The Surprising Grace of Disappointment

The Surprising Grace of Disappointment
Author: John Koessler
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2013-04-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802476252

Disappointment is a feeling everyone knows well—failed relationships, buyer’s remorse, unmet expectations, and so on. In a broken world, disappointment surrounds us. But Christians know that Jesus will never disappoint us, right? Wrong. John Koessler explains how Jesus disappoints everyone. He never fails, but he does disappoint. We come to Jesus with false expectations, demanding or expecting things he doesn’t promise, and then when he doesn’t deliver, we are disappointed by Him. But Koessler explains how this can be the best thing for us even though it doesn’t feel good. He describes how this sort of disappointment takes our wrong expectations and sets them straight, bringing us closer to Jesus and into a deeper understanding of his very surprising grace. This book is a wonderful resource for people struggling with life’s hard times as well as for counselors or pastors seeking to help others.

Blindsided by God

Blindsided by God
Author: Peter Chin
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2015-01-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441265082

It took thirty years to build Peter's faith, but only three months to knock it down. When Peter Chin moved his family into an inner-city neighborhood to plant a church, he was sure he was doing what God wanted. But in the span of a few months his family experienced a heartbreaking miscarriage, a break-in at their home, a breast cancer diagnosis, and the termination of their health insurance. Why would God allow these things to happen? But God had one more surprise prepared for the Chins: a child, conceived in the most unlikely and dangerous of circumstances, through whom Peter would realize that although God's ways were wild and strange, they were always good. Filled with twists and turns, deep insights, and surprising humor, Blindsided by God explores the reality of suffering, the mystery of God's ways, and why, even in the darkest times, there's always reason for hope.

What's So Amazing About Grace? Revised and Updated

What's So Amazing About Grace? Revised and Updated
Author: Philip Yancey
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2023-10-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310367816

OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! It's the most powerful force in the universe, our only hope for love and forgiveness, and a foretaste of eternal life: amazing, radical, life-changing grace. Millions of lives have been changed by award-winning author Philip Yancey's startling exploration of grace at street level. Grace is the one thing the world can't duplicate, the healing force we need, and the key to transforming a broken world. In this revised and updated edition of his personal and provocative book, Yancey offers true portraits of grace's life-changing power. These stories, set in the midst of life's stark realities, evoke such questions as: If grace is God's love for the undeserving, how do I get it? How well are we dispensing grace to a world that knows far more of strife and unforgiveness than it does of mercy? Can grace make a difference in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust, and how can it withstand the brutality of hate? With powerful stories, rich theology, and practical suggestions, Yancey challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately needs to know, What's So Amazing About Grace?

Disappointment with God

Disappointment with God
Author: Philip Yancey
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1988
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310517818

"Is God listening? "Can he be trusted?" In this book, Yancey tackles the questions caused by a God who doesn't always do what we think he's supposed to do.

The Grace and Truth Paradox

The Grace and Truth Paradox
Author: Randy Alcorn
Publisher: Multnomah
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2009-06-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 030756469X

Christians trying to model their lives after Jesus may find that He gets buried under lists, rules, and formulas. Now bestselling author Randy Alcorn offers a simple two-point checklist for Christlikeness based on John 1:14. The test consists of balancing grace and truth, equally and unapologetically. Grace without truth deceives people, and ceases to be grace. Truth without grace crushes people, and ceases to be truth. Alcorn shows the reader how to show the world Jesus -- offering grace instead of the world's apathy and tolerance, offering truth instead of the world's relativism and deception. Grace or Truth…or Both? Truth without grace breeds self-righteousness and crushing legalism. Grace without truth breeds deception and moral compromise. Is it possible to embrace both in balance? Jesus did. Randy Alcorn offers a simple yet profound two-point checklist of Christlikeness. “In the end,” says Alcorn, “we don’t need grace or truth. We need grace and truth. And for people to see Jesus in us, they must see both.”

The Scandal of Forgiveness

The Scandal of Forgiveness
Author: Philip Yancey
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2021-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310120098

Discover the true depth of what forgiveness is, what it demands of you, and how it sets you free. Forgiveness offers an alternative to an endless cycle of resentment and revenge that we often see in this world, but it can be difficult to understand its true power without first understanding God’s scandalous grace and forgiveness of us. In The Scandal of Forgiveness—an adaptation of the bestselling book What’s So Amazing About Grace?—author Philip Yancey will take you on an exploration of forgiveness and its clear connection to the gospel. You’ll learn how: Forgiveness is more powerful than getting even. The idea of forgiveness shatters the “eye for an eye” logic of the world. To see and shed the illusions surrounding grace and forgiveness. To accept the full impact of grace and what it means to be a grace-full Christian. The Scandal of Forgiveness reveals how you can adopt the forgiveness the world is searching for. You’ll learn how to authentically forgive and grow closer in your relationship with God

When the Bottom Drops Out

When the Bottom Drops Out
Author: Robert Bugh
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2011-10-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1414366876

Nobody is immune to disappointment. Unfortunately, at some point all of us will face that horrific moment when the bottom completely drops out of out of our life, leaving us broken, devastated, and desperately searching for God’s grace. Pastor and theologian Robert Bugh has experienced unthinkable pain and disappointment firsthand, having lost both his wife and his best friend to cancer within a year and a half of each other. Though devastating, Bugh’s tragedy also brought him into a stronger, deeper relationship with God. When the Bottom Drops Out chronicles Rob’s journey from loss to restoration and shows readers how to find and hold tightly to Christ through even the most painful episodes of life. Bugh’s story is proof positive that while pain and disappointment are an unavoidable part of life, God is nonetheless faithful, holding us close at all times and in all circumstances.

Reset

Reset
Author: David Murray
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2017-03-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433555212

"How did I get here?" These are the words of many Christian men on the brink of burnout or in the midst of breakdown. They are exhausted, depressed, anxious, stressed, and joyless. Their time is spent doing many good things, but their pace is unsustainable—lacking the rest, readjustment, and recalibration everyone needs on a regular basis. But there is good news: God has graciously provided a way for men to reset their lives at a more sustainable pace. Drawing on his own experiences—and time spent with other men who have also experienced burnout—pastor David Murray offers weary men hope for the future, helping them identify the warning signs of burnout and offering practical strategies for developing patterns that help them live a grace-paced life and reach the finish line with their joy intact.

Finding God in Unexpected Places

Finding God in Unexpected Places
Author: Philip Yancey
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2005-03-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0385515146

The traces of God can be found in the most unexpected places--an Atlanta slum, a pod of whales off the coast of Alaska, the prisons of Peru and Chile, the plays of Shakespeare, a health club in Chicago--yet many Christians have not only missed seeing God, they’ve overlooked opportunities to make him visible to those most in need of hope. In this enlightening book author Philip Yancey serves as an insightful tour guide for those willing to look beyond the obvious, pointing out glimpses of the eternal where few might think to look. Whether finding God among the newspaper headlines, within the church, or on the job, Yancey delves deeply into the commonplace and surfaces with rich spiritual insight. Finding God in Unexpected Places takes readers from Ground Zero to the Horn of Africa, and each stop along the way reveals footprints of God, touches of his truth and grace that prompt readers to search deeper within their own lives for glimpses of transcendence.

Extravagant Grace

Extravagant Grace
Author: Barbara R. Duguid
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781596384491

Why do Christians even mature Christians still sin so often? Why doesn't God set us free? We seem to notice more sin in our lives all the time, and we wonder if our progress is a constant disappointment to God. Where is the joy and peace we read about in the Bible? Speaking from her own struggles, Barbara Duguid turns to the writings of John Newton to teach us a theology with a purpose for our failure and guilt one that adjusts our expectations of ourselves. Her empathetic, honest approach lifts our focus from our own performance back to the God who is bigger than our failures and who uses them. Rediscover how God's extravagant grace makes the gospel once again feel like the good news it truly is