Your Mess Matters

What if the mess of your life is where God is about to do his best work? Life can be a tangled mess. Luke Lezon's mess came in the form of alarming health issues, transforming him from fun-loving and God-fearing to angry and hopeless. As Luke's health deteriorated for months without answers, the stress of not knowing suddenly spiraled into a mental and emotional breakdown. As a pastor, he wasn't supposed to struggle with life's mess - but then maybe we've been wrong about the mess all along. As Luke learned, you are not made of the mess, you are made through it. If you're feeling lonely or less-than, ashamed of where you've been or anxious about where you're going, this is a message crafted just for you: God is never afraid of a mess. He's never run from some dirt and blood. In fact, the mess is exactly where he does his best work. If we believe that God created us from dust and redeemed us through the blood of the cross, we can trust him with our tangled lives. Your Mess Matters is a lifeline to hang on to, a light in the dark reminding you that God is still at work, making your life more beautiful than ever before. Through vulnerable stories of his own journey and profound biblical truths, Luke will guide you through the process of entrusting your story to Jesus and letting him work his biggest promises through your greatest regrets. With Luke's encouraging insight and bold truth-telling, your mind will be comforted, your heart inspired, and your soul empowered to let God transform your mess into a masterpiece.

Everything is getting more complex. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of information we encounter each day. Whether at work, at school, or in our personal endeavors, there's a deepening (and inescapable) need for people to work with and understand information. Information architecture is the way that we arrange the parts of something to make it understandable as a whole. When we make things for others to use, the architecture of information that we choose greatly affects our ability to deliver our intended message to our users.We all face messes made of information and people. This book defines the word "mess" the same way that most dictionaries do: "A situation where the interactions between people and information are confusing or full of difficulties." - Who doesn't bump up against messes made of information and people every day? How to Make Sense of Any Mess provides a seven step process for making sense of any mess. Each chapter contains a set of lessons as well as workbook exercises architected to help you to work through your own mess.

A simple shift in thinking can change everything you believe about your own happiness. By the time we become adults, most of us have joined the religion of suffering, which preaches that unless circumstances are controlled, life will be a mess. We compare ourselves to others and speculate about an impossible-to-know future, holding out hope for an improved life through getting ahead, fulfilling passion, or finding true love. But the idea that happiness comes from putting effort toward altering one’s circumstances is harmful and backward. What if we instead learned to understand that circumstances can rarely be controlled, and that life is, and always will be, messy? From that starting point, we could learn to use our minds to create happiness despite life’s ever-changing circumstances and events. Life’s Messy, Live Happy by Cy Wakeman is about dramatically changing the level of happiness you feel in your daily life, by learning to disconnect happiness from external forces, stop worrying about the future, and realize that most of your negative feelings are about things that never even happened. Wakeman is a credible, relatable teacher—a business owner, mother, and community member who has lived her philosophy and achieved profound happiness and success in a crazy, messy life. Filled with concrete daily practices and true stories that are hilarious, painful, and poignant, this book will change everything: your perspective, your focus, and your energy level for everyday life.

For every woman who wants to know what her man is thinking. Internationally syndicated radio superhost and columnist, controversial psycho-therapist, and author of the break-out New York Times bestsellers How Could You Do That?! and Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives, Dr. Laura Schlessinger is back with Ten Stupid Things Men Do to Mess Up Their Lives. In ten vital, compelling chapters, Dr. Laura speaks her mind on: Stupid Chivalry By getting involved with the wrong woman (weak, flaky, damaged, needy, desperate, stupid, untrustworthy, immature, etc.) you think that your love will save/transform her. Stupid Independence Unwilling to admit "need" for bonding and intimacy, you hide in excesses of work, play, drink, drugs, porn, and meaningless sex. Stupid Ambition Unable to comfortably and proudly accept your inherent importance to society and family as husband and father, you bow to the false idols of money, toys, power, and status. Stupid Strength Uncomfortable with feeling weak, vulnerable, useless, powerless, or rejected, you use intimidation, force, or passive-aggressiveness to regain control. Stupid Sex Taking an attraction, opportunity, or erection as a "sign," you measure your masculinity and power by sexual conquests, infidelities, and orgasms. Stupid Matrimony Lacking a mature sense of the purpose, meaning, or value of marriage, you realize too late you've gone down the aisle with the wrong woman for the wrong reasons and feel helpless to "fix it." Stupid Husbanding Thinking that marriage is the honorable discharge from loving courtship, you continue to live as though you were single and your "mommy-wife" will take care of everything else. Stupid Parenting Believing that only women/mothers nurture children, you withdraw from hands-on parenting to assert your masculine importance, missing out on the true "soul food" of a child's hug. Stupid Boyishness Having not yet worked out a comfortable emotional and social understanding with your mother, you form relationships with women that become geared to avenge, resolve, or protect you from your ties to Mommy. Stupid Machismo Understanding the true and meaningful difference between being male and a man, you can become a man.

What if your pain and struggles were not punishments to endure--but opportunities to showcase God's glory? Inspired by the story of the blind man in John 9, bestselling author and pastor Samuel Rodriguez shows us that sometimes Jesus makes your situation a muddy mess first--and out of that mess emerges a miracle. With biblical inspiration, scientific findings and true stories, Pastor Sam lays out the practical, hope-infused roadmap for anyone with the audacity to replace fear with faith, wash away the mud of the past and walk through their mess into God's miracle. "A must-read for every believer for the hour we are in."--JENTEZEN FRANKLIN, senior pastor, Free Chapel; New York Times bestselling author "You will never see your situation the same again. I was blessed by this book."--DR. WILLIAM M. WILSON, president, Oral Roberts University "Spiritual vision is essential. Samuel Rodriguez opens our eyes to the reality of seeing the unseen and what matters most. I love this book!"--DR. JACK GRAHAM, senior pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church "A reminder that no matter where you are in your journey, you can expect a miracle."--KEVIN SORBO, actor, director, author "This book is theology on fire."--JESSE BRADLEY, senior pastor, Grace Community Church "Will encourage and empower you. I thoroughly recommend this book."--RUSSELL EVANS, senior pastor, Planetshakers Church "Wow! This fantastic book has unique insights for the Church we need to hear."--PHIL PRINGLE, senior pastor and founder, C3 Church Global Also available in Spanish.

In this beautiful paperback edition featuring French flaps, hugely popular lifestyle blogger, YouTube star, and designer Mr. Kate (Kate Albrecht) offers a stunning collection of step-by-step personal style and home projects—woven in with quirkily hilarious stories and anecdotes. Do you dream of finding ways to infuse do-it-yourself projects into every aspect of your life and have fun doing it? From the quirky personality behind the Mr. Kate brand comes a not-so-average DIY lifestyle book that will make your dreams of creating unique how-to projects become reality. Filled with 50 unique and approachable projects, along with hysterical, unfiltered stories from Mr. Kate’s crazy life, A Hot Glue Gun Mess will show how life can inspire art. Growing up with a high-powered Hollywood father and an oddball, down-to-earth mother, Kate Albrecht had a childhood that was anything but normal. From how her first period influenced her to become an artist to how her friendship with a high-priced hooker encouraged DIY beauty products, Mr. Kate’s stories are weird, wonderful, personal, inspiring, and downright hilarious. Her love of self-expression inspired Mr. Kate to create her own DIY life and a social media platform to connect with young women everywhere. Her projects involve style, home design, and beauty, including DIY nail art techniques, upcycled projects for your old jeans , and watercolor curtains. You don’t have to be a seamstress, metalsmith, or expert at anything to enjoy these projects, all of which are doable in under two hours and require a minimal number of supplies. Now you, too, can become a DIY diva!

Financial literacy is a key indicator of success later in life, and these habits start forming as early as age 7! Teach your child the building blocks of all things personal finance with this fun and informative guidebook, part of the Growing Up Powerful series from Rebel Girls! Do they have a full piggy bank they'd like to convert to their very own savings account? Are they ready to start their own scarf-making business? No matter where your Rebel is in their earning, saving, or spending journey, this book offers tried-and-true wisdom to help them be even more informed, independent, and ready for the future. Through quizzes, tips from experts, and stories and advice from girls around the world, they'll get a firm footing in financial literacy. They will learn: How to create a budget How a credit card works What investing is and how to start When to spend and when to save The truth about pay gaps How to create a business plan And much more!

From "one of the most significant figures of the last generation of fantasy", comes Francesco Dimitri's debut novel in English, an enthralling and seductive fantasy following four old friends and the secrets they keep. Four old school friends have a pact: to meet up every year in the small town in Puglia they grew up in. Art, the charismatic leader of the group and creator of the pact, insists that the agreement must remain unshakable and enduring. But this year, he never shows up. A visit to his house increases the friends' worry; Art is farming marijuana. In Southern Italy doing that kind of thing can be very dangerous. They can't go to the Carabinieri so must make enquiries of their own. This is how they come across the rumours about Art; bizarre and unbelievable rumours that he miraculously cured the local mafia boss's daughter of terminal leukaemia. And among the chaos of his house, they find a document written by Art, The Book of Hidden Things, that promises to reveal dark secrets and wonders beyond anything previously known. Francesco Dimitri's first novel written in English, following his career as one of the most significant fantasy writers in Italy, will entrance fans of Elena Ferrante, Neil Gaiman and Donna Tartt. Set in the beguiling and seductive landscape of Southern Italy, this story is about friendship and landscape, love and betrayal; above all it is about the nature of mystery itself.