Raised by her aunt and uncle at the rectory in the small English village of Grimston Way, lovely Evy Varley remembers little of her parents and nothing of South Africa, the land where she was orphaned during the Zulu War of 1878. But when Sir Rogan Chantry, the arrogant and handsome son of the local Squire accuses Evy’s mother of stealing the infamous Kimberly Black Diamond, Evy sets out to prove the rogue wrong and clear her mother’s name. Secrets abound, however, from the diamond mines of South Africa to the halls of her own beloved rectory. A stunned Evy finds that her own aunt and uncle may have concealed disturbing truths about her family, and the rakish Sir Rogan has his own reasons to seek the Black Diamond. Now, faced with a dangerous past and an uncertain future, Evy must draw upon her wits and her faith to pursue Tomorrow’s Treasure by Linda Lee Chaikin.
The day before a teenage Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other and buried them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later, dig the box up, and read the letters. But now, as that date approaches, much has changed. Ellie has abandoned the faith she grew up with, her days consumed with loving her little girl and trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches TV to catch a glimpse of her old friend Nolan, now an NBA star, whose faith is known by the entire nation. But few know that Nolan’s own personal tragedies have fueled both his faith and athletic drive. Despite his success, Nolan is isolated and lonely, plagued by a void in his heart that has remained since that night beneath the old oak tree with Ellie. For both Ellie and Nolan, the coming date is more than just a childhood promise. It’s the chance to make sense of it all - the chance to find out if it’s ever too late to find love again. Karen Kingsbury weaves a moving tale of heart-wrenching loss, the power of faith, and the wounds that only a forever kind of love can heal in The Chance. She delves deeply into a theme that resonates within us all - Hope lives for those willing to take a chance.
In Karen Kingsbury’s novel Where Yesterday Lives, Ellen Barrett is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist with an uncertain marriage, a forgotten faith, and haunting memories of her picturesque hometown and the love she left behind. The eldest of five siblings, Ellen longs for the time long ago when they were happy - when they were a family. Then tragedy strikes - Ellen’s beloved father is dead, and she must leave Miami and return to her childhood home on the shores of Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey, Michigan. And she returns to the world that was, an avalanche of memories is unleashed. And so Ellen’s quest begins - a quest to make peace with the people who still live there, with the losses and chances that time has wrought, and with the future God has set before her.
In an effort to complete a war his father had planned to win, King Xerxes calls every governor, satrap and official in his vast kingdom to his palace in Susa to strategize and feast. When they finally leave, he decides on one more week of frivolity, which ends in the banishment of his favorite wife, something he never intended to do. But in Star of Persia by Jill Eileen Smith Xerxes discovers Esther, and he is sure he has a second chance at happiness. In her wildest dreams, Esther could never have imagined that she would end up as queen of Persia. Yet she knows better than to become complacent. Another of Xerxes’ wives is vying for position, and his closest advisor has a deep and dangerous grudge against Esther’s adoptive father. Caught in the middle of palace politics, Esther will find herself in an impossible position: risk her life or consign her people to annihilation.
Prayer is the Christian’s mightiest weapon. And as you come to know the character of God by his many names, you’ll renew your prayer life and your relationship with God in ways that will astonish you. In Praying Through the Names of God by Tony Evans, you will experience God as Jehovah Jireh, “the Lord will provide”, allow God to be El Simchath Gili, “God my exceeding joy”, make God your Jehovah Ori, “the Lord my light”, know peace through Jehovah Shalom, “the Lord our peace”, take God as your power source as Jehovah Uzzi, “the Lord my strength”, and make wiser decisions by sitting at the feet of Peleh Yo’etz, “Wonderful Counselor”.
Most of us feel utterly ransacked. We are waylaid by endless demands and stifling routines. Even our vacations have a panicky, task-like edge to them. “If I only had more time“ is the mantra of our age. But is this the real problem? In The Rest of God, widely acclaimed author Mark Buchanan states that what we’ve really lost is “The rest of God - the rest God bestows and, with it, that part of himself we can know only through stillness". We have forgotten the ancient wisdom, rooted in God’s own rhythm of work and rest, of Sabbath. Sabbath is an elixir and antidote. It is a gift for our sanity and wholeness - to prolong our lives, to enrich our relationships, to increase our fruitfulness, to make our joy complete. Sabbath restores our bent and withered parts. The gift of Sabbath is essential to our full humanity and faith. God, knowing that, and knowing how easily we might neglect it, made it a command. We’ve neglected it anyhow. We’ve lost the rest of God. This book seeks to change that - to help us receive anew the gift of Sabbath, this day of rest and play and replenishment. Sabbath, truly kept, is delightful. It is a weekly festival that subverts the tyranny of clock and chore. Sabbath allows us to live more fully into our status as free people, people released from the grueling, incessant demands of taskmasters. We anticipate, in the sweet shadow of Sabbath, the ultimate rest, heaven. Far from being some starched and dour day only to be endured, Sabbath is a day wide and bright, brimming with laughter, enough to lend beauty to all our other days.
What would you do if Jesus appeared to you in a dream? What if He came to you in a vision and told you to follow Him? What if these visions continued for over thirty days? Would you believe? Would you put your trust in Him? Would you devote your life to Him? Would you if you were Muslim? Pastor Tom Doyle has spent eleven years as a full time missionary in the Middle East and Central Asia, spreading the Word of Jesus Christ. Throughout his journey, he has encountered a staggering number of Muslims who were first introduced to Jesus through a vision or dream so powerful they eventually turned from their lifelong religion of Islam and embraced Christ as their Savior. Despite living in a culture where converting to Christianity can result in execution, these former Muslims have found the hope, peace, and inspiration that comes from knowing Christ. Their stories will amaze you. Jesus is reaching out to Muslims and they are responding. Dreams and Visions by Tom Doyle is a remarkable collection of stories directly from the world of Islam. Doyle not only relates these stories but also addresses the questions: Why would God use dreams to reach the Muslim world? Can dreams be trusted? What happens after these dreams or visions occur? Travel to the heart of the Middle East to meet new believers who have truly been touched by Jesus in the most miraculous way - through their nightly dreams.
Many have expressed concern over our future as a nation. Will we give in to moral decay? Or will we continue to receive the blessing and favor of God? It sometimes seems that we are on a dangerous course, and we wonder how we can turn our nation around. Evangelist James Robison offers a solution: a return to God through prayer and action. In The Soul of a Nation, he offers 30 days of directed prayer for our future and our children’s futures. He gives reflections on current events, passages of Scripture presenting a godly perspective on those events, and importantly, a prayer for God’s will to be done. Prayer holds a vital key to our success or failure. The collective prayers of Christians who match their words with actions have the power to turn the tide. This book offers a guide for that kind of life-changing prayer.
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