Come Close to Jesus What to Pray When You Need the Lord to Still Your Thoughts, Calm Your Heart, and Guide Your Way (50 Devotional Prayers) by Lysa TerKeurst - Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Gift

 Come Close to Jesus What to Pray When You Need the Lord to Still Your Thoughts, Calm Your Heart, and Guide Your Way (50 Devotional Prayers) by Lysa TerKeurst - Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Gift 

Pub Date Mar 31 2026

In the last few years, I’ve been recommending Lysa’s books a lot. She is incredibly understanding of difficult topics that are not very openly talked about in traditional Christian circles—such as divorce, deep emotional betrayal, and boundary setting. When you are healing from battles of that size, your body and mind are completely tired, making these short, simple reads absolutely necessary for survival.

Come Close to Jesus is a deeply restorative, objective prayer tool designed for those whose minds are too exhausted to formulate their own words to God. Rather than acting as a dense theological study, this book provides 50 beautifully pre-written devotional prayers paired with stabilizing scripture. It targets the specific mental chaos, anxiety, and deep exhaustion that follow life's heaviest, unglamorous trials.

Tactical Support for Spiritual Exhaustion The book bypasses superficial, generic religious advice to act as a practical first-aid kit for prayer blocks: 

• The "Right Words" Solution: Recognizing that pain often causes people to go completely silent, the book provides ready-made, scripture-backed prayers to bridge the gap during periods of intense grief or mental panic. 
• Prayer in Action: Every entry includes guided reflections and actionable steps to gently ground a wandering, stressed mind back into the present moment. 
• Connection to Past Works: While her previous bestsellers like Forgiving What You Can't Forget and Good Boundaries and Goodbyes explored the messy, painful mechanics of trauma, heartbreak, and setting relationships right, Come Close to Jesus serves as the quiet, practical resting place after those battles are fought.

Uncluttered Faith Own Less, Love More, and Make an Impact in Your World: A Minimalist Book by Joshua Becker - Penguin Random House Christian Publishing | WaterBrook

 Uncluttered Faith Own Less, Love More, and Make an Impact in Your World: A Minimalist Book by Joshua Becker - Penguin Random House Christian Publishing | WaterBrook

For readers who enjoyed Becker’s practical frameworks but wanted a deeper, more intentional exploration of his spiritual worldview, this book bridges the gap. It treats physical decluttering not as the end goal, but as the launching pad for a generous life.

Uncluttered Faith: Own Less, Love More, and Make an Impact in Your World by Joshua Becker is a refreshing, objective look at minimalism through an explicitly Christian lens. Unlike Becker's previous mainstream self-help guides, this book serves as an intentional pivot toward his personal faith roots. He anchors the concept of owning less directly into the teachings of Jesus regarding wealth, greed, and radical generosity. Instead of just offering home-organization tips, it systematically explores how excessive consumerism builds a dangerous barrier to spiritual growth and community impact.

Connecting Becker's Literary Universe

The book acts as the definitive spiritual culmination of his entire writing career, linking back to his most prominent works:

• The Progression of Ownership: In his earlier bestseller, The More of Less, Becker introduced the philosophical "why" of minimalism. He then followed up with The Minimalist Home to deliver a highly practical, room-by-room physical roadmap for decluttering. Uncluttered Faith takes the physical space cleared out by those first two books and asks what should fill it, arguing that physical decluttering is empty if it does not lead to spiritual depth.
• The Progression of Purpose: In his subsequent work, Things That Matter, Becker addressed broader modern distractions like technology and ego. Uncluttered Faith scales those ideas down to focus intently on a single, specific rival to human fulfillment: materialism. It repositions minimalism from a mere lifestyle trend into a deliberate choice to remove distractions and notice the Holy Spirit.
  
  If you like this kind of topics, you will enjoy it.

Sisters in Science How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History by Olivia Campbell - Harlequin Trade Publishing | Park Row

Sisters in Science How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History  by Olivia Campbell - Harlequin Trade Publishing | Park Row

Pub Date Dec 31 2024

Si hoy en día dar un giro profesional o enfrentar el peso de una carrera médica es un desafío gigante, imagina hacerlo en la década de 1850, cuando el consenso médico dictaba que el esfuerzo intelectual podía "dañar el útero" de las mujeres. Este tipo de historias y anécdotas me intriga, porque la realidad en la que yo he vivido es sumamente diferente. Quisiera leerlo con mi hija y comentar qué piensa ella ya que es Generación Z.

Sisters in Science de Olivia Campbell es la fascinante historia real de Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson y Sophia Jex-Blake, tres mujeres que no solo se atrevieron a soñar con ser doctoras, sino que terminaron fundando sus propias escuelas de medicina tras encontrar las puertas del sistema completamente blindadas contra ellas.

Lo que hace que este libro sea tan especial y profundamente humano es que Campbell no las retrata como estatuas de bronce perfectas o heroínas sin fisuras. Las muestra con sus dudas, sus rivalidades, sus choques de personalidad y el inmenso costo emocional de ser "las primeras". A través de cartas y diarios personales, el libro se siente casi como un diario de trinchera, donde la amistad y la alianza estratégica se convierten en su único escudo contra una sociedad que las quería sumisas.

Es un relato ágil, conmovedor y con una vigencia tremenda. Una lectura que te llena de gratitud por las batallas del pasado y te inyecta una dosis enorme de inspiración para enfrentar los laberintos del presente. A veces se siente como novela, pero es impresionante que es una historia de la vida real (mis favoritas).

I Want to Trust You, but I Don't Moving Forward When You’re Skeptical of Others, Afraid of What God Will Allow, and Doubtful of Your Own Discernment by Lysa TerKeurst - Nelson Books | Thomas Nelson

I Want to Trust You, but I Don't Moving Forward When You’re Skeptical of Others, Afraid of What God Will Allow, and Doubtful of Your Own Discernment  by Lysa TerKeurst - Nelson Books | Thomas Nelson

Pub Date Oct 08 2024 

Do you have trust issues? or Do you have a lot of people who have not been loyal to you? I think this book offers interesting things to think about, not just in a marriage/couple but in relationships in general, even when she focuses on her marriage example/pain.

This is an objective, highly practical manual on how to untangle past relational trauma from your present reality.  Writing in the wake of her high-profile divorce, multiple shattered relationships, and the physical toll of severe stress, TerKeurst addresses a crucial problem: how past betrayals trick us into thinking hyper-vigilance and skepticism are forms of "wisdom". It serves as a direct, structural follow-up to her previous work, Good Boundaries and Goodbyes, shifting the focus from ending toxic patterns to safely re-entering community.

Rather than relying on vague encouragement, TerKeurst structures her framework around concrete psychological and scriptural checkpoints:

• The Trauma Blueprint: The book objectively examines the physical and neurological impact of betrayal, detailing how a brain trapped in "fight, flight, or freeze" struggles to interpret social cues accurately. 
• The 11 Relational Red Flags: TerKeurst provides a structured checklist to help readers objectively evaluate whether their current unease is caused by a real threat or an old trigger. 
• Separating Forgiveness from Rebuilding: A core thesis is that forgiveness can be given instantly to free your own heart, but trust is an entirely separate asset that must be earned incrementally over time through consistent behavior. 

This book is an essential, step-by-step tool for anyone whose body and mind are tired from relational battles and who fears that opening up again will only lead to more pain. It brilliantly redirects the goal away from finding "perfect" people and toward building internal stability through God.

Word before World 100 Devotions to Put Jesus First by Gretchen Saffles - Tyndale House Publishers

Word before World 100 Devotions to Put Jesus First by Gretchen Saffles - Tyndale House Publishers

The author seems authentic, she is committed to her cause and it is admirable how she expresses in this 100 devotions how she loves the word. Her invitation is loud and clear to put God´s message first in your life. She inspired me to get deeper and be constant in my journey digging in the Word. Any woman could benefit or get inspired by this content. 

Description

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
When you think about your life and what you value, what would you put first? When you read God’s Word, are you doing so out of duty or out of a desire to delight in your Savior? When all we give Jesus is our leftovers, fear overwhelms our peace and worry clouds our vision.

Gretchen Saffles knows what it’s like to struggle to put Jesus first daily. During a season of spiritual discouragement, she learned that pursuing God is ultimately not a self-help journey, but rather it’s a Spirit-led surrender. This discovery led her to a simple phrase that helped her reframe how she desired to spend her time, start her days, and shape her mindset: Word before World. This three-word statement has become her morning manifesto, her afternoon anthem, and her evening comfort. When she practiced looking first to Jesus, she realized that while God’s Word never changes, yet it always changes us.

In Word before World you’ll discover ways to:

• Conquer the daily distractions that get in the way of time with God
• Develop a daily rhythm of seeking Jesus
• Set aside your phone, lists, and plans in order to seek direction and nourishment in God’s Word instead
• Transform your worldview, schedule, dreams, and desires to align with God’s purpose for your life.

Cultivate a deep love for God in this 100-day devotional journey to experience God’s faithfulness and goodness. Put God’s Word before the distractions of this world, believing that he will meet your every need.

You'll Make It (and They Will Too) Everything No One Talks About When You're Parenting Teens by Amy Betters-Midtvedt - WaterBrook & Multnomah

You'll Make It (and They Will Too) Everything No One Talks About When You're Parenting Teens  by Amy Betters-Midtvedt - WaterBrook & Multnomah

Aug 06 2024

He escuchado a muchas mamás decir: "¿Lo estaré arruinando todo?" y eso siempre me hacía tener muchas preguntas sobre la etapa de la adolescencia... muchas preguntas y temores inflingidos por otros. Quizá por eso leo tanto? para ver lo que viene, lo que enfrentaré, para "prepararme" para encontrar salidas a laberintos que quizá nunca cruzaré. Pero si para mi o para otros me gusta prepararme, leer y siempre sirve para la consejería todo lo que estudio.

You'll Make It (and They Will Too) de Amy Betters-Midtvedt es el equivalente literario a que una amiga sabia, que ya pasó por esa tormenta, te abrace, te sirva una bebida y te dice: Respira, no eres la única.

Lo mejor de este libro es que no viene con ese tono de "manual de crianza perfecto" que tanto abruma. Amy escribe desde las trincheras, con honestidad brutal, muchísima fe y un humor que te hace reír justo cuando querías llorar (me imagino). No te da fórmulas mágicas para que tus hijos sean perfectos, sino herramientas reales para conectar con ellos en medio del caos, la salud mental y las crisis de identidad de la adolescencia.

Al final, te deja con una certeza reconfortante: la adolescencia es una etapa de supervivencia, pero vas a salir de esta, y ellos también. Me parece un bálsamo para el corazón de cualquier papá o mamá.

You Are Not Alone A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxious Thoughts and Believing What's True by Jennie Allen - WaterBrook & Multnomah | WaterBrook Children's

 You Are Not Alone A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxious Thoughts and Believing What's True  by Jennie Allen - WaterBrook & Multnomah | WaterBrook Children's

Allen hits again at the heart of the loneliness epidemic with raw honesty, making you feel understood from the very first chapter (when you are a kid, you may suffer about this too). She doesn’t just lament how lonely we all are; she provides a very clear, actionable guide to building deep, messy, everyday community. There are other books about the loneliness epidemic that are more informative, but I understand she has her own style. I´m not sure about how kids are going to take it.

Description

New York Times bestselling author, visionary, and mom of four Jennie Allen offers a practical guide to help kids form positive habits and connections that are crucial to their mental and spiritual health.

Spinning, anxious thoughts can sometimes take over our minds and not let go, but we have the power to choose what to think and believe—and so do our children. In this edition for young readers, bestselling author Jennie Allen draws on the insights, truth, and experiences from her New York Times bestsellers Get Out of Your Head and Find Your People to help younger kids and tweens:

• trade fear, anxiety, loneliness, and shame for God’s love and peace
• learn how to notice lies and believe what’s true
• hit pause on negative thoughts and retrain their brains to think life-giving thoughts
• gain tools to rely on God’s power and truth every day

Kids don’t have to be at the mercy of toxic input and negative thoughts. In these pages, they’ll discover exactly how to interrupt swirling thought patterns, develop better friendships, and create new day-to-day habits that will lead them closer to God and to a life of peace, joy, and love. You Are Not Alone includes questions, action steps, Bible verses, and real-life stories to help them be who God has called them to be.

Jun 11 2024

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ISBN	9780593445440
PRICE	$14.99 (USD)
PAGES	192

The Way of the Hermit My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness by Ken Smith - Harlequin Trade Publishing | Hanover Square Press

 The Way of the Hermit My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness  by Ken Smith - Harlequin Trade Publishing | Hanover Square Press

Pub Date May 28 2024

If you like adventures, peace and lots of space, reading this felt like taking a long walk alone in the wilderness, far away from the chaotic noise of modern life. Smith’s reflections on his decades of solitude are profoundly grounding, making you question what things you actually need to live a truly fulfilled life. Make you reflect if you would do something like this or not... I´m sure many people will be curious about this.
Description

*INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*

Subconsciously, I pressed myself into the loch's banks as that summer inched forward. We'd got off to a rocky beginning, but I started to see Treig in a different way. There was something about this land that told me just to hold on a while longer. It might've been just a whisper at the time, but I knew it was definitely worth heeding. I just knew that was it. This was the place.

Seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as "the lonely loch," where he lives off the land. He fishes for his supper, chops his own wood and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit.

From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, Ken always sensed that there was more ot life than an empty nine to five. Then one day in 1974, an attack from a group of drunken men left him for dead. Determined to change his prospects, Ken quit his job and spent his formative years traveling in the Yukon. It was here, in the vast wilderness of northwestern Canada, that he honed his survival skills and grew closer to nature. Returning to Britain, he continued his nomadic lifestyle, wandering north and living in huts until he finally reached Loch Treig. Ken decided to lay his roots amongst the dense woodland and Highland air, and has lived there ever since.

In The Way of the Hermit, Ken shares the remarkable story of his lfe for the very first time. Told with humor and compassion, his unique insights allow us to glimpse the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature and offer wisdom on how each of us can escape the pressures and stresses of modern life.

ISBN	9781335454966
PRICE	$20.99 (USD)
PAGES	272

Deep Reading Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age by Rachel B. Griffis; Julie Ooms; Rachel M. De Smith Roberts - Baker Academic & Brazos Press

 Deep Reading Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age  by Rachel B. Griffis; Julie Ooms; Rachel M. De Smith Roberts - Baker Academic & Brazos Press

Pub Date May 28 2024

If you are someone whose attention span has been completely ruined by endlessly scrolling through social media, this book will be a much-needed reality check. It is a thoughtful, academic, yet practical defense of slow, immersive reading as a vital tool for spiritual and intellectual growth. If you love to scroll and/or you love to read, you will find this book interesting and informative.

Description

Arlin G. Meyer Book Award Winner

Christianity Today 2025 Book Award Finalist (Culture, Poetry, and the Arts)

"Show[s] how deep reading habits help us manage distraction and bring about individual and communal flourishing."--Christianity Today

This book helps readers develop practices that will result in deep, formative, and faithful reading so they can contribute to the flourishing of their communities and cultivate their own spiritual and intellectual depth.

The authors present reading as a remedy for three prevalent cultural vices--distraction, hostility, and consumerism--that impact the possibility of formative reading. Informed by James K. A. Smith's work on "the spiritual power of habit," Deep Reading provides resources for engaging in formative and culturally subversive reading practices that teach readers how to resist vices, love virtue, and desire the good.

Rather than emphasizing the spiritual benefits of reading specific texts such as Dante's Divine Comedy or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the authors focus on the practice of reading itself. They examine practices many teachers, students, and avid readers employ--such as reading lists, reading logs, and discussion--and demonstrate how such practices can be more effectively and intentionally harnessed to result in deep reading. The practices apply to any work that is meant to be read deeply.

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Advance Praise

“Drawing from years of experience and research, Deep Reading offers insights, approaches, and practices to equip readers and teachers of readers. The book not only instructs—it inspires. I wish I had this work when I began teaching thirty years ago. It’s not only a book for teachers; it’s a book for all readers who desire to read deeply and to live deeply as well.”—Karen Swallow Prior, author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis

“This book eloquently joins the other voices calling us to soul-forming kinds of reading that can resist our descent into superficiality and hostility. Importantly, it goes beyond them in describing not just the texts we should read or the virtues we should seek but the actual practices that might get us there. All those who use text to teach others should read it. Anyone else who cares about reading and spiritual growth should join them.”—David I. Smith, director, Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, Calvin University

“Deep Reading ought to be read and wrestled with by all those who want to read carefully and well, and it’s particularly essential for those tasked with guiding others’ reading in the classroom, the church, or the home. With its wealth of creative and practical examples, this book will enliven our efforts to read redemptively. In a culture where words more often cater to vicious appetites than challenge us to cultivate virtuous dispositions, this book is sorely needed.”—Jeffrey Bilbro, associate professor of English, Grove City College; editor-in-chief at Front Porch Republic

“While Christian literary approaches frequently are concerned with what specific texts should be read (canon wars) or their compatibility with Christianity (worldview critique), Deep Reading contributes to an important new and newly critical genre that views reading as a spiritual practice: a subversive activity contesting modern distraction, polarization, and consumerism. This jewel of a book will speak to readers of all sorts and inspire them to engage in deep, open, and generous reading.”—Susan VanZanten, senior research professor in humanities, Valparaiso University

“This well-researched and highly engaging book by three seasoned English professors provides both theological impetus and practical guidance for becoming wise, hospitable readers who read to gain wisdom, an empathetic imagination, and a greater capacity for love. Deep Reading is both timely and timeless as it highlights contemporary manifestations of the historical vices of ‘distraction,’ ‘hostility,’ and ‘consumerism’ that hinder attentive, active reading. These three educators both argue and illustrate the many ways in which ‘deep reading is an antidote to the vices of our age.’ Deep Reading is highly recommended for any lovers of books, especially educators; we all have much more to learn about embodied, engaged, deeply human reading.”—Mary McCampbell, author of Imagining Our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy

Dara the Dancing Panda by X. Wang - Dancing Panda LLC

 Dara the Dancing Panda by X. Wang - Dancing Panda LLC

Pub Date May 22 2024
This is an adorable children's book with vibrant illustrations that immediately caught my eye. The story delivers a wonderful, heartwarming message about perseverance and being proud of your unique talents, making it a bedtime favorite in childrens/adults houses (I love reading children´s books, and I´m an adult, they give me such peace).

Description

Get ready to twirl, leap, and giggle along with Dara as she proves that determination knows no bounds.

Dara’s passion for dance knows no bounds, but when her beloved ballet shoes go missing, her dream feels shattered. With determination in her soul and her mother's encouraging words echoing in her mind, Dara sets off on a quest, enlisting the help of her forest friends in a tale of perseverance and friendship.

As Dara searches high and low, from treetops to riverbanks, her friends rally to her side, turning her solo quest into a joyous forest-wide adventure. With each turn of the page, young readers will be swept away by Dara's infectious spirit and the magic of the forest, ultimately discovering that true success lies not only in achieving one's dreams but in the bonds forged along the way.

Join Dara as she twirls, leaps, and dances her way into the hearts of readers everywhere, proving that with determination and a little help from friends, anything is possible.

Let Dara's story inspire you to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small, in a world where anything is possible.

Are you ready to dance, dream, and discover with Dara? Get your copy of Dara the Dancing Panda today and start on a magical journey that will warm your heart and ignite your imagination!

Available Editions

ISBN	9798326319302
PRICE

Fighting Shadows Overcoming 7 Lies That Keep Men From Becoming Fully Alive by Jefferson Bethke; Jon Tyson - Nelson Books | Thomas Nelson

 Fighting Shadows Overcoming 7 Lies That Keep Men From Becoming Fully Alive  by Jefferson Bethke; Jon Tyson - Nelson Books | Thomas Nelson

Pub Date May 21 2024 

I know, I know is a book for men, in my deffense I love to read material for men because I´m married with one and also I have a son. This is a powerful, urgent wake-up call for men trying to navigate what it actually means to be strong and purposeful in today's confusing cultural landscape. The authors strike a great balance between calling out passive behavior and offering a positive, hopeful vision to run toward.

Description

Discover the satisfaction of becoming the man God created you to be. In a world that’s grown increasingly confused about--and hostile toward--the very notion of masculinity, authors Jefferson Bethke and Jon Tyson send a powerful call to men everywhere: it's time to step into the light of Jesus' vision for you as a man.

There's a shadow that's settled over the hearts of men today. Masculinity is in crisis. Critiques about the dangers of toxic masculinity and the abuses of patriarchal systems have grown louder than ever. The very notions of masculinity and manhood are under attack. In response to cultural shifts, some have doubled down on old stereotypes in ways that just add to the conflict and confusion.

The result? Many men simply feel paralyzed--worried about saying the wrong thing, unsure what to do with their ambitions or strengths, simultaneously tempted and shamed by a hypersexualized and pornified culture. Our models and mentors have failed us. Based on their years of working in men's ministry, Bethke and Tyson have good news for men looking for clarity and courage in this age of quiet desperation. In Fighting Shadows, they help men:

• Overcome the temptations of escapism, passivity, or overcompensation
• Combat the most harmful shadows that men battle today, including loneliness, apathy, distraction, lust, and shame
• Embrace masculinity as a God-given gift, not a curse to be avoided, suppressed, or battled

An entire generation of men is being told they should abdicate the responsibility and joy of living into God's calling on their lives—don't be one of them. If you're a man who's wondering what to do with your strength, your longings, and your gifts, it's time to step out of the shadows. Jesus has a vision for you.

ISBN	9781400243303
PRICE	$29.99 (USD)
PAGES	256

Loving Your Adult Children The Heartache of Parenting and the Hope of the Gospel by Gaye B. Clark - Crossway

 Loving Your Adult Children The Heartache of Parenting and the Hope of the Gospel by Gaye B. Clark - Crossway

Pub Date May 07 2024

Transitioning from a hands-on parent to a supportive consultant is incredibly hard, but this book lays out that messy boundary beautifully. It helped me realize that loving my future grown kids means learning when to speak up and, more importantly, when to quietly step back and trust them. What important topics to study, learn and practice... more in LatinAmerica where boundaries are not always respected.