voice. It's still, it's small, and she often confuses it with her own feelings. But it's there. When Jodi works up the courage to open herself to God's plan, it propels her into a world completely outside her comfort zone: prison ministry. But as the sisters follow God's lead, something happens-something that knocks their socks off. Reaching out in ways that are startling to others, they surprise even themselves. Because when this eccentric group of friends gets rolling, miracles will happen.

The sisters of the Yada Yada Prayer Group are learning how to be real--with each other and with God.

After a particularly exhausting year with the Yada Yada Prayer Group, all Jodi Baxter wants is a break. She even asks God for a little "dull and boring" in the new year. Instead she finds that when you're open to His plans, life is unpredictable--in the best and hardest ways.

Jodi's life is suddenly full of changes, and they can be described as anything but boring. Out of all the Yada Yadas, God has Leslie "Stu" Stuart move into the Baxter's upstairs flat, which requires a lot of patience--and tongue-biting--on Jodi's part. She's continually unnerved by guilt stemming from the accident and dreads the day when she comes face-to-face with Hakim's mother. Plus, Bandana Woman, who was safely locked up in prison, has returned. Phew

Through prayer and friendship, the Yada Yadas are getting real. Dull and boring? Not a chance.

The Yada Yada Prayer Group seems invincible--until tension and distrust shake its very foundation.

Jodi Baxter is slowly recuperating from a horrific car accident, but before she's fully recovered, other problems arise within the Yada Yada Prayer Group--big problems. The turmoil starts when a heroin-addicted woman charges into a prayer meeting with a knife and isn't afraid to use it.

Things really take a turn for the worse when grim accusations are made against Jodi's husband. Racial division, pain, and pride are tearing this close-knit group of women apart, and Jodi isn't sure if she and her spiritual sisters will be able to survive the mess.

The Yada Yadas are forced to get down to the nitty-gritty in their relationships and in their prayers. But is forgiveness possible--not just of their closest friends . . . but also of their enemies?