Intimate True

God’s truth is not complex; he intends us to understand it. His desire to expand the circle of relationship that existed within the Trinity from eternity past led him to create others like himself—people—who can join in this relationship of unspoiled intimacy. That’s the reason for creation, redemption, and the Christian life, now and future. Intimate and True explains the truth God has revealed and makes clear his desire for an intimate relationship with each of us. The Bible holds answers to the questions of our age.

In his extraordinary new book, Terrence Real, distinguished therapist and bestselling author, presents a long overdue message that women need to hear: You aren’t crazy–you’re right! Women have changed in the last twenty-five years–they have become powerful, independent, self-confident, and happy. Yet many men remain irresponsible and emotionally detached. They don’t know how to respond to frustrated partners who just want their mates to show up and grow up. Enter the good news: In this revolutionary book, Real shows women how to master the new rules of twenty-first-century marriage by offering them a set of effective tools with which they can create the truly intimate relationship that they desire and deserve. He identifies five non-starters to avoid and shares practical strategies for bringing honesty, passion, and joy back to even the most difficult relationship. Using his experience helping thousands of couples shift from despair to profound emotional closeness, Real guides you through the process of relationship repair with exercises that you can do alone or with your partner. With this program you’ll discover how to - identify and articulate your wants and needs - listen well and respond generously - set limits, and stand up for yourself - embrace and appreciate what you have - know when to seek outside help The New Rules of Marriage will introduce you to a radically new kind of relationship, one based on the idea that every woman has the power to transform her marriage, while men, given the right support, have it in them to rise to the occasion. We have never wanted so much from our relationships as we do today. More than any other generation, we yearn for our mates to be lifelong friends and lovers. The New Rules of Marriage shows us how to fulfill this courageous and uncompromising new vision.

The best-selling author of How to Be an Adult in Relationships explains how to build trust—the essential ingredient in successful relationships—in spite of fear or past betrayals Most relationship problems are essentially trust issues, explains psychotherapist David Richo. Whether it’s fear of commitment, insecurity, jealousy, or a tendency to be controlling, the real obstacle is a fundamental lack of trust—both in ourselves and in our partner. Daring to Trust explores the importance of trust throughout our emotional lives: how it develops in childhood and how it becomes an essential ingredient in healthy adult relationships. It offers key insights and practical exercises for exploring and addressing our trust issues in relationships. Topics include: • How we learn early in life to trust others (or not to trust them) • Why we fear trusting • Developing greater trust in ourselves as the basis for trusting others • How to know if someone is trustworthy • Naïve trust vs. healthy, adult trust • What to do when trust is broken Ultimately, Richo explains, we must develop trust in four directions: toward ourselves, toward others, toward life as it is, and toward a higher power or spiritual path. These four types of trust are not only the basis of healthy relationships, they are also the foundation of emotional well-being and freedom from fear.

We were made for intimacy--spiritual intimacy with God that brings oneness and bears powerful fruit. We were made to know Him and be known by Him, fully. So why do we often feel burnt-out, distant, and disheartened in our journey of faith? How do we cultivate true intimacy with God? And what does His design of physical, sexual intimacy unveil of the full gospel story? Sharing Word-backed, Holy Spirit-breathed revelation with humility and openhanded honesty, New York Times bestselling author Mo Aiken walks alongside us through the beauty and power of life lived in active communion with God, rather than the self-seeking, counterfeit faith we've settled for. Unpacking eternity-defining concepts that have become confusing, offensive, or altogether ignored--like submission, repentance, sanctification, holiness, and discipline--Mo shows us how God has given us a physical model of spiritual intimacy through His design of marriage, sex, and family. Exposing many roots of selfishness and perversion we see so often in our relationships, both human and divine, she invites us to pure-hearted and transformational communion with our Creator. If you've felt far from God, caught in broken relationships, dead in religion, and longing to be fully known, join Mo on this journey of return to right-natured intimacy with our First Love.

Deida explores the most important issues in men's lives--from career and family to women and intimacy to love and spirituality--to offer a practical guidebook for living a masculine life of integrity, authenticity, and freedom.

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.

Awaken Your Erotic Life “Making sex work—embracing your erotic soul and deepening the intimacy in your life—is both a consequence of deep presence and its gift. Healing our selves in our deepest erotic space can only be a deliberate act, and the doing of it miraculously seems to heal everything else. Tapping into the courage to know your own deepest sexual thoughts and feelings, and offering them with your whole being, is both a life work and lasting gift that will be long remembered.” —Wendy Strgar, Sex That Works If you and your partner have lost that special spark, here is a book with the power to save your sex life—and your relationship. Sex That Works invites you to experience a new level of feeling and a new level of freedom in your sexuality. Wendy Strgar offers healing insights, potent practices (for you alone and with your partner), and guidance drawn from her marriage of over 30 years and her work with thousands of people to encourage the full awakening and expression of your erotic life. Nine core topics include: Freedom Taking responsibility for your sexual evolution • Healing our harmful behaviors • Claiming erotic freedom • Overcoming silence • Giving yourself permission • Finding forgiveness Pleasure Pleasure as a medium of communication • Restoring our humanity • Orgasm • Relaxing our judgments about sexuality • The many benefits of self-pleasure • Owning the pleasure response • Calling pleasure by its true name • Transcendent orgasms • Broadening our sexual vocabulary • Pleasure as a fountain of youth Finding your normal The universal uncertainty • Bridging the erotic with the rational • Putting sexual health in context • The Sexual Identity Grid • The malady of sexual dysfunction • Trusting our erotic nature • Beyond right and wrong Courage The gift of choice • Growing up sexually • Living well with risks • Befriending our fear • The four attributes of courage • Desire as courage • Daily practice • Becoming who you really are • Healing erotic wounds • Letting our erotic self teach us Curiosity Overcoming sexual boredom • Filling in the gaps of our sexual education • Exploration as the leader • Sensory intrigue • Opening as a creative act • Awakening to life, sexual and otherwise Sensation Awakening the senses • Out of the head and into the body • Trusting erotic impulses • Building a vocabulary of scent and taste • The healing language of touch • Erotic connections • Making noise • Negotiating shared sensations • Mindfulness • Falling into the body Fantasy Eliciting arousal through stories • Witnessing your fantasies • Fantasies as charged erotic fuel • The space between witnessing and enacting • Inner erotic landscapes • Uncovering the subconscious source of pleasure • Expressing desire • Submission and domination Attention Listening • Making the time • A radical leap • Creating a love container • Sustaining an atmosphere conducive to intimacy • Showing up vs. coexisting • Compassion as a way to connect • Sourcing from our center • Committing to something bigger than our selves Gratitude Letting go and receiving • Grateful sex • Healing through kindness • Receiving abundance • The importance of sexual freedom, revisited • A simple gratitude practice • A passionate love affair with your fleeting life

When it comes to authenticity, is being fully yourself always worth the risk? From the author of Blue Like Jazz comes New York Times bestseller Scary Close, Donald Miller's journey of uncovering the keys to a healthy relationship and discovering that they're also at the heart of building a healthy family, a successful career, and a trusted community of friends. After decades of failed relationships and painful drama, Miller decided that he'd had enough. Trying to impress people wasn't helping him truly connect with anyone--and neither was pretending to be someone he wasn't. He'd built himself a life of public isolation, but he dreamed of having a life defined by meaningful relationships instead. At 40-years-old, he made a scary decision: he was going to be his true self no matter what it might cost. Scary Close tells the story of Miller's difficult choice to impress fewer people and connect with even more. It's about the importance of knocking down old walls to finally experience the freedom that comes when we stop playing a part and start being fully ourselves. In Scary Close, Miller shares everything he's learned firsthand about how to: Deconstruct the old habits that no longer serve us Overcome the desire to please the people around us Always tell the truth, even when it's hard Find satisfaction in a daily portion of real love Risk being fully known in order to deeply love and be loved Apply these lessons to your everyday life If you're ready to drop the act and find true, life-changing intimacy, it's time to get Scary Close.

A New York Times Notable Book Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award A personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy, from the author of Orwell's Roses Apricots. Her mother's disintegrating memory. An invitation to Iceland. Illness. These are Rebecca Solnit's raw materials, but The Faraway Nearby goes beyond her own life, as she spirals out into the stories she heard and read—from fairy tales to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein—that helped her navigate her difficult passge. Solnit takes us into the lives of others—an arctic cannibal, the young Che Guevara among the leprosy afflicted, a blues musician, an Icelandic artist and her labyrinth—to understand warmth and coldness, kindness and imagination, decay and transformation, making art and making self. This captivating, exquisitely written exploration of the forces that connect us and the way we tell our stories is a tour de force of association, a marvelous Russian doll of a book that is a fitting companion to Solnit's much-loved A Field Guide to Getting Lost.

When Christians have same-sex attraction, how should the church respond? Pastor Ed Shaw experiences same-sex attraction, and yet he is committed to Scripture and the church's traditional position on sexuality. In this honest book, he shares his own experiences and shows us that obedience to Jesus is ultimately the only way to experience life to the full.