Books for a Flourishing Faith

Editor’s note: Don’t you just love books that lift you up? Books that encourage your heart? Books that plant new seeds for your faith? Check out some of the latest new releases in Christian publishing — books that will strengthen your walk with Jesus, offer you strategies to get through hard seasons, and build your foundation of faith. Enjoy!

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Images of comfortable kitchens and flower-filled gardens stir something deep within us — we instinctively long for home. In a world of chaos and conflict, we want a place of comfort and peace.

In Placemaker, Christie Purifoy invites us to notice our soul’s desire for beauty, our need to create and to be created again and again. As she reflects on the joys and sorrows of two decades as a placemaker and her recent years living in and restoring a Pennsylvania farmhouse, Christie shows us that we are all gardeners. No matter our vocation, we spend much of our lives tending, keeping, and caring. In each act of creation, we reflect the image of God. In each moment of making beauty, we realize that beauty is a mystery to receive.

Weaving together her family’s journey with stories of botanical marvels and the histories of the flawed yet inspiring placemakers who shaped the land generations ago, Christie calls us to cultivate orchards and communities, to clap our hands along with the trees of the fields. Placemaker is a timely yet timeless reminder that the cultivation of good and beautiful places is not a retreat from the real world but a holy pursuit of a world that is more real than we know. A call to tend the soul, the land, and the places we share with one another. A reminder that we are always headed home. Buy now…

Growing up, she rarely heard her own name. Today, she’s here to help you claim the inherent worth that is yours.

Born into a large working-class family in upstate New York, Christina Meredith endured years of abuse before entering the foster care system as a teenager. With nowhere to turn after she graduated from high school, Christina lived in her car for almost a year, working three jobs to survive.

As she prayed in her car every day, Christina had no idea that in just a few years, she would be crowned Ms. California. She had no idea that her suffering would one day help others find healing. But she did know that she was destined for more, and she would not give up hope no matter the circumstance.

In CinderGirl, Christina tells her piercing and poignant story of leaving behind homelessness to become Ms. California and the founder of a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy for foster care children. With stunning vulnerability, Christina invites us into her childhood home and the heart of a child longing to be loved. She asks us to journey with her across the country and deep into a growing faith. She invites us to dig deeper into our own personal courage, even in the most grim of conditions.

CinderGirl is the riveting story of one young woman’s determination to overcome hardship in order to help others know they are not alone and that they too can achieve anything they dream. Buy now…

A handbook of help and hope when facing personal tragedy.

When the storms of life blow in unexpectedly, wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of destruction, why does one person fall apart while another perseveres and even finds a deeper sense of purpose afterward? In Beyond the Storm, Debra Morton reveals why, providing the techniques and strategies that helped her and many others not only survive but also thrive, even in the most painful of circumstances.

While ministering to victims of Hurricane Katrina and grieving the death of her granddaughter, Morton realized that the key to pushing forward in the midst of setbacks was having a defined set of coping skills. So she created the “Storm Playbook,” which teaches how to renew your hope, reclaim your passion, and experience fulfillment and joy again. That playbook is here for you to use immediately, along with interactive tools, journaling questions, and scripture studies that will guide you through pain and struggle and into strength and victory once again.

Beyond the Storm is an essential help for flourishing after the devastating effects of life’s blows so you can actively pursue the purpose you were designed to fulfill. Buy now…

Why do we believe what we believe?

The Case for Christ Daily Moment of Truth, by leading apologists for Christianity Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg, offers fact-based, intelligent devotions to build a foundational faith. These 180 insightful writings will strengthen your spiritual knowledge and touch your heart with life-changing truth.

Each devotion is based on a scientific, historical, or biblical fact that will bolster your confidence in Christ. You will be inspired, encouraged, and equipped. A reflection at the end of each entry allows you to consider this new knowledge and how to put it into action.

In these thoughtful devotions Strobel and Mittelberg articulate the reasons why Christians believe what they believe. Combining the authors’ expertise in apologetics with scriptural application for daily living, this devotional will leave you deeply encouraged and well informed. Topics range from scientific discoveries to theological explanations, and each devotion is followed by a brief reflection, prayer, and thought to meditate on and talk about.

You’ll emerge with a deeper understanding of your beliefs. In the process, you’ll find your love of truth—and your passion to share it — growing each day. Buy now…

Experience a deeper relationship with Jesus as you savor the presence of the One who understands you perfectly and loves you forever.

With scripture and personal reflections, bestselling author Sarah Young brings Jesus’ message of peace—for today and every day.

In this #1 New York Times bestselling devotional, readers will receive words of hope, encouragement, comfort, and reassurance of Jesus’ unending love. The devotions are written as if Jesus Himself is speaking directly to each reader and are based on Jesus’ own words of hope, guidance, and peace within Scripture—penned by one who loves him and reveres His Word. Each entry is accompanied by Scripture for further reflection and meditation.

These much-loved devotions will help you look forward to your time with the Lord. Experience peace in the presence of the Savior who is always with you.

This edition is sure to be a favorite in the popular Jesus Calling® line. The on-trend fabric cover with foil has feminine floral touches, giving a gorgeous, elegant feel, along with large text and written-out scripture verses. Buy now…

Made for This: 40 Days to Living Your Purpose

Recognize your calling, find your place of service, and follow God to a life of purpose.

In her bestselling books Anything and Restless, Jennie Allen challenged women to fully surrender their lives to God and then offered a process to uncover and understand the raw materials He had given them to use for His glory and purposes. Now, for the first time ever, those two concepts have been combined to create a forty-day journey for women to pursue God and find the deepest yearnings of their heart fulfilled.

This step-by-step process, to fully surrender to God and then identify the threads of gifts, passions, places, relationships, and sufferings in your life, is not to get what you want but to find what God wants of you. The journal-like edition includes a new introduction and perspective from Jennie stories and testimonies from women whose lives have been changed by the process and the workbook graphics to determine the individual threads and how to weave them together. Divided into forty days, Made for This will help readers not only follow their dreams but also be able to answer life’s ultimate question: Why am I here? Buy now…

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Your Turn

What are reading that is inspiring your faith? Come share with us on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Laurie McClure, FaithGateway Editor