Wholehearted

An inspiring book that will help readers rediscover their values and discover a way to truly live life to the fullest. Each of us has an enormous capacity for love—a deep well of attention and care that we can offer to ourselves and others. With guidance that is both simple and wholly transformative, Koshin Paley Ellison, Zen teacher and psychotherapist, shows us how to uncover it: pay attention, be of service, and be with others. With this inspiring and down-to-earth book, drawn from the Zen precepts and illustrated with anecdotes from Koshin’s own life and practice, you’ll learn how to explore and investigate with your own core values, identify the mental habits that could be unconsciously hurting yourself and others, and overcome isolation. Each chapter closes with a contemplation to help integrate the teachings into your life. This book is about getting back in touch with your values, so you can live energetically, authentically, and lovingly. This an invitation to close the gaps we create between ourselves and others—to wake up to ourselves and the world around us. It’s time to live wholeheartedly.

New York Times Bestseller “A touching series of essays in which Evans, with Chu’s invisible pen, explores how one might find a path forward in Christianity beyond conservative evangelicalism” -Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker “Evans died at 37, but a beautiful new book captures her brave outlook. . . . I could not help but notice the poetry in Evans’s prose. . . . What readers will find in these pages was someone deeply human: funny, irreverent, curious, wise, forgiving, nonjudgmental.” -Maggie Smith, The Washington Post A collection of original writings by Rachel Held Evans, whose reflections on faith and life continue to encourage, challenge, and influence. Rachel Held Evans is widely recognized for her theologically astute, profoundly honest, and beautifully personal books, which have guided, instructed, edified, and shaped Christians as they seek to live out a just and loving faith. At the time of her tragic death in 2019, Rachel was working on a new book about wholeheartedness. With the help of her close friend and author Jeff Chu, that work-in-progress has been woven together with some of her other unpublished writings into a rich collection of essays that ask candid questions about the stories we’ve been told—and the stories we tell—about our faith, our selves, and our world. This book is for the doubter and the dreamer, the seeker and the sojourner, those who long for a sense of spiritual wholeness as well as those who have been hurt by the Church but can’t seem to let go of the story of Jesus. Through theological reflection and personal recollection, Rachel wrestles with God’s grace and love, looks unsparingly at what the Church is and does, and explores universal human questions about becoming and belonging. An unforgettable, moving, and intimate book.

Wholehearted Living is an intentional practice—a chosen lifestyle. It is deeply engaged living. It is simply a way of being. Wholehearted Living is mirrored in colorful facets of positivity—optimism and glass-half-full living, self-awareness and affirmation, and a real sense of personal connectedness and belonging. Wholehearted Me A–Z! is an alphabetically arranged collection of story, prosetry, and prayer, in expressions of the author’s own lived experience in Wholehearted Living, curated for each reader’s quest of self-understanding and self-affirmation.

Loving others can be so messy. Somewhere along the way, maybe you've Experienced pain and trauma that caused you to put up barriers in your heart Felt disappointed that you didn't get the relationship you once dreamed of Decided it's too risky to open yourself up to getting hurt. Maybe you've even felt this spreading into your relationship with God. If you're honest, maybe your connection with Him only feels surface level. You've shutdown with him too and aren't experiencing His love like before. Relationship counselors Stefanie and Caleb Rouse are no strangers to this heartache, loneliness, and brokenness. Yet despite personal pain and loss, they've come to discover that God wants us to experience nothing less than wholehearted love--a love that allows us to be fully safe, seen, and known, with Him and with each other. Join them in the journey as they reveal personal stories, practical coaching, and biblical wisdom to guide you towards living--and loving--wholeheartedly.

An empowering antidote to one of the leading challenges facing clergy and lay ministers today: burnout. Clergy and lay ministry professionals are exhausted. The past few years of collegial loneliness, ever-changing ministry practices, illness and death, and declining church attendance have led many to report finding less joy in their ministry. Suffering the effects of burnout and declining mental health, some clergy are contemplating a radical vocational change, or have already left traditional ministry altogether. From Weary to Wholehearted isn’t a quick fix, but a much-needed companion to remind faith leaders they are not alone, support them through sustainable tools for finding joy and rest, and re-ground them in spiritual nourishment. Swanlund calls readers to show up with their whole heart, vulnerably and courageously. Each section will address a source of weariness, including overwhelm, loneliness, comparison, lack of inspiration, and more. The book incorporates research in the fields of sociology and psychology, as well as Swanlund’s experience as a faith leader, spiritual companion, and Certified Daring Way facilitator. The chapters will contain scripture, personal meditation, reflection prompts, an invitation toward flourishing, and an original prayer. Drawing upon the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, From Weary to Wholehearted begins with the spiritual themes of justice and anticipation in Advent and moves through the sustainable practices invited by Ordinary Time. While not expressly a homiletic or liturgical resource, it will infuse new life into the ministry of emotionally impoverished preachers and lay leaders.

"Rarely do I ever find myself agreeing with everything I read in a book. But Parenting the Wholehearted Child is the book I wish I'd written. Jeannie has given parents a profound gift within its pages." -- Kathie Lee Gifford, actress, singer, playwright, songwriter, and cohost of the Today Show's Fourth Hour Your kids aren't perfect. And you don't have to be either. Are you exhausted from the pressure to be a perfect parent raising perfect children in this imperfect world? Do you ever wonder, "How did these precious children get stuck with a parent like me?" If so, let these grace-drenched pages saturate your heart with God's unfailing love while also equipping you to be a vessel of God's unconditional love to your children. With authenticity, conviction, and a lively sense of humor, Jeannie guides you on a transformative journey into raising wholehearted--not perfect--children, who live from the freedom found in being wholeheartedly loved (and liked!) by God. Parenting the Wholehearted Child equips you with biblical wisdom and practical ideas to teach your children that they are fully accepted by God, not because of anything they do or don’t do but because of everything Jesus has already done for them. Woven throughout the book is the good news that it is God's extravagant grace--not your perfect performance--that transforms the hearts of children.

Although it takes two to have a great marriage, an important truth for any marriage partner to realize is that he or she can really change no one other than him or herself. Nevertheless, changes in just one person can have an amazing impact on a marriage relationship! Instead of focusing on “How do I have a better marriage?” this book embraces that truth, and helps women ponder the question, “How can I be the best wife I can be?” It provides every woman with skills, information, and encouragement to make a positive difference to this and future generations, by wholeheartedly investing in her marriage and her relationship with her husband today. The Wholehearted Wife is written by Erin and Greg Smalley, along with Gary Smalley, the creator and presenter of Keys to a Loving Relationship, one of the best-selling video series of all time. Recognizing that most if not all married women have either experienced a time when her marriage felt lifeless—or sat with another female friend or family member who was experiencing that situation—this book is also a wonderful resource for those times.

The Wholehearted Life is the culmination of Susyn Reeve's lifelong work. Comprised of 365 days of change-your-life ideas that can be executed in just a few minutes each day, this is a guide to a life of contentment and community, where you give and receive love, including the oft-missing self-love and compassion. Reeve is a scholar of the human soul and is on a mission to help everyone live a wholehearted life, one of inner serenity, esteem toward self, shared joy, and limitless love. Reeve's warm and wise encouragement offers readers 52 week's worth of ways to pray, play, and passionately pursue a life lived utterly and fully from the heart. This book is an essential tool for learning how to eliminate gossip, seize the moment, go on a media diet, listen to and follow the still small voice, use feelings as a guide, and detach and let go.