By Love Refined

What to do when the honeymoon is over. This remarkable book shows couples how to transform stumbling blocks in their marriage into stepping stones of love. It reveals the beauty and importance of high ideals and offers practical tips to help couples live up to those ideals daily.

In the clay-rich hills of the newly founded state of West Virginia, two families tentatively come together to rebuild a war-torn brickmaking business. Ewan McKay has immigrated to West Virginia with his aunt and uncle, promising to trade his skills in the clay business for financial help. Uncle Hugh purchases a brickmaking operation from a Civil War widow and her daughter, and it's Ewan's job to get the company up and running again. Ewan seeks help from Laura, the former owner's daughter, and he quickly feels a connection with her, but she's being courted by another man--a lawyer with far more social clout and money than Ewan. Resolving that he'll make the brickworks enough of a success that he can become a partner in the business and be able to afford to bring his sisters over from Ireland, Ewan pours all his energy into the new job. But when Hugh signs a bad business deal, all Ewan's hard work is put in jeopardy. As his hopes for the future crumble, Laura reveals something surprising. Can she help him save the brickworks, and will Ewan finally get a shot at winning her heart?

Monica has done things in her life she regrets and the little voice in her ear likes to remind her of that. Oliver is a sexy Brit who sweeps her and her daughter off their feet. She’s terrified of hurting him, terrified that he’ll realize she isn’t good enough for him. Can two people from two different worlds find their way to each other? Can Monica let go of her past and reach for something new, something good this Christmas?

What Can You Do When Life Doesn't Turn Out Like You Planned? How do you respond when your husband or wife tramples your emotions? When your boss fires you unexpectedly? When you lose your life's savings? When the child you've loved and prayed for turns his back on you and your values? When disappointments like these smash their way into your life, you may want to scream, "How could God let this happen?" But what if God didn't just "let it happen"? What if the things you call disappointments are really His appointments--events He is using to make you more like Christ? What if your circumstances are actually the flames of His grace, intended to melt and burn away the undesirable elements in your life, leaving you pure and radiant--like refined silver? You can be defeated by life's unavoidable disappointments, or you can become stronger because of them. Life's disappointments can send you on a dangerous downward spiral into discouragement, depression, or even despair. But in this eye-opening book, Kay Arthur guides you to biblical truths that will help you break that cycle and instead embrace disappointment as the cleansing fire God uses to make you--as silver refined--a reflection of His goodness. Now includes a 16 week Bible study!

What happens when someone gets fired from their church? One day in the Spring of 2017, Pastor Kyle Isabelli was brought into his supervisor’s office at his church and to his complete surprise, was told “he wasn’t a good fit” as the youth pastor of the church and was fired from his job. This sent Kyle into a process of navigating being fired, dealing directly with the pain caused by this experience, and figuring out his next steps in life and ministry. Through this traumatic experience, Kyle prayed, read, sought wisdom and journaled, which in turn, helped him process his pain, regain his purpose and persevere through one of the most challenging seasons of his life. Over time, he’s realized that he’s not alone. Far too many pastors, church staff and church members have struggled immensely when they experience a church firing. So, he’s sharing his story and wisdom to help and encourage others as they are Refined by the Fire(d). Now, as a Senior Pastor since January 2020, Kyle has a greater passion to create healthy staff cultures and come alongside those in the Church, whether staff or church members, to help them process pain, regain purpose and persevere through their own church firing.

Written by one of the editors of the new complete works of Henry Vaughan, Keeping the Ancient Way is the first book-length study of the poet by a single author for twenty years. It deals with a number of key topics that are central to the understanding and appreciation of this major seventeenth-century writer. These include his debt to the hermetic philosophy espoused by his twin brother (the alchemist, Thomas Vaughan); his royalist allegiance in the Civil War; his loyalty to the outlawed Church of England during the Interregnum; the unusual degree of intertextuality in his poetry (especially with the Scriptures and the devotional lyrics of George Herbert); and his literary treatment of the natural world (which has been variously interpreted from Christian, proto-Romantic, and ecological perspectives). Each of the chapters is self-contained and places its topic in relation to past and current critical debates, but the book is organized so that the biographical, intellectual, and political focus of Part One informs the discussion of poetic craftsmanship in Part Two. A wealth of historical information and close critical readings provide an accessible introduction to the poet and his period for students and general readers alike. The up-to-date scholarship will also be of interest to specialists in the literature and history of the Civil War and Interregnum.