Grace Amid Tragedy

Grace Amid Tragedy PDF Author: Jim Clark
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595400981
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Get Book Here

Book Description
Among the books written about the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, Grace Amid Tragedy stands out with its broader perspective and inspiring message. As a Red Cross volunteer, Jim Clark was a first-hand witness to the catastrophic damage and the heart-wrenching stories. Going beyond that, however, Clark finds the silver lining in this literal storm, with recognition of the Katrina response as the largest outpouring of donations, volunteers, and compassion in our country's history. Chronicling the courage and spiritual growth of a handful of hurricane victims over the five month period after the hurricane, along with his own sense of personal growth, we are left with an uplifting and insightful testament to the human spirit. Fifty percent of the profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort. "If you're seeking more meaning in your life, this book is an inspiring guide. Jim Clark's descriptions of his experiences with the Hurricane Katrina relief effort make us all feel more alive, connected, and open to our own intuitive, wake-up calls." -- Susan Skog, author

Inheritance of Tears

Inheritance of Tears PDF Author: Jessalyn Hutto
Publisher: Cruciform Press
ISBN: 1941114032
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Get Book Here

Book Description
When a woman becomes pregnant, miscarriage is usually the furthest thing from her mind. Such was the case for Jessalyn Hutto when she became pregnant with her first baby. But as is all too common in our post-fall world, the life she carried came to an abrupt end. Death had visited her womb, and the horrors of miscarriage had become a part of her life’s story. ••• Ultimately, she would lose two children in the womb, at 6 and 15 weeks gestation. Through these painful losses, a whole new world of suffering opened up to her. It seemed that everywhere she looked women were quietly mourning the loss of their unborn children. Yet this particular type of loss has been grossly overlooked by the church. ••• Couples navigating the unique sorrow of losing a child are often left with little biblical counsel to draw upon. Well-meaning friends and family often offer empty platitudes and Christian clichés. But what these couples truly need is the hope of the gospel. ••• Short, sensitive, and theologically robust, Inheritance of Tears offers hope and comfort to those who are called to walk through the painful trial of miscarriage, and shows pastors and church members how to effectively minister to these parents in their time of need.

Future Grace, Revised Edition

Future Grace, Revised Edition PDF Author: John Piper
Publisher: Multnomah
ISBN: 1601424353
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Get Book Here

Book Description
Explore this stunning quality of God’s grace: It never ends! In this revision of a foundational work, John Piper reveals how grace is not only God’s undeserved gift to us in the past, but also God’s power to make good happen for us today, tomorrow, and forever. True life for the follower of Jesus really is a moment-by-moment trust that God is dependable and fulfills his promises. This is living by faith in future grace, which provides God's mercy, provision, and wisdom—everything we need—to accomplish his good plans for us. In Future Grace, chapter by chapter—one for each day of the month—Piper reveals how cherishing the promises of God helps break the power of persistent sin issues like anxiety, despondency, greed, lust, bitterness, impatience, pride, misplaced shame, and more. Ultimate joy, peace, and hope in life and death are found in a confident, continual awareness of the reality of future grace.

The Operation of Grace

The Operation of Grace PDF Author: Gregory Wolfe
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625640579
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Operation of Grace collects a decade's worth of essays by Gregory Wolfe taken from the pages of Image, the literary journal he founded more than a quarter century ago. As he notes in the preface, his Image editorials, while they cover a wide range of topics, focus on the intersection of "art, faith, and mystery." Wolfe believes that art and religion, while hardly identical, offer illuminating analogies to one another--art deepening faith through the empathetic reach of the imagination and faith anchoring art in a vision beyond the artist's ego. Several essays dwell on how aesthetic values like ambiguity, tragedy, and beauty enlarge our understanding of the spiritual life. There are also a series of reflections that extend Wolfe's campaign to renew the neglected and often misunderstood tradition of Christian humanism. Finally, there are sections that contain more personal meditations arising from Wolfe's involvement in nurturing and promoting the work of emerging writers and artists. The Operation of Grace demonstrates once again why novelist Ron Hansen has spoken of Wolfe as "one of the most incisive and persuasive voices of our generation." .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Daring to Hope

Daring to Hope PDF Author: Katie Davis Majors
Publisher: Multnomah
ISBN: 0735290547
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
New York Times bestseller How do you hold on to hope when you don’t get the ending you asked for? When Katie Davis Majors moved to Uganda, accidentally founded a booming organization, and later became the mother of thirteen girls through the miracle of adoption, she determined to weave her life together with the people she desired to serve. But joy often gave way to sorrow as she invested her heart fully in walking alongside people in the grip of poverty, addiction, desperation, and disease. After unexpected tragedy shook her family, for the first time Katie began to wonder, Is God really good? Does He really love us? When she turned to Him with her questions, God spoke truth to her heart and drew her even deeper into relationship with Him. Daring to Hope is an invitation to cling to the God of the impossible—the God who whispers His love to us in the quiet, in the mundane, when our prayers are not answered the way we want or the miracle doesn’t come. It’s about a mother discovering the extraordinary strength it takes to be ordinary. It’s about choosing faith no matter the circumstance and about encountering God’s goodness in the least expected places. Though your heartaches and dreams may take a different shape, you will find your own questions echoed in these pages. You’ll be reminded of the gifts of joy in the midst of sorrow. And you’ll hear God’s whisper: Hold on to hope. I will meet you here.

Grace from the Rubble

Grace from the Rubble PDF Author: Jeanne Bishop
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310357683
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Get Book Here

Book Description
How do you find the strength to forgive in the midst of unthinkable grief? With compassion for all who have been touched by tragedy, Grace from the Rubble tells the heart-stirring true story of found forgiveness, lasting hope, and the unlikely friendship of two fathers on opposite sides of tragedy. In what was to become the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing left a community searching for healing and hope. Grace from the Rubble tells the intertwining stories of four individuals: Julie Welch, a young professional full of promise whose life was cut short by the bombing; Bud Welch, Julie's father; Tim McVeigh, the troubled mind behind the horrific attack; and Bill McVeigh, the father of the bomber. With searing details by firsthand witnesses, including the former governor of Oklahoma, masterful storyteller Jeanne Bishop describes the suspenseful scenes leading up to that fateful day and the dramatic events that unfolded afterward as one father buried his only daughter and the other saw his only son arrested, tried, and executed for mass murder. Grace from the Rubble will teach you about: The importance of sharing your story The unlikely connections that can stem from heartbreak The life-changing impact of forgiveness Vivid and haunting, this true story is rich with memories and beautiful descriptions of the nation's heartland, a place of grit and love for neighbors and families. Bishop shares the ways in which the bombing affected her own family and led her to meet Bud and, ultimately, how she learned to see humanity amid inhuman violence. Praise for Grace from the Rubble: "Readers should have tissues at hand before beginning Bishop's affecting story. This incredible and empathetic story is a testament to the powers of forgiveness, fellowship, and redemption." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Some say that love is the most powerful force in the world. I would suggest it's forgiveness. And the astonishing and beautifully told story of two fathers drawn together by unimaginable tragedy shows how the process of forgiveness happens step by grace-filled step." --James Martin, author, Jesus: A Pilgrimage and My Life with the Saints

Beyond the Shallow: How Suffering Led Me to the Deep End of Grace

Beyond the Shallow: How Suffering Led Me to the Deep End of Grace PDF Author: Michelle Bates
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781632963574
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Get Book Here

Book Description
See the lavish grace of Jesus's love for you... As Christians, we commonly portray grace as something that comes to us in the form of a paycheck and healthy bodies. By wading into the deep end of suffering, I have learned that God's grace is much more evident in the mire and dung of life. Amid deep pain and suffering, I found myself at the grace-filled cross where his glory is revealed in the unseen as I struggle with what is transient. Michelle grew up in church and believed in what she calls Christian karma: Do good, get good. She adopted this unspoken mantra during her teen and young adult years and even into her early married life. But when suffering came to her door, she returned to the Scripture to learn the truth of the gospel. She learned to see grace through the loss of expectation and the loss of three of her six children. As you read this book, Michelle's hope is that you will see the lavish grace of Jesus's love for you, and-if you are walking through immense suffering-that you will understand Jesus is most certainly enough.

Therefore I Have Hope

Therefore I Have Hope PDF Author: Cameron Cole
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433558807
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 187

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Throughout the journey of my worst nightmare—my descent into a dark, sad valley—the Holy Spirit would remind me of truths that comforted my soul and sustained my life." After the sudden death of their three-year-old son, Cameron Cole and his wife found themselves clinging to Christ through twelve key theological truths—truths that became their lifeline in the midst of unthinkable grief. Weaving together their own story of tragic loss and abiding faith, Cole explores these twelve life-giving truths to offer hope and comfort to those in the midst of tragedy.

Wherever Grace Is Needed

Wherever Grace Is Needed PDF Author: Elizabeth Bass
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 0758272170
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this thoroughly heartwarming novel, Elizabeth Bass-author of Miss You Most of All-creates an unforgettable story of friendship, compassion, and the extraordinary love that lies at the heart of every ordinary family. When Grace Oliver leaves Portland for Austin, Texas, to help her father, Lou, recuperate from a car accident, she expects to stay just a few weeks. Since her mother's divorce thirty years ago, Grace has hovered on the periphery of the Oliver family. But now she sees a chance to get closer to her half-brothers and the home she's never forgotten. But the Olivers are facing a crisis. Tests reveal that Lou, a retired college professor whose sharp tongue and tenderness Grace adores, is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Grace delays her departure to care for him, and is soon entwined in the complicated lives of her siblings-all squabbling over Lou's future-and of the family next door. . . Ray West and his three children are reeling from a recent tragedy, particularly sixteen-year-old Jordan, whose grief is heightened by guilt and anger. Amid the turmoil, Grace not only gives solace and support, but learns to receive it. And though she came to Austin to reconnect with her past, she is drawn by degrees into surprising new connections. With wit, wisdom, and unfailing insight, Elizabeth Bass tells a story of loving and letting go, of heartache and hope, and of the joy that comes in finding a place we can truly call home.

Grace for Grace

Grace for Grace PDF Author: Steve De Jarnatt
Publisher: ACRE (CHUP)
ISBN: 9781946724304
Category : Short stories, American
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
With Grace for Grace, celebrated film and television director and screenwriter Steve De Jarnatt brings his exuberant style of storytelling to the page. These wildly imaginative stories are characterized by idiosyncratic syntax, sweeping scale, and the lush inner lives of the characters. De Jarnatt's protagonists are in search of meaning and belonging, and often, at the same time, redemption and revenge. "Wraiths in a Swelter" is both a ghost story and a confessional memoir, following a deliriously exhausted EMT through a deadly Chicago heat wave. "Her Great Blue" is a surreal interspecies love story, while "Rubiaux Rising" is a tale of triumph amid disaster during Hurricane Katrina, and "Harmony Arm" is a comi-tragic romp through a Furry convention. The stories in Grace for Grace are crucibles that test human, and occasionally inhuman, limits, showing readers the surprising changes brought about by characters' encounters with unexpected extremes. This collection, which includes a Best American Short Stories selection, brings De Jarnatt's distinctive voice and cinematic vision to a new audience.

Startling Figures

Startling Figures PDF Author: Michael O'Connell
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 1531503470
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 125

Get Book Here

Book Description
Startling Figures is about Catholic fiction in a secular age and the rhetorical strategies Catholic writers employ to reach a skeptical, indifferent, or even hostile audience. Although characters in contemporary Catholic fiction frequently struggle with doubt and fear, these works retain a belief in the possibility for transcendent meaning and value beyond the limits of the purely secular. Individual chapters include close readings of some of the best works of contemporary American Catholic fiction, which shed light on the narrative techniques that Catholic writers use to point their characters, and their readers, beyond the horizon of secularity and toward an idea of transcendence while also making connections between the widely acknowledged twentieth-century masters of the form and their twenty-first-century counterparts. This book is focused both on the aspects of craft that Catholic writers employ to shape the reader’s experience of the story and on the effect the story has on the reader. One recurring theme that is central to both is how often Catholic writers use narrative violence and other, similar disorienting techniques in order to unsettle the reader. These moments can leave both characters within the stories and the readers themselves shaken and unmoored, and this, O’Connell argues, is often a first step toward the recognition, and even possibly the acceptance, of grace. Individual chapters look at these themes in the works of Flannery O’Connor, J. F. Powers, Walker Percy, Tim Gautreaux, Alice McDermott, George Saunders, and Phil Klay and Kirstin Valdez Quade.