Getting Ready For Love

ARE YOU READY FOR LOVE? In our eagerness to experience love, we seldom check whether we have made ourselves ready to love, be loved, and to be in love. In this book, L. Spenser Smith gives scriptural and personal insights on the proper order of love- Loving God, Loving Ourselves, and Loving Others. Special to this offering, he shares some of the private writings of his late sister, Gwendolyn Townsend, and together they delightfully and often wittingly take the reader on a journey of the heart and spirit to learn how to prepare themselves for love and building intimate relationships. L. Spenser Smith, the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Altar'ed Life, Transformed By the Master's Will is one of the emerging Kingdom voices in the Body of Christ. His passion for the people and his sensitivity to the voice of God has allowed him to become a highly prolific preacher and teacher sharing anointed and insightful messages across the country. He pastors the Impact Nation Fellowship Church with locations in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Alabama and is the president of the Unity Impact Fellowship of Churches and Ministries. L. Spenser Smith is the loving husband of Patrice Smith and the proud father of three children: Jori, Jamel and Jarren.

A six-session premarital workbook that goes through the tough issues and asks the ultimate question, "What convinces you that God is calling you together as husband and wife?" A must-read for anyone who truly wants to commit to marriage for a lifetime.

Jim Burns and Doug Fields wish you the very best for your wedding, but sadly, they won't be able to make it. What they are here for is your marriage. Jim and Doug have seen it all. They have worked with many couples and have studied extensively to uncover the essential elements for making marriages thrive. This book is their early wedding gift to you: a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate road map for beginning your union. Filled with premium fuel for the journey—including meaningful exercises, hard truths, and conversations starters—this book will nourish and guide your relationship for the long haul.

Is Clutter Taking Over Your Home and Life? Stuff. So much stuff! Stuff that may link you to important memories or be needed again someday, but for now just clutters up cupboards and closets and the garage and tables, shelves, and bookcases. Or perhaps paper and miscellaneous stuff is piled on counters...everywhere! What can you do with all of it? You can trust Melissa Michaels, creator of the highly respected and popular blog The Inspired Room and a reformed stuff-keeper. In these pages you will find a friend who empathizes with you and offers insightful ideas for altering your habits while efficiently decluttering and organizing your home so that you can really enjoy living there. With Melissa's encouragement and practical advice, you will be inspired to create a place for the things you love and breathing room to pursue your dreams and engage in life with the people who matter most.

“Olivarez steps into the ‘inbetween’ standing between Mexico and America in these compelling, emotional poems. Written with humor and sincerity” (Newsweek). Named a Best Book of the Year by Newsweek and NPR. In this “devastating debut” (Publishers Weekly), poet José Olivarez explores the stories, contradictions, joys, and sorrows that embody life in the spaces between Mexico and America. He paints vivid portraits of good kids, bad kids, families clinging to hope, life after the steel mills, gentrifying barrios, and everything in between. Drawing on the rich traditions of Latinx and Chicago writers like Sandra Cisneros and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olivarez creates a home out of life in the in-between. Combining wry humor with potent emotional force, Olivarez takes on complex issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and immigration using an everyday language that invites the reader in, with a unique voice that makes him a poet to watch. “The son of Mexican immigrants, Olivarez celebrates his Mexican-American identity and examines how those two sides conflict in a striking collection of poems.” —USA Today

A little girl carries a big message—and finds it thrillingly amplified by the rallying crowd around her—in an empowering story for the youngest of activists. Mari raised her sign for everyone to see. Even though she was small and the crowd was very big, and she didn’t think anyone would hear, she yelled out. Mari is getting ready to make a sign with crayon as the streets below her fill up with people. “What are we making, Mama?” she asks. “A message for the world,” Mama says. “How will the whole world hear?” Mari wonders. “They’ll hear,” says Mama, “because love is powerful.” Inspired by a girl who participated in the January 2017 Women’s March in New York City, Heather Dean Brewer’s simple and uplifting story, delightfully illustrated by LeUyen Pham, is a reminder of what young people can do to promote change and equality at a time when our country is divided by politics, race, gender, and religion.

It is possible to find true love through dating. In True Love Dates, Debra Fileta encourages singles not to "kiss dating goodbye" but instead to experience a season of dating as a way to find real love. Through powerful, real-life stories and Fileta's personal journey, this book offers profound insights from the expertise of a professional counselor. Christians are looking for answers to finding true love. They are disillusioned with the church that has provided little practical application in the area of love and relationships. They're bombarded by Christian books that shun dating, idolize courting, fixate on spirituality, and in the end, offer little real relationship help. True Love Dates provides honest help for dating by providing a guide into vital relationship essentials. Debra is a professional Christian counselor who reaches millions with her popular blog, Truelovedates.com, and her book offers sound advice grounded in Christian spirituality. She delivers insight, direction, and counsel when it comes to entering the world of dating and learning to do it right the first time around. Drawing on the stories and struggles of hundreds of young men and women who have pursued the search for true love, Fileta helps readers bypass unnecessary pain while focusing on the things that really matter in the world of dating.

Singles who have never been married and those who have suffered a divorce or the loss of their mate through death are faced with a challenge: When love comes their way, will they be ready? What does that readiness look like? Clinical psychologist and counselor Dr. David Hawkins prescribes a practical and biblical approach for preparing for love. Dr. Hawkins encourages singles to spend less energy looking for the perfect mate and more energy in becoming people who can enter wholeheartedly into an intimate relationship. He demonstrates how readers can increase their capacity to... practice the sacrificial love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13 get to know others for who they really are and respect their uniqueness express love through appropriate love languages receive love without fear or feelings of unworthiness take risks for the sake of personal and mutual growth practice healthy boundaries humbly recognize their own weaknesses and turn them into strengths This user-friendly guide will give singles of any age a positive and constructive plan for becoming ready for love.

This book will pinpoint specific concerns of engaged couples and provide accessible answers to their concern in the form of ten essays by various authors.