The Call To Joy Pain

Biblical, theological, and devotional insights and advice on how joy and pain are both integral parts of the life of service, from ministerial veteran Ajith Fernando. 2008 Christianity Today Book Award Winner.

We all spend a lot of energy reaching for happiness, but we're never quite able to hang on to it. Real life happens, and our circumstances take us on an emotional rollercoaster. Oftentimes, the Bible's call to "be joyful always" seems out of reach--but it doesn't have to be. We are called to live. And, miraculously, to live with joy. Join bestselling author Stasi Eldredge as she shows us how to choose a joy that stands against the tides of life's real and often overwhelming pain. Defiant Joy reminds us that a joy that is defiant in the face of this broken world was meant to be ours. This joy isn't simply happiness on steroids, it's the unyielding belief that sorrow and loss do not have the final say. It's the stubborn determination to be present in whatever may come and interpret both goodness and grief by the light of heaven. Defiant Joy will give you the encouragement you need to: Finally experience daily joy Learn how to have a posture of holy defiance when circumstances threaten to weigh down your soul Find new perspectives on the painful circumstances you've faced In Defiant Joy, Stasi invites us with courage, candor, and tender vulnerability to a place beyond sadness or happiness, leading the way as we learn how to maintain a posture of holy defiance that neither denies nor diminishes our pain but dares to live with expectant, unwavering hope.

Bestselling author Franklin White creates a topsy-turvy world of passion, betrayal and turbulent emotions, where the characters must do all they can just to keep from drowning in a sea of uncertain loyalties and loves. Lala Paige is floating along in life with a great job, wonderful friends, and Keith, her boyfriend. When Keith decides he can't remain totally committed to their relationship, she struggles to make sense of her unravelling life. But what will she do when she discovers the real reason Keith's skipping out?

This is what I call my Bio-storyiences. A book about me, as I tell my story and describe my experiences with this chronic disease called LUPUS. This has been a long and hard journey for me and it was even harder for me to share my story with the world. I feel that something in this book might help someone out there that may be going through their own battle with LUPUS. I say to you, find yourself a good support system, be STRONG, know that you're LOVED and get EMPOWERED. You can and you will get through this.

"Joy and Pain provides an intimate look into the manner in which the carceral state makes Black life precarious. Framing the carceral state as extending beyond the physical walls of a prison and into the daily lived experiences of Black life, the book focuses on housing, education, health care, the nonprofit sector, and juvenile detention facilities. However, Black existence is not defined only by precarity, and thus the book also describes the social visions of Black life that are immersed in radical freedom"--

"He loved me more than I loved myself": Henry Phillips reveals his journey through life as he rebels time and time again. Then He had a real encounter with God that completely changed his life. This decision to follow God changed Him so dramatically that he knew that his only choice was to surrender, the greatest decision he ever made.

When his oldest son was diagnosed with severe autism, pastor Jason Hague found himself trapped, stuck between perpetual sadness and a lower, safer kind of hope. This is the common struggle for those of us walking through the Land of Unanswered Prayer. Life doesn’t look the way we expected, so we seek to protect ourselves from further disappointment. But God has a third path for us, beyond sadness or resignation: the way of aching joy. Christ himself is with us here, beckoning us toward the treasures hidden in the darkness. Aching Joy is an honest psalm of hope for those walking between pain and promise: the aching of a broken world and the beauty of a loving God. In this place, rather than trying to dodge the pain, we choose to feel it all—and to see where Jesus is in the midst of struggle. And because we make that choice, we feel all the good that comes with it, too. This is Jason’s story. This is your story. Come, find your joy within the aching.