Devotions to Help Women Live with Joy and Confidence

Life doesn't always go the way you planned. The world is full of cancelations, frustrations, broken relationships, and hurts that can go down deep. When these painful experiences come (and they always do!) you are left feeling let down and unhappy. But, when you rely on God and go to Him in prayer, you can still thrive, even when life is difficult.

Prayers to Help You Thrive is a beautiful mix of devotions, Scripture, prayers, and prompts that will help you develop resilience by strengthening your time with God. You will:

• Have a deeper relationship with the Lord and a more consistent and meaningful prayer life.
• Learn how to thrive no matter what season of life you're experiencing by relying upon God's strength.
• Better understand how to handle sensitive topics like social justice, economic equality, social media addiction, mental health, relationships, and decision-making with grace and hopefulness.
• Gain insights into how to live with faithful determination by hearing from a range of expert voices including Shauna Niequist, Chike Chukudebelu, Katie Hardeman, Margaret Hogan, Denise Hildreth Jones, Tsh Oxenreider, Rachel Randolph, and Alece Ronzino.

Thriving can feel difficult in your day-to-day, especially when life's curveballs come. But God's purpose for you includes thriving in His goodness and living with joy and confidence--through a relationship with Him. Prayers to Help You Thrive will inspire you come to Him today and thrive in the life and hope that is yours in Christ.

Speak, by popular blogger Nish Weiseth, is a book about the power of telling our own stories and hearing those of others to change hearts, build bridges, advocate for good, make disciples with grace, and proclaim God s kingdom on Earth today.

Nish Weiseth exhorts today s Christians to follow Jesus example by using story as a vehicle for change. After all, Jesus was a master storyteller. He frequently and effectively used the art of storytelling to communicate deep truths about God, humanity, love, and eternity to a culture on the brink. His stories defied social norms, revealed God s Kingdom, and fiercely advocated for the least of these.

With examples from Scripture as the foundation, Speak is a call for grace, openness, and vulnerability within the evangelical church. Nish Weiseth encourages those in the Body of Christ to know their own story of transformation and redemption and to use those stories as a catalyst for change at both a personal and global level."

Reflect, pray, and cook with New York Times bestselling author Shauna Niequist. Savor is a 365-day devotional that helps you soak up the goodness all around you, be aware of holy fingerprints everywhere, and walk through each day cherishing those glints of the divine in the daily. Come and pause in these pages, day by day, and attune your senses to the fullness and presence of God all day long—whether that's a hug, a tomato sandwich, a quiet moment, or a text from a loved one.  Savor teaches: To savor each day, whatever it holds—work and play, meals and prayers, the good stuff and the hard stuff Life is all about relationships, and your daily relationship with God is worth savoring in every moment Recipes from Shauna's kitchen to enjoy around a table with your community  Inside you'll find: 21 delicious recipes, from summer salads to French toast to fondue 365 devotions—each devotion includes a short Bible passage, an insightful story from Shauna, and a thoughtful prompt to help you live out your faith A ribbon marker to help you keep your place This devotional makes a perfect gift for a friend looking to experience a more integrated faith and anyone who loves trying out new recipes or enjoys hosting gatherings for loved ones. Look for additional inspirational books and audio products from Shauna: I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet Present Over Perfect Present Over Perfect Guided Journal Bread and Wine Cold Tangerines Bittersweet    

You can only go so far for so long before you find the limits of yourself. For Phileena Heuertz that moment arrived, mercifully, around the same time as a sabbatical to mark her twelfth year of service with an international organization working with some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Activists often see contemplation as a luxury, the sort of thing necessarily set aside in the quest to see the world set aright. But in Pilgrimage of a Soul we see that contemplation is essential-not only to a life of sustained commitment to the justice and righteousness of God, but to the fully human life that the Holy Spirit beckons each of us to. Tracing seven movements from a kind of sleepfulness to a kind of wakefulness, Phileena shows us that life is a journey that repeats itself as Christ leads us deeper and deeper into our true selves and a truer knowledge of God. This revised edition includes practices with each chapter, as well as questions for group discussion and individual reflection.

LIVE A LIFE OF MEANING AND CONNECTION Instead of pushing for perfection A few years ago, I found myself exhausted and isolated, my soul and body sick. I was tired of being tired, burned out on busy. And, it seemed almost everyone I talked with was in the same boat: longing for connection, meaning, depth, but settling for busy. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, writer, and I know all too well that settling feeling. But over the course of the last few years, I've learned a way to live, marked by grace, love, rest, and play. And it's changing everything. Present Over Perfect is an invitation to this journey that changed my life. I'll walk this path with you, a path away from frantic pushing and proving, and toward your essential self, the one you were created to be before you began proving and earning for your worth. Written in Shauna's warm and vulnerable style, this collection of essays focuses on the most important transformation in her life, and maybe yours too: leaving behind busyness and frantic living and rediscovering the person you were made to be. Present Over Perfect is a hand reaching out, pulling you free from the constant pressure to perform faster, push harder, and produce more, all while maintaining an exhausting image of perfection. Shauna offers an honest account of what led her to begin this journey, and a compelling vision for an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, and connection with the people that matter most to us. In these pages, you'll be invited to consider the landscape of your own life, and what it might look like to leave behind the pressure to be perfect and begin the life-changing practice of simply being present, in the middle of the mess and the ordinariness of life.

What If You're Not a Failure? What If You're Not Falling Behind? What If You're Learning? "Every single thing that used to work has stopped working, all at the same time." Award-winning author Shauna Niequist's mom wrote down this phrase in her mid-forties and shared it with Shauna in her mid-forties. It was exactly the way Shauna was feeling at the time. Many of the beliefs and practices that had been useful in her life no longer worked. After trying-and failing-to move forward using the same old tools, she realized she required new ones: courage, curiosity, and self-compassion. Throughout the five sessions of her I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet video series, Shauna talks about unlearning what is no longer helpful, embracing curiosity, and making peace with the unexpected twists and turns of life. She shares candidly about the challenges and blessings she has experienced and invites participants to explore what happens when we release our expectations for how we thought life would look and open ourselves up to the freedom and peace that come from choosing to be a beginner again. Whatever you're trying to navigate, Shauna's honest reflections offer hope for healing and encouragement to begin again. Discover that life is more about questions than answers, more about forgiveness than force, more about tenderness than trying hard. This study guide includes: Individual access to five streaming video sessions A guide to best practices for leading a group Video notes and a comprehensive structure for group discussion time Solo study section with questions and biblical passages for reflection between sessions Sessions and video run times: When Change Comes (And It Always Does) (19:30) Tender Toward Ourselves (20:30) Questions, Questions (24:00) Learning to be Brave (19:00) Coming Home (15:30) This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself-with discussion and reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all video sessions online. (You don't need to buy a DVD!) Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

Christianity Today Book Award Winner; ECPA Award Finalist Boldly honest, powerfully told, deeply moving - this is a story about finding yourself. Seth Haines' memoir holds up a mirror to all of our stories to show the peace that is possible when we release our addictions and receive the healing presence of God. Seth Haines was in the hospital with his wife, planning funeral songs for their not-yet two-year-old, when he made a very conscious decision: this was the last day he wanted to feel. That evening, he asked his sister to smuggle in a bottle of gin and gave in to addiction. But whether or not you've ever had a drop to drink in your life, this book is for all who have sought ways to stop their pain. Like Seth, we're all seeking balms for the anxiety of what sometimes seems to be an absent, unresponsive God - whether it's through people-pleasing, social media likes, shopping, the internet, food, career highs, or even good works and elite theology. Too often we attempt to escape our anxiety through addiction - any old addiction. But it often leaves us feeling even more empty than before. In Coming Clean, Seth Haines writes a raw account of his first 90 days of sobriety, illuminating how to face the pain we'd rather avoid, and even more importantly, how an abiding God meets us in that pain. Seth shows us that true wholeness is found in facing our pain and anxieties with the tenacity and tenderness of Jesus, and only through Christ's passion can we truly come clean.

Shauna Niequist calls us to see the beauty, hope, and dimension in our ordinary days through the life-giving practice of celebration. Cold Tangerines is beautiful narration of Shauna's journey as a young writer, wife, and mom making peace with herself and crafting a life that celebrates the extraordinary moments hidden in the everyday. Throughout each story echoes the heartbeat message that the normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidewalks, at our dinner tables and in our late-night talks--is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience. With her signature warmth and vulnerable storytelling, Shauna offers a feast of thoughtful reflections on the small moments that make up the human experience, the spiritual life, and things that seem ordinary but just might be sacred after all. She invites us into a new way of living with the awareness of God's movement gracing every part of our day. Both a voice of challenge and song of comfort, this gallery of celebration encourages us to turn our attention to the marvelous life happening right under our noses. Join Shauna in this heartfelt and hopeful call upward to a new way of being, where there's room to breathe, to rest, to break down, and break through to the best possible life.

Join New York Times bestselling author Shauna Niequist as she offers an enchanting mix of funny and vulnerable storytelling in this collection of recipes and essays about the surprising and sacred things that happen when people gather around the table. Bread & Wine is a literary feast about the moments and meals that bring us together. With beautiful and evocative writing, Shauna celebrates the sweet and savory moments that happen when family and friends sit down together. She invites us to see how God teaches and feeds us even as we nourish the people around us, and she explores the ways that hunger, loneliness, and restlessness lead us back to the table again. Part cookbook and part spiritual memoir, Bread & Wine sheds light on: How sharing food together mirrors the way we share our hearts with each other--and with God What it means to follow a God who reveals His presence in breaking bread and passing a cup What happens when we come together, slow down, open our homes, look into one another's faces, and listen to one another's stories A satisfying read for heart and body, you'll want to keep Bread & Wine close at hand all year round. Recreate the meals that come to life in each essay with recipes for any occasion, from Goat Cheese Biscuits and Bacon-Wrapped Dates to Mango Chicken Curry and Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Toffee. For anyone who has found themselves swapping stories over plates of pasta, sharing takeout on the couch, laughing over a burnt recipe, and lingering a little longer for one more bite, this book is for you.

LIVE A LIFE OF MEANING AND CONNECTION Instead of pushing for perfection A few years ago, I found myself exhausted and isolated, my soul and body sick. I was tired of being tired, burned out on busy. And, it seemed almost everyone I talked with was in the same boat: longing for connection, meaning, depth, but settling for busy.I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, writer, and I know all too well that settling feeling. But over the course of the last few years, I've learned a way to live, marked by grace, love, rest, and play. And it's changing everything.Present Over Perfect is an invitation to this journey that changed my life. I'll walk this path with you, a path away from frantic pushing and proving, and toward your essential self, the one you were created to be before you began proving and earning for your worth.Written in Shauna's warm and vulnerable style, this collection of essays focuses on the most important transformation in her life, and maybe yours too: leaving behind busyness and frantic living and rediscovering the person you were made to be. Present Over Perfect is a hand reaching out, pulling you free from the constant pressure to perform faster, push harder, and produce more, all while maintaining an exhausting image of perfection.Shauna offers an honest account of what led her to begin this journey, and a compelling vision for an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, and connection with the people that matter most to us.In these pages, you'll be invited to consider the landscape of your own life, and what it might look like to leave behind the pressure to be perfect and begin the life-changing practice of simply being present, in the middle of the mess and the ordinariness of life.

Hilarious and heartwarming stories that will empower you to make space for the other and discover the extraordinary, welcoming heart of God. Author and Instagram star Heather Avis has made it her mission to introduce the world to the unique gifts and real-life challenges of those who have been pushed to the edges of society. Mama to three adopted kids--two with Down Syndrome--Heather encourages us all to take a breath, whisper a prayer, laugh a little, and make room for the wildflowers. In a world of divisions and margins, those who act, look, and grow a little differently are all too often shoved aside. Scoot Over and Make Some Room is part inspiring narrative and part encouraging challenge for us all to listen and learn from those we're prone to ignore. Heather tells hilarious stories of her growing kids, spontaneous dance parties, forgotten pants, and navigating the challenges and joys of parenthood. She shares heartbreaking moments when her kids were denied a place at the table and when she had to fight for their voices to be heard. With beautiful wisdom and profound convictions, this manifesto will empower you to notice who's missing in the spaces you live in, to make room for your own kids and for those others who need you and your open heart. This is your invitation to a table where space is unlimited and every voice can be heard. Because when you open your life to the wild beauty of every unique individual, you'll discover your own colorful soul and the extraordinary, abundant heart of God.

The Book of Waking Up invites you to wake to your coping mechanisms, find the why behind your pain, and walk into the Divine Love of God. The inevitable pain of life gives us many reasons to check out--and many ways to do it. Alcohol, entertainment, pills, shopping, porn, chasing success, cashing checks, and collecting social media "likes"--these and so many other things anesthetize us from the wounds of everyday living. As Seth Haines wrote in his award-winning book, Coming Clean, "We're all drunk on something." In his compelling follow-up, The Book of Waking Up, Seth invites you into the story of healing. He invites you to see your coping mechanisms for what they are--lesser lovers, which cannot bring the peace, freedom, and wholeness you crave. Through guided reflections, sustainable soul practices, and stories from Seth's life and others, The Book of Waking Up points you toward the Divine Love of God that has the power to transform your life. As Seth writes, "Addiction is misplaced adoration." Now, join him on a journey toward the only Love worth adoring, the only Love that cures a soul. Join him on the journey to waking up.

Join New York Times bestselling author Shauna Niequist as she invites you to experience the precious gifts and wisdom that only come the hard way--through change, loss, and transition. In this collection of poignant essays, Shauna reflects on her own journey of making peace with change, the nuanced mix of excitement and heartbreak that comes with it, and the practices that offer us strength and hope along the way. When life comes at us in waves, our first instinct is to dig in our heels and control what we can. A keen observer of life with a lyrical voice, Shauna offers another way--the way of letting the waves carry us into a deeper awareness of God's presence in our lives, even in the midst of turmoil. Drawing from her own experiences in a season of pain and chaos, Shauna shares her deeply personal struggles with: Difficult moves Career changes Marital stress Financial worries Life-altering loss With honesty and hope, Shauna beautifully unwraps the complicated truth that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a moment of lightness even on the darkest of nights, and that rejoicing is no less meaningful when it contains a splinter of sadness. A tribute to life at the edges, Bittersweet is a love letter to the bittersweet and sacred work that change does in us all. Praise for Bittersweet: "Bittersweet is so delicious I wanted to douse it in butter and syrup and eat the whole thing. I fell into a deep and genuine depression when I read the last word and there were no more. Be kind and please treat yourself to this book. It is lovely and hilarious and poignant in all the best ways that make me so deliriously happy as a reader." --Jen Hatmaker, speaker and bestselling author of Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire and For the Love

"For too many years I missed out on the life God had given me to live-to steward-because I was too busy trying to build a life that looked more...perfect." Shauna Niequist invites you to leave behind perfection-seeking and embrace presence as a way of life-free from illusions and soaked in grace. In this five-session video Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), New York Times bestselling author Shauna Niequist will take you on the same journey that changed her own life-away from frantic striving and toward a soulful thriving. Maintaining an image of perfection is exhausting, and it isn't the way we're meant to live. The Present Over Perfect Study Guide will help you and your group pull each other free from the constant pressure to perform faster, push harder, and produce more. Watch Shauna give a vulnerable account of what led her to begin this journey, and a compelling vision for an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, and connection with the people that matter most to us. The study guide includes first thoughts, video notes, group discussion questions, practicing presence reflections, and solo work for you to complete between sessions. Sessions include: Pain Points The Roles We Play Yes, And No Unflashy, Unspectacular, Good Living the Love Designed for use with the Present Over Perfect Video Study 9780310816034 (sold separately).

Life is turbulent. On that, we can all agree. Disappointed dreams, broken relationships, identity crises, vocational hang-ups, wounds from the past--there are so many ways life can send us crashing up against the rocks. In this deeply personal book, Jonathan Martin draws from his own stories of failure and loss to find the love that can only be discovered on the bottom. How to Survive a Shipwreck is an invitation to trust the goodness of God and the resilience of your soul. Jonathan's clarion call is this: No matter how hard you've fallen, no matter how much you've been hurt, help is on the way--just when you need it most. With visionary artistry and pastoral wisdom, Jonathan Martin reveals what we'll need to make it through those uncharted waters, how we can use these defining experiences to live out of our depths, and why it will then become impossible to go back to the half-life we once lived.

What If You're Not a Failure? What If You're Not Falling Behind? What If You're Learning? "Every single thing that used to work has stopped working, all at the same time." Award-winning author Shauna Niequist's mom wrote down this phrase in her mid-forties and shared it with Shauna in her mid-forties. It was exactly the way Shauna was feeling at the time. Many of the beliefs and practices that had been useful in her life no longer worked. After trying-and failing-to move forward using the same old tools, she realized she required new ones: courage, curiosity, and self-compassion. Throughout the five sessions of her I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet video series, Shauna talks about unlearning what is no longer helpful, embracing curiosity, and making peace with the unexpected twists and turns of life. She shares candidly about the challenges and blessings she has experienced and invites participants to explore what happens when we release our expectations for how we thought life would look and open ourselves up to the freedom and peace that come from choosing to be a beginner again. Whatever you're trying to navigate, Shauna's honest reflections offer hope for healing and encouragement to begin again. Discover that life is more about questions than answers, more about forgiveness than force, more about tenderness than trying hard. This study guide includes: Individual access to five streaming video sessions A guide to best practices for leading a group Video notes and a comprehensive structure for group discussion time Solo study section with questions and biblical passages for reflection between sessions Sessions and video run times: When Change Comes (And It Always Does) (19:30) Tender Toward Ourselves (20:30) Questions, Questions (24:00) Learning to be Brave (19:00) Coming Home (15:30) This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself-with discussion and reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all video sessions online. And the physical DVD. Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

What happens when life begins to trip us up and failure starts creeping in? Many of us just keep on doing the same thing, hoping for different results. Some of us look for escape, to find a way out of the mess we feel that we've created. But neither enduring nor escaping is ultimately what we need. The answer is to allow ourselves to begin again, every day, in every part of our lives. Through engaging, lyrical prose, Leeana Tankersley shows women how to forgive themselves, develop new and healthier patterns of living, and do away with resentment and regret. Her life-giving words will free women who are feeling stuck and allow them to clear out the debris to make room for what God wants to do in their lives. To begin again is to open the window, even a crack, to let the breeze of grace come in. It is a call to stop running from our fears. To take one small step toward becoming the brave women we were made to be.