Download or read book If You Want to Make God Laugh written by Bianca Marais and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the strictest of boundaries. In a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in desperate poverty, under the shadowy threat of a civil war and a growing AIDS epidemic. Eight months pregnant, Zodwa carefully guards secrets that jeopardize her life. Across the country, wealthy socialite Ruth appears to have everything her heart desires, but it's what she can't have that leads to her breakdown. Meanwhile, in Zaire, a disgraced former nun, Delilah, grapples with a past that refuses to stay buried. When these personal crises send both middle-aged women back to their rural hometown to heal, the discovery of an abandoned newborn baby upends everything, challenging their lifelong beliefs about race, motherhood, and the power of the past. As the mystery surrounding the infant grows, the complicated lives of Zodwa, Ruth, and Delilah become inextricably linked. What follows is a mesmerizing look at family and identity that asks: How far will the human heart go to protect itself and the ones it loves?

Download or read book We Plan God Laughs written by Sherre Hirsch and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2009-06-16 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The old Yiddish proverb, “We plan, God laughs,” expresses a truth everyone can relate to. At every stage of life we make plans, setting out where we want to go and imagining what we will be like when we have “arrived.” But things have a way of turning out not quite as we hoped or expected. In WE PLAN, GOD LAUGHS, Sherre Hirsch argues that too often our plans are limited to ones we think up at bedtime, or are devised by our parents, or by what looks good on a résumé. Addressing serious spiritual issues, Hirsch takes readers through ten basics steps for formulating a plan that reflects who we are now and who we want to be—a plan that is alive, organic, and in sync with God. Hirsch teaches the importance of letting go and recognizing that even the most ordinary life is extraordinary in the eyes of God. She makes no foolish promise that life will turn out as we plan, but shows that with hope, faith, and belief, we can change our lives for the better and make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Download or read book If You Want to Make God Laugh Tell Him Your Plan written by Avery Quinn and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This bright and beautiful journal notebook has a rustic turquoise blue barn door with a chevron pattern. The funny quote shows how our plans never happen as we think because there is a bigger plan at work. This book is a great size at 6x9 with 120 pages. The first page gives you a space to put your name and phone # so that it can be returned to you if lost. The rest of the book has blank lined paper that can be used for quick notes or doodles, brain dumps, or precious thoughts.

Download or read book Making God Laugh written by Sean Grennan and published by . This book was released on 2014-02-03 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making God Laugh follows one typical American family over the course of thirty years' worth of holidays. Starting in 1980, Ruthie and Bill's grown children -- a priest, an aspiring actress, and a former football star -- all return home, where we learn of their plans and dreams as they embark on their adult lives. The empty-nester parents contend with their own changes, too, as old family rituals are trotted out and ancient tensions flare up. As time passes, the family discovers that, despite what we may have in mind, we often arrive at unexpected destinations.

Download or read book Hum If You Don t Know the Words written by Bianca Marais and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy. Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin’s parents are left dead and Beauty’s daughter goes missing. After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection. Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family.

Download or read book Finding God s Life for My Will written by Mike Donehey and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ECPA BESTSELLER • The lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist for award-winning contemporary Christian band Tenth Avenue North shows readers that by seeking God first and focusing on serving Him, we can live daily in His will. "Perhaps God isn't giving me the plan because He wants to be the plan." This was the aha moment for Mike Donehey after years of wrestling with his obsession to know God's specific plans for his life. He came to the realization that waiting for absolute certainty from God before making decisions may seem uberspiritual, but it can lead to a life of intense stress, paralyzing fear, and crushing regret--just the opposite of the freedom granted to those living a Christ-filled life. "This is my story...how I gave up begging to know God's will and began to ask His life to come and change my will." With his signature humor and relentless hunger for God, Mike will show you that discovering the Father's purpose and plan for our lives is not the shell game that we all too often make it out to be. If you're unsure what to do next, take heart and accept the ultimate invitation: learn to see God as the plan, not simply the formula to the plan.

Download or read book The First 30 Days written by Ariane de Bonvoisin and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First 30 Days reveals the nine principles of change that will revolutionize how you face transition times. With real-life stories, practical exercises, and inspiring action points, this book teaches the skills you need to face or make any change in your life, including how to: Use your Change Muscle Combat fear, doubt, and all your change demons Get in touch with your spiritual side Create a plan that will get you results

Download or read book Last Lecture written by Perfection Learning Corporation and published by Turtleback. This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Christmas Eve Club written by Brooke R. Bonomi and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2024-08-25 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sixteen-year-old Janie Ridley is a varsity soccer player at Chuck Yeager High School doing her best to not think about the pressure she is receiving from her teammates, who all made a pledge by Christmas Eve to score a lot on the field and at least once off the field, to lose her virginity before she turns seventeen. Justin Alito, along with other boys, is all too happy to assist any of the girls on the soccer team in fulfilling their pledge to be in the Christmas Eve Club and has already initiated a few of the girls to prove his point. As Janie downs alcohol in an effort to tame her nervousness and inhibitions, she experiences an internal battle that does not end that night. But as the boys become “men” and the some of the girls attempt to fend off bullies and stand up to peer pressure, fate steps in to intervene. Will a mysterious geeky classmate be able to stop Janie from losing her virginity before it is too late? The Christmas Eve Club is a tale of forgiveness, faith, chastity, and relationships as a high school girl is pressured to lose her virginity before her seventeenth birthday.

Download or read book Spiritual Survival in the Modern World written by Andrew Dean Swafford and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-12-02 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this work, Dr. Swafford opens up the wisdom of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. From challenges at home, evangelization, overcoming anxiety, doubt, prayer, and becoming other-centered--these and many other struggles a Christian is bound to face show up in these pages. What unites this book is Swafford's ability to untwist the demonic plan to keep us down and bring us to despair. Truly, this work provides a roadmap for spiritual survival in the modern age, one that will empower us to live a life of joy and peace right now.

Download or read book Life in Balance The DREAMER Way written by Tim Brennan Jr. and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Not Balance Your Life From the Inside! Achieve your healthiest weight? Start each day rested? Begin to feel fit again? Build and maintain better relationships? It’s all possible when you master the secrets of life balance that lead to continuous improvement and repeated success. Learn to balance the seven sources of energy that “shape your day.” You will refer to this book again and again as you feel the growing power within you. You will find out how easy it is to • build your Diet in a way that nourishes you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually; • enjoy real Rest, savoring the safety and the stillness; • grow into Exercise that moves you—body, mind, and spirit; • discover Awareness of your words, your world, yourself; • learn how Meditation can help you “come back home to peace of mind”; • multiply Expression and connect to success; and • experience Renewal and change your life for good! “This is the book that pulls it all together in such an easy and powerful way”—xxxxxxxxx, Internationally known author and speaker. “Tim Brennan has written the ultimate self-help book, for all of us”—xxxxxxxxxxx, author of xxxxxxxxxx. “At last, something to help people make a difference in their own lives”—xxxxxxxxxxx, of PBS series, “xxxxxxxxx.”

Download or read book Holy Grit written by Paul George and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2023-02-24 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover what it means to become a man of faith through the lives of ten male saints and their experiences pursuing holiness. In Holy Grit, you’ll join Catholic life coach Paul George to consider some of the tough issues facing men today—struggles in marriage, parenting, suffering, and finding purpose—to determine areas for growth and take steps toward living the life for which God created you. You might have grown up with an image of masculinity defined by tough guys on TV—boxers, gangsters, cowboys, fighter pilots, the fastest gun in the West. These guys had courage, backbone, and guts. They had grit. “As a man, I know the struggles of living a manly existence. It is one I deal with daily,” George writes. “I’m no expert, but I’m a gritty guy, like you, grinding it out on my journey.” But George admits that grit isn’t enough to satisfy the longing in a man’s soul: you have to start trusting God and taking seriously the call to be holy. Holy Grit is rich in personal stories, thought-provoking questions, spiritual insights, and mental health tips that help Catholic men like you build the spiritual foundation you need to serve your family, parish, and community. George invites you to examine how saints such as Maximilian Kolbe, Louis Martin, and John Paul II understood themselves as men. Learning from the lessons of the saints, George will help you explore how to: overcome vice with St. Augustine; pursue God through your habits with St. Thomas More; experience God’s healing power with St. Padre Pio; surrender to the will of God with St. Peter; and develop daily discipline with St. Paul. Each chapter introduces a saint, offers practical takeaways for modern men, and includes reflection questions, an action plan, and a prayer.

Download or read book When God Builds a Church written by Bob Russell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-20 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pastor Bob Russell shares the ten principles upon which Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest and fastest growing churches in America, was founded. He shares not only the story of one of the most amazing churches in America, but also what your church can become if you follow the principles and allow God to build your church. Can the church truly be the "city on a hill that cannot be hidden" that Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount? Can it grow large enough to attract throngs of seekers and yet be loving enough to care for each individual that comes? Bob Russell, pastor of Southeast Christian Church—one of the largest and fastest growing churches in America—says that it most certainly can. But it can only be done when we are submissive to God's will and allow Him to build that church. In the pages of this far-sighted, uncompromising book, Bob Russell and his son Rusty share the ten principles upon which this remarkable church was founded. Throughout the book, you will see God's mighty power at work in a church that began in 1962 with only 50 members and has now grown to over 14,000 and has become a bustling "city on a hill" whose beaming faith powerfully impacts its community and the world. This book shares not only the story of one of the most amazing churches in America but also the story of what your church can become as you follow these ten time-tested principles and allow God to build your church.

Download or read book Uprising written by Diamond & Diamond & Silk and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “There were these two women, these two beautiful, wonderful women, and I said, ‘Well, let me check it out.’ It took me about two seconds to say, ‘stardom.’” – DONALD J. TRUMP “Diamond and Silk are a national treasure, and their astonishing, heartwarming story is nothing less than an American classic. Get ready to be bowled over.” – MARK LEVIN Who Are Diamond and Silk? Donald Trump’s biggest fans. A national treasure. A force of nature. A political awakening that can’t be stopped. And a natural anti-depressant. Diamond and Silk are all that and more. The very sight and sound of these insightful and ebullient ladies lifts spirits and opens minds. Diamond and Silk are a unique phenomenon impossible to pigeonhole—or to control. And now they tell their own story for the first time. In this account of their amazing journey, told in their own inimitable and irresistible voices, you’ll learn: How the sisters Lynette and Rochelle Hardaway—a.k.a. Diamond and Silk—“were created for such a time as this” How the bridge between their mother’s sharecropping family and their father, a middle-class business owner, shaped their characters Why being “preacher’s kids” was a blessing—and a challenge How working in North Carolina textile plants gave Diamond and Silk early insight into the way NAFTA was hurting Americans and exporting jobs to Mexico Why they supported Donald Trump from the minute he announced his candidacy Why Diamond and Silk will never desert Trump—despite being offered large monetary rewards to switch candidates How social media moguls tried to shut them down and shut them up, lied to them, and gave them the run around How after gaslighting them for 6 months, 29 days, 5 hours, 40 minutes, and 43 seconds, Facebook made the preposterous claim that Diamond and Silk were “unsafe for the community” Practical advice for succeeding the Diamond and Silk way: why “rejection is God’s protection—and redirection” and “your haters make you greater"

Download or read book Battle Cries for the Hollywood Underdog written by Monroe Mann; Lou Bortone and published by Author House. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Break Diver’s Creed® * No Rules * No Excuses * No Regrets® Looking for some serious inspiration on your Hollywood journey? In Battle Cries for the Hollywood Underdog, co-authors Monroe Mann and Lou Bortone start with some of the most powerful and inspirational words ever spoken by the titans of Tinseltown, and then, in typical Monroe Mann fashion, break down each quotation, and explain and interpret how those very words can help you ‘make it’ in showbiz. Together, Mann & Bortone have created an inspirational handbook for Hollywood success—a motivating and fresh new script for the motion picture called: your life.

Download or read book GET THIS Series I 2010 3 Selected Works House of Bee Sting Landa s Haven written by Beba Papakyriakou and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010-09-14 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dreams do come true! We live in challenging times, and we need to use all means at our disposal to navigate our way through life in healthy, constructive, rich ways; to bring hope, peace, love and harmony back into our lives; and to have some of life's richest human experiences. Because I created a hub on which to share whatever I wrote, I found even more reason to look for inspiration in all of life’s experiences, and it’s been fantastic! The web site also inspired me to create a blog in 2010 on which to put other types of things, other photos, and other pieces of writing, my own and that of other people. Read about giving without expectation, doing the right thing for you, releasing negativity, heroes, life’s riches, engineering cooperation, plans but no conviction, and more

Download or read book Reaching for Heaven written by Michael Amodei and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2024-02-02 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As you grow older, you’ll find that life takes on a new rhythm, one where you can shed the responsibilities that once consumed your days. The hours at work and the bustling activities of parenthood or other vocations have now transformed into something different—a fresh chapter of life, filled with new opportunities for reflection and growth. It’s your time to pivot and focus on how God will judge your life and how to make a final push for getting to heaven. Through personal stories, humor, and practical advice, Michael Amodei—a lifelong Catholic with a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary and the University of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish—shares fourteen practices to help enrich your spirituality as you strive for heaven. In Reaching for Heaven, seasoned book editor Michael Amodei shares what older Catholics need to hear to make the most of their time. “This book is a kind of wake-up call,” he writes, “a chance to become a better Catholic so that when we face that one-on-one with Jesus, we don’t have to fear what is coming.” He contends that even a small investment in time and energy thinking about your golden years can have a rich payoff as you remember the past, act in the present, and plan for the future. He builds on his own spiritually rich memories—including his view from the fifty-yard line at Notre Dame Stadium—to show how you can invent your own life plan by selecting from spiritual habits and practices that have formed and strengthened Catholics for centuries. By creating both short- and long-term goals, you can cultivate a deeper prayer life by praying the Liturgy of the Hours; get more out of scripture by taking a class or participating in a group Bible study; make a pilgrimage to a holy site or shrine (Amodei recommends the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto either in France or at the University of Notre Dame); correct past wrongs and heal past injuries not only by apologizing to someone you’ve hurt but also by making amends; strengthen family bonds by writing notes to tell family members what you appreciate about them; and draw closer to Mary by consecrating yourself to her. He guides you to use the power of memory to shape your understanding of who God is and who you truly are by putting what you learn into practice incrementally over time to achieve the optimal plan for meeting Jesus face to face. This plan can lead you towards Judgment Day with confidence, knowing that you’ve lived a life dedicated to love, service, and spiritual growth. The book includes questions for reflection. It is an excellent resource for personal or small-group study. Additional resources are also available online.