Hope For A Shattered World

Fear Worry Stress These emotions can overwhelm and consume us. They fill our minds with unanswerable questions. What will I lose…my health? my family? my job? my home? Will our lives ever be normal again? What is “normal”? We live in a sin-sick world. Catastrophes surround us, but we can surrender our fears to Jesus. He is the answer to overwhelming fears that consume our energy, rob our joy, and ruin our health. Fear is an emotion. Faith is an attitude, and focus is a choice. Fear must give way to faith as we adjust our focus. If our eyes are focused on the problem, fear will overcome us. If our eyes are fixed upon Jesus, the emotion of fear may still be present, but it will not cripple us. Fear will no longer dominate our lives. Discover with Pastor Mark Finley as he shows us that we have One who is larger than our fears, bigger than our worries, and greater than our anxieties by our side, and He has practical, down-to-earth, real solutions to our problems. We have the assurance of the One who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Hope for a Widow's Shattered World is a gathering place for women caught in the gut-wrenching aftermath of a husband's death. Wisdom and hope are laced together by the courage and stunning insights of many widows who have moved beyond the paralyzing early moments of grief to find the rebirth of joy, and finally a deeply satisfying life of contentment. A poignant, hope-instilling truth emerges from the life experiences of these women: Widowhood is unique from all other losses, demanding the re-invention of Self. This book is a detailed guide, full of practical illustrations, helping women understand the dynamics of widowhood as an aid to their passage through and beyond grief. The journey is often long and hard, but women are promised a new and courageous, hope-filled, faith-based life, which can be built ut of the ashes of grief. Hope for a Widow's Shattered World begins with a declaration of a widow's pain, and moves past honest struggle to a final litany of her new-found strength, firmly grounded in God's love and grace. This book could also help widowers in their grief.

We live in a broken world. Amid the daily realities of sickness and isolation, disappointment and pain, it can be profoundly difficult to grasp the real goodness of God. But this is where God breaks into our darkness with beauty. In the wonder of creation, in art or film, story or song, in the kindness of his people and the good they create, God breaks into our pain in a tangible way, teaching us to trust his kindness and hope for his healing. Beauty is a voice singing into our suffering, beckoning us toward restoration. In This Beautiful Truth, Sarah Clarkson shares her own encounters with beauty in the midst of her decade-long struggle with mental illness, depression, and doubt. In a voice both vulnerable and reflective, she paints a compelling picture of the God who reaches out to us in a real and powerful way through the "taste and see" goodness of what he has made and what he continues to create amid our darkness. "To recognize and trust God's gift in pain," she writes, "empowers us to create and love as powerful witnesses to God's healing love in a hopeless world." If you want to renew your capacity to recognize and encounter God's beauty in your life, this hope-filled book will show you the way.

Aron's peaceful life on his father's farm ended abruptly and he struggled with galling captivity in the palace while he formed a fearsome corps of expert fighters. They managed to escape fleeing into the wilds but their new life is tenuous with daily challenges merely to survive. His problems seem to mount on a daily basis with his personal struggles with the significant women in his life, the barbaric savages living in the wilds, and then the shocking discovery that threatens the world with a nightmare resurrected. Their limited understanding of their whole world has left them vulnerable. Can Aron and the allies rise to meet the challenge? They don't know the answer to that question, and they fear the worst under the circumstances.

Advance Praise for A Shattered Peace "The peace settlements that followed World War I have recently come back into focus as one of the dominant factors shaping the modern world. The Balkans, the Middle East, Iraq, Turkey, and parts of Africa all owe their present-day problems, in part, to these negotiations. David Andelman brings it all back to life--the lofty ideals, the ugly compromises, the larger-than-life personalities who came to Paris in 1919. And he links that far-away diplomatic dance to present-day problems to illuminate our troubled times. A tremendous addition to this vitally important subject." --Ambassador Richard Holbrooke "The peace conference in Paris at the end of World War I was the first and last moment of pure hope for peace in the history of world affairs. Our president Woodrow Wilson was the sorcerer for this hope, and he kindled great expectations in people everywhere. David Andelman, a classic reporter and storyteller, tells this fascinating tale of hope falling finally and forever on the shoals of naivete and hard-headed cynicism." --Leslie H. Gelb, former columnist for the New York Times and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations "The failed peace settlement following the Great War of 1914-1918 has been the subject of many fine books. In many respects, David Andelman's A Shattered Peace is the best of these. It is compact and compellingly written. Moreover, it explains more clearly than any other work how the failure of peacemaking in 1919 shaped later history and, indeed, shapes our own era." --Ernest R. May, Charles Warren Professor of American History, Harvard University "It is the power and fascination of David Andelman's new book, A Shattered Peace, that he shows us--with the clarity of a first-rate reporter and the drama and detail at the command of a first-rate novelist--that we are all still enmeshed in the loose ends of the Treaty of Versailles. Andelman brings us to Korea, to Vietnam, to the Persian Gulf, and to Iraq in our own vexed era. His story is alive with color, conflict, and interesting people. We could not find a better guide to this time." --Richard Snow, Editor in Chief, American Heritage

Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence will help those who have suffered trauma to receive God’s love as the key to releasing shame, rejection and hurts of the past; replace self-image confusion with knowing their identity in Christ; take realistic steps in learning to make disciplined choices; replace out-of-control behavior with spirit- empowered responses; replace self-defeating mindsets with confidence-producing beliefs; renew lost faith by nourishing it with relevant spiritual insights. In struggling through the destabilizing emotions of despair, depression, anger, social anxiety, and DID, from the innocent girl who was abused to becoming the authentic woman she is now, Lorraine managed to overcome what she felt was an internal hell. As a woman of faith and a former masters-level rehabilitation counselor, with God’s help, she developed a faith-based holistic approach that helped her move beyond her own trauma. Over the past ten years, she has been involved in supporting women affected by traumatic events—childhood abuse, partner violence, sexual abuse. Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence inspires hope in others that they, too, can leave their past behind and step into their God-originated identities in Christ.

New York Times bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst unveils her heart amid shattering circumstances and shows readers how to live assured when life doesn't turn out like they expected. What do you do when God’s timing seems questionable, His lack of intervention hurtful, and His promises doubtful? Life often looks so very different than we hoped or expected. Some events may simply catch us off guard for a moment, but others shatter us completely. We feel disappointed and disillusioned, and we quietly start to wonder about the reality of God’s goodness. Lysa TerKeurst understands this deeply. But she's also discovered that our disappointments can be the divine appointments our souls need to radically encounter God. In It's Not Supposed to Be This Way, Lysa invites us into her own journey of faith and, with grit, vulnerability, and honest humor, helps us to: Stop being pulled into the anxiety of disappointment by discovering how to better process unmet expectations and other painful situations. Train ourselves to recognize the three strategies of the enemy so we can stand strong and persevere through unsettling relationships and uncertain outcomes. Discover the secret of being steadfast and not panicking when God actually does give us more than we can handle. Shift our suspicion that God is cruel or unfair to the biblical assurance that God is protecting and preparing us. Know how to encourage a friend and help her navigate hard realities with real help from God's truth.