What season of life are you in? What season of life are you regarding your relationship with God? Have you ever left an event or situation and asked yourself, "How did I get here?" Have you ever regretted a past decision? In our consistent walk with the Lord, we go through many seasons in our relationship with Him. We might be in spring, where we are growing closer to Jesus and flourishing in our walk with Him. Or maybe some of us are in fall and have chosen to fall back into sin and don't know how to get out. Others of us are in winter, stone-cold against the Lord. The rest of us are in summer, a carefree point in our walk with God because we are only focused on having fun. All of us are in a specific season in life. We constantly make decisions determining what season we are in, concerning our relationship with Jesus.

Pastoral leaders will welcome this parish-proven, highly adaptable, and Christ-centered bereavement program. Created by nationally recognized hospice care and bereavement specialist, M. Donna MacLeod, following the death of her daughter nearly twenty years ago, Seasons of Hope offers twenty-four scripture-based sessions for those who are grieving. These are organized into four six-week seasons that are self-contained and non-sequential. All group sessions follow the same simple format and flow with a comforting blend of commentary, scripture, prayer, simple group exercises, faith-sharing, and Catholic tradition. Seasons of Hope is highly adaptable to fit the individual needs of the grieving in the parish. The comprehensive guidebook and four participant journals, one for each season, give you everything you need from beginning to end.

Compares the transitional cycles of marriage to those of nature, describes the attitudes and emotions of each season, and offers seven strategies that enable couples to enhance and improve their marital relationship.

Includes the stories “The Body” and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine A “hypnotic” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of four novellas—including the inspirations behind the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption—from Stephen King, bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters. This gripping collection begins with “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge—the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption. Next is “Apt Pupil,” the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. In “The Body,” four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. This novella became the movie Stand By Me. Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in “The Breathing Method.” “The wondrous readability of his work, as well as the instant sense of communication with his characters, are what make Stephen King the consummate storyteller that he is,” hailed the Houston Chronicle about Different Seasons.

Set against the backdrop of a magnificent apple tree, this book uses poetry to cycle through the changes of the four seasons. Beginning with springtime, rhyming couplets take young readers through seasonal activities such as kite flying in the spring, summertime picnicking, fall trick-or-treating, all the way to building snowmen in the winter, before cycling back to spring again. One verse in each season references a major holiday, including Easter and Christmas.

Set in the late 1800s, this fourth book in the Seasons of the Heart series weaves together the stories of four women whose great faith make a difference in the lives of the men they love.

The Gift Of Forgiveness Gavin Sawyer knows he's in trouble the moment he meets Evie Thorne at the downtown Denver mission where they both volunteer. He's drawn to the pretty journalist, even though reporters have caused him nothing but heartache in the past. Soon Gavin begins to let his guard down as he sees that this wonderful woman may be someone he can trust with his heart. But when he brings her home to meet his family during the holidays, Evie's secret past suddenly comes to light. Will their newfound love survive when he learns the truth?

Life contains a rhythm when we see it from beginning to end. Our personal existence is not a series of individual episodes taking place as 'points in time.' Rather, life itself bears us along in a common pilgrimage. At any given time, we are part of a community where birth and death, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, as well as sowing and harvesting are taking place. This communal sharing of life replicates all the 'seasons of life.' For each time in our lives there is a corresponding season in the life of the human family. We empower faith by practicing hope every day of our lives.

Seasons of Hope is a unique grief support program for Catholics that focuses on the spiritual side of grieving the death of a loved one. It invites those who mourn to accompany one another and to meet Christ through scripture, prayer, reflection, and simple activities that offer comfort and help to foster healing and spiritual growth. The updated Seasons of Hope Leader’s Guide and four journals can be used by a parish grief ministry. Individuals are also able to use the journals for personal reflection and prayer. You can start with any of the four journals, each of which covers a standalone “season” of six sessions that each have their own theme rooted in a passage from scripture. The Seasons of Hope program was created by author M. Donna MacLeod following the death of her daughter and has been used in thousands of parishes by tens of thousands of people since its original release in 2007. Updates to the new edition of the Leader’s Guide include: a new introduction; a new chapter about offering group sessions online; revised content and activities that meet the challenges and needs of the contemporary Church and culture; an updated resource list; access to online facilitator training materials; and information about caring for those living grief from losses such as suicide, overdose, miscarriage and other child loss, natural disasters, or homicide. The Leader’s Guide continues to include FAQs about creating and sustaining successful grief ministries in your parish. It also provides outlines and scripts for the six group sessions of each season. Those sessions include scripture, prayer, reflection, activities, and faith sharing. The Seasons of Hope Journals, which are perfect for individual and group use, have been revised with a new introduction and updated resource listings. The journals also include Bible references, reflections, prayers, and space for writing.