Stumbling Into Grace

“Lisa’s fine grasp of Scripture and love for the Lord make her a trustworthy teacher, yet we learn from her own hard-earned lessons as well. She speaks and writes from a place of understanding, as she clings to God’s hand, giving us the privilege of stumbling into grace with her.” —LIZ CURTIS HIGGS, best-selling author of Bad Girls of the Bible “So, today I’ve been thinking about...things that bind us. The thought flitted around my mind and then landed for a while, likely because I was wearing a pair of too-tight jeans.” Women of Faith® speaker and author Lisa Harper relates from experience — life can be uncertain, sometimes even scary. But with a witty twinkle in her eye and a Bible in her hand, she describes what it’s like to find real security in the arms of a Savior who doesn’t just notice us but who moves heaven and earth on our behalf. Part diary, part devotional, Stumbling Into Grace weaves hilarious and poignant stories from Lisa’s own life with intimate and transformational encounters from the life of Christ. Prayers, reflection questions, and journal prompts help women dig deep into biblical truths to better understand how our Redeemer’s compassion, affection, and constancy make every single moment of life not only more enjoyable but well worth living!

Sometimes we try to connect to others, especially people we love but end up missing each other for a variety of reasons. The stories in this collection, STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE explore instances of imperfect people trying to connect to loved ones and others despite fractured relationships and personal flaws. Often they fail, as in the story "Hidden in Boxes" when Kathy can no longer tolerate her husband's paralysis after the accidental death of their only son. Charlie, in 'You'll Do Fine," wants his wife to stay as she's packing to leave the marriage because he fails to realize he's stuck in a loop of a job-related trauma. In the title story, "Stumbling Toward Grace," an elderly father dying of AIDS, Otto yearns to reconnect with his estranged daughter after he had disowned her for marrying a Black man. In "Sister Rafaele Heals the Sick," a freelance nun, Sister Rafaele, is invited to live with a single mom and her children and tries to save them from the secular world. Many of the stories in the collection have been published, and some of won literary prizes, including a Maryland State Art Council Individual Artist Grant and the Editors Select Award, among others.

Mary Pezzulo intended to learn all about God through graduate studies in philosophy and Christian ethics, but serious illness ruined those plans and landed her young family in desperate straits. Despite chronic illness, deep poverty, blatant discrimination, and the cruelty she encountered, Pezzulo began tripping over God in the tiny works of mercy she offered to others and received herself. With striking candor and gritty faith she shows us how we also can meet God in the smallest acts of love. When Pezzulo began her blog Steel Magnificat in 2016, she never imagined she would be writing so much about poverty, discrimination, abuse, or the loneliness of chronic illness. Nor did she realize that the corporal and spiritual works of mercy would bring stark clarity and unflinching hope to her life. She had moved to Steubenville, Ohio, to study philosophy and ethics so that she could teach people about Jesus and make the world a better place. She expected to find God in beautiful churches, inspiring books, and the spoken words of brilliant scholars. But when her life and professional ambitions crumbled around her, she entered a terrible darkness and floundered in desperate poverty, illness, and the lingering trauma of abuse. In that dark time, Pezzulo began to know mercy, finding God in countless tiny acts. In Stumbling into Grace she shows how the works of mercy have become her anchor in turbulence and calm, piercing sorrow and ridiculous joy, overcoming despair and bringing enduring hope. Now she shares with you how to live the works of mercy in your own life. When Feeding the Hungry, keep in mind that the more needy the person you're feeding is the more care you should take--these are the people who are most in need of hope and visible acts of love. Instructing the Ignorant begins with helping people and forming good relationships because people are worth it. Giving Drink to the Thirsty can mean advocacy and charitable giving that support access to clean water for those throughout the world just as much as it means offering drinks to anyone who enters your home. Counseling the Doubtful starts with acknowledging that faith is bigger than all of us and that it's not wrong to have questions, doubts, or to look at another faith to see if its beliefs and practices are closer to your spiritual longings. Clothing the Naked means restoring a sense of dignity to every part of a person by providing appropriate, comfortable, and good-looking clothing, and by protecting people from gossip and prejudice.

Follow Kay Harper as she stumbles headlong, tangled in her sly, quicksilver, shooting-star life, skidding sideways, sliding down rainbows into pits of her own making. When she finally hits the bottom of the bottom, Harper looks up and finds that even when we don't understand God's course for us, He is always waiting and hanging onto us tight. This is a read you must not miss. Jean Archambault-White, Author, Simple Faith; and Eloise of Westhaven Stumbling Into Grace is the beautifully written, inspiring story of one woman's struggle toward fulfillment and inner peace. No matter what your religion, Kay Harper will lift you up with her as she builds a new life of faith. Esther Gordon Eden Literary We never know what other people have been through. Kay Harper's unapologetic telling of her reckless journey struck a chord in me, increased my compassion for all I meet and intensified my desire to tell them about the living God. Pastor Bill Pierson Joy Fellowship If you or loved ones suffer from Clinical Depression, Kay Harper's vivid account of her own battles with this debilitating condition will give you insight, understanding and hope. Valerie Balandra Integrative Psychiatry A fast paced read! Stumbling Into Grace follows Kay Harper's mad dash journey as she seeks fame and fortune. Recognition eludes her, sickness overpowers her, but God is about to do a brand new thing! Barb Lataillade Author, Under the Rubble Kay Harper spent her childhood exploring, 20s rebelling, 30s on a quest, 40s in Never-Never Land and 50s lost and found. Through it all her pen has been a trusted friend. Kay writes from her home in Florida-minutes away from the picturesque, white-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.

In this remarkable tale of hope and survival, Hannah Luce tells how, as the sole survivor of a terrible plane crash, she came to grips with her faith: “a calamitous, fascinating memoir, written with surprising spiritual sophistication” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). On May 11, 2012, a small plane carrying five young adults, en route to a Christian youth rally, crashed in a Kansas field, skidding 200 yards before hitting a tree and bursting into flames. Only two survived the crash: ex-marine Austin Anderson, who would die the next morning from extensive burns, and his friend Hannah Luce, the daughter of Teen Mania founder and influential youth minister Ron Luce. This is Hannah’s story. In Fields of Grace, Hannah details the investigation of her faith, her coming-of-age as the dutiful daughter of Evangelical royalty, her decision to join her father’s ministry outreach to teens, and her miraculous survival and recovery following the accident. It also serves as a tribute and testament to the lives of the dear friends who perished in the catastrophic plane crash and reveals how their memory continues to inspire all that she does. Here is the “riveting personal account” (Booklist) of a girl who grew up as the daughter of one of the most influential evangelical leaders of our time, who questioned her early religious convictions somewhere along the way and who, from the embers of that doomed plane ride, finally found her faith.

The intimate and sometime startling account of Fischman's spiritual journey and the encounter that changed his life forever.

Would you consider your life stretched to the limit? Are you a burn-the-candle-at-both-ends kind of gal with lots of room for improvement when it comes to creating margins for rest? But you actually love it and wouldn’t want it any other way? Well, so does Lisa Harper. In her humorous and packed-with-biblical-wisdom way, Lisa shows us that it is possible for a frazzled nature to be glorifying to the Lord. Every late-night conversation with a hurting friend and each precious, adopted child needing a little extra tender loving care—exhausting, yet imperative, ways to be extensions of the gospel. In each of these vignettes illustrating Lisa’s overextended life, we learn that even in the middle of our own pure motives and hectic schedules, it is only by resting in God’s sovereign mercy that we are able to keep risking our hearts to serve his people and fulfill the callings he has placed on us. Real life . . . abundant life . . . godly life is about loving Jesus and the people he allows us to rub shoulders with well—which means some days you’ll be stretched emotionally and physically. You’ll feel overextended. Thankfully God will expand our hearts and calendars to accommodate the calling. He is in the business of supplying us with new mercies every morning . . . new candles to burn, for more lives needing his light.

On those days when French fries litter the floor of your minivan, when you think bad words about other drivers, when your smile hides an anxious heart–in those moments when you fall short of all you’d hoped to be–what does God see when He looks at you? In your less-than-lovely moments, God sees a precious daughter in need of His perfect love. In this liberating look at how God adores and transforms imperfect people, Bible teacher Lisa Harper weaves poignant stories of her own personal foibles with a fresh take on selected Psalms to reveal a loving Father who remains your greatest champion even when you don’t feel anywhere close to holy. Join Lisa in discovering what happens when we stop trying to hide our inadequacies and doubts and instead trust God with our anger, frustrations, flaws, and regrets. As you accept God’s loving invitation to exchange your junk for His joy, you’ll find the imperfect pieces of your life shaped into a glorious pattern of divine grace.