Conversations for Change

  Many Christians have gone through dark nights of the soul. They have clung onto the Lord and life in times of deep despair and sorrow in this fallen world. If they have believed that Christians should never be like this, their grief and sorrow is compounded. Midnight Mercies, by Christine Chappell, gives voice to the experience of despair. While being written for depressed mothers, the book will be helpful for anybody in such a dark place. Chappell looks at common experiences despairing people have, examines people from Scripture who went through the same, and points to helpful Scriptural truth. Chappell ends describing how experiencing the gracious Lord Jesus brought life and hope and transformed her view of herself and her situation. I highly recommend this book. The book is available  here

  Ed Welch has written an excellent short book about how to care for others while they are grieving. In the book, he covers how to respond wisely with wisdom, with compassion, and with humility. In each section, he gives real life examples of how people have cared well and cared badly. Then he walks us through how to care well by asking the reader practical, reflective questions. This is an excellent short book, which I would highly recommend. The book can be purchased  here

  It is probably true that all of us go through times when we have questions about our faith and know the importance of looking for answers. This gives us an understanding heart for teenagers when they have questions about the faith they are growing up with. Mike McGarry in Discover: Questioning Your Way to Faith provides short but robust answers to 20 questions that teenagers commonly ask. These questions cover apologetics, doctrine, hermeneutics, ethics, mental health, and the spiritual life. It is an excellent resource to use as a platform for talking about, thinking over, and discussing these issues.

  Probably all of us know people who struggle with anxiety and depression that is in some way related to their social media use. John Perritt, in   Social Media Pressure: Finding Peace Alongside Jesus is written as a response. He writes   about a number of ways in which people’s relationships, mental health, and perception of the world around them are affected by the way they use social media. Perritt gives advice about how people can gain more peace in their lives, how they can relate more thoughtfully, and how they can recognize when they are addicted. Social Media Pressure is a helpful book that gives some basic guidelines about using social media in a healthy way.

  After having raised three teenage children, Kristen Hatton wrote Parenting Ahead: Preparing Now for the Teen Years  to share some of what the Lord taught her with parents who are still to reach this stage. Often parents of younger children are looking for advice and help because they are fearful of the teen years. The book is split into three parts: Part 1: a foundation for long range, redemptive, hope-filled parenting Part 2: some pitfalls that deter parents from living out the gospel or cause them to lose sight of it And Part 3: what living redemptively in the home might look like. Parenting Ahead is a very helpful book that touches on the basics of these areas. It would be useful to read this book with parents and then explore how to apply what it suggest to their own situations

For people seeking to help women know the Lord's life-giving grace after such horrific suffering. Reprinted and republished from a previous version. Ebook available here on February 21st, print version on March 21st.