Enables individuals to find a deeper sense of self by nurturing their souls, focusing on relationships, spiritual and personal growth, healing, and living out God's purpose for their lives. Original.

(Foreword by Dr. Gary Chapman) In a world of quick fixes and instant gratification, author Steve Smith invites the reader to focus on what truly matters most--the lifelong process of nurturing our souls by focusing on relationships, spiritual and personal growth and healing, and living out God's purpose for our lives.

Beyond the Suffering offers an in-depth exploration of the rich tradition of African American soul care, showing Christians proven ways to help people find hope in the midst of deep pain and sorrow.

Every day, inner and outer violence ravages the soul, leaving us weak, fearful, and malnourished. In Soul Custody, Stephen W. Smith presents eight choices to help readers reclaim custody of their one and only life—choices about silence, community, vocation, honoring the body, finding one’s true self, and more. As Smith reminds readers, allowing God to shape the soul leads to the deep, full, and satisfying life that God had in mind all along. This is not a self-help book. It is not a book of easy steps to a happy life. It is an invitation to the life God dreams for each of His children. It is a call to start living—to let the soul wake up to life as God intended.

A moving memoir and an extraordinary love story that shows how an expert physician became a family caregiver and learned why care is so central to all our lives and yet is at risk in today's world. When Dr. Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. In The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor, Kleinman delivers a deeply humane and inspiring story of his life in medicine and his marriage to Joan, and he describes the practical, emotional and moral aspects of caretaking. He also writes about the problems our society faces as medical technology advances and the cost of health care soars but caring for patients no longer seems important. Caregiving is long, hard, unglamorous work--at moments joyous, more often tedious, sometimes agonizing, but it is always rich in meaning. In the face of our current political indifference and the challenge to the health care system, he emphasizes how we must ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves, and of our doctors. To give care, to be "present" for someone who needs us, and to feel and show kindness are deep emotional and moral experiences, enactments of our core values. The practice of caregiving teaches us what is most important in life, and reveals the very heart of what it is to be human.

"Manda invites you in and tells the whole truth, and you feel welcomed, seen, and changed. Soul Care to Save Your Life lives up to everything it promises and more."--Annie F. Downs, New York Times bestselling author of That Sounds Fun *** In our image-conscious culture, life can become a never-ending performance. The perfection we feel pressured to project to those in our social sphere comes at the expense of our emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being. In the end, we are left exhausted and unfulfilled. How do we flip the script and feed ourselves rather than simply adding to our feeds? In Soul Care to Save Your Life, author, speaker, and recovering performer Manda Carpenter offers an invitation to shift your focus from performing to purposeful living from the inside out. In this book she guides you on a three-part journey to - identify the habits that are holding you back - take ownership of your path to growth - embrace practices of soul care for your well-being It's time to drop the façade of the picture-perfect life and instead get radically honest in order to heal and embrace the confidence that comes from knowing and loving your whole self, no filter needed. "This book is a breath of fresh air. Freedom lives within these pages."--Nona Jones, business executive, international speaker, and bestselling author of Success from the Inside Out "Raw and practical. Anyone who is ready for a future that looks different from your past will find this book catalytic and relevant."--Tim Stevens, executive pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

This New York Times bestseller (more than 200,000 hardcover copies sold) provides a path-breaking lifestyle handbook that shows how to add spirituality, depth, and meaning to modern-day life by nurturing the soul.

Spiritual director and pastor Barbara Peacock illustrates how the practices of spiritual formation are woven into African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community. Using the examples of ten significant men and women, Barbara helps us engage in practices of soul care as we learn from these spiritual leaders.

"... defines the true 'abundant life' for everyday people and shows us through eight practical ways how we can experience the life Jesus lived."--back cover.

GodÕs love for us breaks every boundary. So should our love for each other. Mihee Kim-Kort is a wife, a mom, and a Presbyterian minister. And she's queer. As she became aware of her queer sexuality, Mihee wondered what that meant for her spirituality. But instead of pushing her away from God, her queerness has brought her closer to Jesus and taught her how to love better. In Outside the Lines, Mihee shows us how God, in Jesus, is oriented toward us in a queer and radical way. Through the life, work, and witness of Jesus, we see a God who loves us with a queer love. And our faith in that God becomes a queer spirituality--a spirituality that crashes through definitions and moves us outside of the categories of our making. Whenever we love ourselves and our neighbors with the boundary-breaking love of God, we live out this queer spirituality in the world. With a captivating mix of personal story and biblical analysis, Outside the LinesÊshows us how each of our bodies fits into the body of Christ. Outside the lines and without exceptions.