Making Room In Our Hearts

Adopted persons face challenges their entire lives as they struggle to answer the most basic question: Who am I? The hope of open adoption is that adopted children will develop stronger identities if they have the opportunity to develop healthy ongoing relationships with their families of origin. Making Room in Our Hearts offers an intimate look at how these relationships evolve over time, with real-life stories from families who have experienced open adoption first-hand. This book helps both adoptive and birth parents address their fears and concerns, while offering them the support to put the child’s psychological and spiritual needs at the center of adoption. Based on interviews with more than one hundred adopted children, birth and adoptive parents, extended families, professionals and experts, the book is an effective and invaluable resource for those considering open adoption, those experiencing it, and professionals in the field. Openness has altered the landscape of adoption, and Making Room in Our Hearts will help us catch up to the reality that is open adoption today.

More than ten million readers have enjoyed Robert Boyd Munger's spiritually challenging meditation on Christian discipleship. Imagining what it would be like to have Jesus come to the home of our hearts, Munger moves room by room considering what Christ desires for us. In the living room we prepare to meet Christ daily. In the dining room we examine together what appetites should and should not control us. We even explore the closets in our lives that Christ can help us clean out. Munger's practical and profound booklet (now revised and expanded) helps you give Christ control over all of your life.

My personal journey of love and relationships taught me some pretty hard lessons in love, in which some of them I share with you in this book. Through these lessons I have learned that all relationships have come to teach you a lesson in love and the first lesson is to love ourselves. I used to depend on others for true love and happiness. This is until I learned that relationships are solely meant to add to the love and happiness you already have. After I discovered this, I began to look within to heal the little girl within who didn’t feel loved. And who was also looking for love in all the wrong places. In this book, I take you through a journey of healing, letting go and releasing all that no longer serves you through the freedom power of forgiveness; so you may have room in your heart to receive true divine love! I hope you will find the information contained in this book useful to assist you on your healing journey.

How many Christmas mornings have you found your family gathered around the tree with presents beautifully wrapped and a scrumptious feast on the table, but with hearts that have not been prepared to truly take in the wonder of God become human? Not this year. Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, a family Advent devotional from Bible teacher and mom Nancy Guthrie, is designed to bring your family together during a season that is oftentimes too much about programs and presents, and simply not enough about Jesus. Along with devotions for every day in December, this resource includes explanations of some hard-to-understand aspects of popular Christmas carols, and discussion questions to draw in your elementary through high school-aged kids, transforming this time together from a dry lecture into a treasured family experience.

On our best days, we feel God's love in a huge way. We shine brighter, laugh harder, live without worry or fear of the future--and we passionately love others without judgment. Because when God's love floods our lives, we have no choice but to let it radiate throughout the day. But how about on the hard days, when we aren't feeling it? How are we supposed to reflect God's heart when we feel stuck in the seemingly never-ending dullness of the day-to-day? In this life-changing book, Cleere Cherry Reaves reveals how to stay in God's presence and radiate joy through every day and every circumstance. Offering fresh perspective on topics such as childlike faith, vulnerability, the refining process, laying down worries and fears, and the value of hospitality, Radiate shares the many ways that God's Word unlocks the door to a life filled with peace, trust, love, and light. With its uplifting message, the downcast and the discouraged can live lighter in the present, fully trusting the One they belong to as His joy and love shine through them once more.

The radio host and speaker with Proverbs 31 shows women how to develop a confident heart and overcome insecurity and fears.

Modern worship leaders are restless. They have inherited a model of leadership that equates leading worship with being a rock star. But leading worship is more than a performance, it's about shaping souls and making disciples. Every worship leader is really a pastor. The Worship Pastor is a practical and biblical introduction to this essential pastoral role. Filled with engaging, illustrative stories it is organized to address questions of theory and practice, striving to balance conversational accessibility with informed instruction. Part One presents a series of evocative "vignettes"--intriguing and descriptive titles and metaphors of who a Worship Pastor is and what he or she does. It shows the Worship Pastor as Church-Lover, Disciple Maker, Corporate Mystic, and Doxological Philosopher. Part Two covers specific roles related to ministry within the worship service itself--the Worship Pastor as Theological Dietician, Caregiver, Mortician, Emotional Shepherd, War General, Prophetic Guardian, Missional Historian, and Liturgical Architect. Part Three looks at ministry beyond the worship service--the Worship Pastor as Visionary Teacher, Evangelist, Artist Chaplain, and Team Leader. While some worship leaders are eager to embrace their pastoral role, many are lost and confused or lack the resources of time or money to figure out what this role looks like. Pastor Zac Hicks gives us a clear guide to leading worship, one that takes the pastoral call seriously.