Rattlesnakes and Rainbows

The Purpose-driven Life

What on Earth Am I Here For?

Rick Warren

Rick Warren helps readers to discover, develop, and fulfill God's purpose for their lives.

Hand Me Another Brick

Timeless Lessons on Leadership

Charles R. Swindoll

Do others look to you for leadership? Do you face a major task or shoulder heavy responsibilities? Do you want to take your leadership skills to a higher level? When Nehemiah confronted the task of rebuilding Jerusalem's wall, he was heartbroken by the damage he saw and nearly overwhelmed by the task that lay before him. Yet through the application of timeless leadership principles, Nehemiah completed this nearly impossible project, and laid a pattern for success which is just as valid for us today. Charles Swindoll brings his sensible and straightforward style to offer a deeply spiritual approach to the role of leader. Whatever the context, secular or ministerial, he demonstrates how to size up a task, organize and motivate a team, and respond to inevitable obstacles such as these: Unforeseen setbacks Unrelenting deadlines Criticism and outside resistance Personality conflicts Financial pressures and temptations The insights that Swindoll draws from Nehemiah's wise administration will change your approach to leadership forever.

Virgin Nation

Sexual Purity and American Adolescence

Sara Moslener

First taking hold of the American cultural imagination in the 1990s, the sexual purity movement of contemporary evangelicalism has since received considerable attention from a wide range of media outlets, religious leaders, and feminist critics. Virgin Nation offers a history of this movement that goes beyond the Religious Right, demonstrating a link between sexual purity rhetoric and fears of national decline that has shaped American ideas about morality since the nineteenth century. Concentrating on two of today's best known purity organizations, True Loves Waits and Silver Ring Thing, Sara Moslener's investigation reveals that purity work over the last two centuries has developed in concert with widespread fears of changing traditional gender roles and sexual norms, national decline, and global apocalypse. Moslener highlights a number of points in U.S. history when evangelical beliefs and values have seemed to provide viable explanations for and solutions to widespread cultural crises, resulting in the growth of their cultural and political influence. By asserting a causal relationship between sexual immorality, national decline, and apocalyptic anticipation, leaders have shaped a purity rhetoric that positions Protestant evangelicalism as the salvation of American civilization. From the purity reformers of the nineteenth century to fundamentalist leaders such as Billy Graham and Carl F.H. Henry, Moslener illuminates the evolution of a strain of purity rhetoric that runs throughout Protestant evangelicalism.

Uninvited

Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely

Lysa TerKeurst

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Do you ever feel left out, lonely, or less than? Learn the secret of belonging, which will help you keep rejections in perspective and be better equipped to foster healthy connections in your relationships. New York Times bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst shares her own deeply personal experiences of rejection from the perceived judgment of the perfectly toned woman one elliptical over to the incredibly painful childhood abandonment by her father. She leans in to honestly examine the roots of rejection, as well as rejection's ability to poison relationships from the inside out, including our relationship with God. With biblical depth, gut-honest vulnerability, and refreshing wit, Lysa will help you: Stop feeling left out by believing that even when you are overlooked by others you are handpicked by God. Change your tendency to either fall apart or control the actions of others by embracing God-honoring ways to process your hurt. Know exactly what to pray for the next ten days to steady your soul and restore your confidence in the midst of rejection. Overcome the two core fears that feed your insecurities by understanding the secret of belonging. Uninvited reminds us we are destined for a love that can never be diminished, tarnished, shaken, or taken—a love that does not reject, but instead accepts and invites. Look for additional biblically based resources and devotionals from Lysa: Good Boundaries and Goodbyes Forgiving What You Can't Forget It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way You're Going to Make It Embraced Seeing Beautiful Again

Walking on Water

Reflections on Faith & Art

Madeleine L'Engle

Addressing the subject of "faith and art" head on, this masterful work examines the difference between Christian art and secular art, as well as the relationship between the two. Award-winning artist L'Engle exhorts artists to listen to, remain aware of, and to respond to creation through one's own art.

New Seeds of Contemplation

Thomas Merton

On spiritual rebirth through encounter with God in an expanded version, by the author of Seven Storey Mountain.