Conflict—The Unexpected Gift Conflict between people can be defined as a difference that causes disagreements. Authors Jack Hamilton and Elisabeth Seaman go to the root of what causes conflict and how to rebuild relationships. Interpersonal conflicts permeate our lives. Sometimes we believe that another person treated us unfairly, and that assumption causes us to become angry at the person. Such conflicts in relationships often are intensified because of old patterns of thinking and behavior that have gotten out of hand. Becoming aware of someone’s true intentions, and the many factors that caused them to behave the way they did, as well as awareness of our own reactions, starts us on the path to mutual understanding and reconciliation. Conflict—The Unexpected Gift: Making the Most of Disputes in Life and Work suggests practical ways to honestly address, talk through and benefit from resolving conflicts. Every chapter has real-life accounts of people’s unresolved issues and the creative ways they resolved them. The book stresses the importance of knowing yourself, clarifying and letting go of unfounded assumptions, apologizing to heal old hurts and moving forward by not only repairing relationships, but also often improving them. Hamilton and Seaman wrote this book to give you the tools to talk through and mend unresolved issues that may have surfaced in your personal relationships.
Conflict—The Unexpected Gift Conflict between people can be defined as a difference that causes disagreements. Authors Jack Hamilton and Elisabeth Seaman go to the root of what causes conflict and how to rebuild relationships. Interpersonal conflicts permeate our lives. Sometimes we believe that another person treated us unfairly, and that assumption causes us to become angry at the person. Such conflicts in relationships often are intensified because of old patterns of thinking and behavior that have gotten out of hand. Becoming aware of someone’s true intentions, and the many factors that caused them to behave the way they did, as well as awareness of our own reactions, starts us on the path to mutual understanding and reconciliation. Conflict—The Unexpected Gift: Making the Most of Disputes in Life and Work suggests practical ways to honestly address, talk through and benefit from resolving conflicts. Every chapter has real-life accounts of people’s unresolved issues and the creative ways they resolved them. The book stresses the importance of knowing yourself, clarifying and letting go of unfounded assumptions, apologizing to heal old hurts and moving forward by not only repairing relationships, but also often improving them. Hamilton and Seaman wrote this book to give you the tools to talk through and mend unresolved issues that may have surfaced in your personal relationships.
Ever since her parents died in a tragic train wreck, Sofia Rogers has worked a job, managed a household, and brought up her little brother, Andy—all on her own, because she prizes her independence. But that’s not to say it’s been an easy road. As if she didn’t have enough burdens to bear, through circumstances beyond her control, Sofie gets pregnant—and becomes an overnight pariah. Worse than the whispers and stares of others is the bewilderment she feels, knowing she may not be able to provide for her baby.Dr. Elijah Trent moved to Wabash to take over the medical practice of his grandfather, “Doc” Trent, as he is affectionately called by the locals. Moved by a sense of compassion, Eli maintains a hectic schedule, striving to meet all his patients’ needs. Just when he feels as if he’s bitten off a bit more than he can chew, he meets Sofie Rogers—and his world is turned upside down by this enchanting yet perplexing young woman, who rejects any apparent acts of charity.Even more frustrating, Sofie refuses to participate in an investigation that might bring her attacker to justice and thereby restore her reputation. Never one to mind his own business, Eli gets involved, anyway—and a world of troubles ensues, from arson to death threats. Nevertheless, Eli is determined to break down the wall of silence behind which Sofie hides her deep, dark secret, and to make her realize that trusting him—and her heavenly Father—is the only thing that makes sense.
Life is far from a breeze for Olivia Beckman, owner of Livvie’s Kitchen, a favorite of locals in Wabash, Indiana. The widowed mother of two is struggling to make ends meet—no simple feat, especially when her cook turns in his resignation. Yet she’s determined to pull through on her own, just as she did when God failed to save her beloved Frank. Newly released from a ten-year prison sentence, Will Taylor is ready for a fresh start. With harmonica in hand—the only possession he values, aside from his Bible—he makes his way to Wabash, where a late-night meal at Livvie’s Kitchen turns into a job opportunity when the outgoing cook learns about his restaurant experience. What he doesn’t know is that the “restaurant” was a prison cafeteria. But Will became a new man behind bars, thanks to a Christian friend, and he credits God’s providence with landing him a job he loves. Soon, he cooks and bakes his way into the stomachs of his customers—and the heart of his employer. Both are hesitant, though, still healing from past hurts. A recipe for love between them will require sharing secrets, braving dangers, and believing God for a bright future.
When John Evans is tragically killed while skiing, his brother, Jason, looks after his widow, Rachel, and her children. Will their long-ago love be rekindled?
Holly's summer holiday before starting high school stinks. Her dad breaks a precious summer vacation promise and is stepping up plans to get remarried. Her mother has started dating again, her bizarre little brother is acting out, and she has no friends. Worst of all, Holly is fat. Or so she thinks. Macaroni Monday chronicles the frenzied journey of a fourteen-year-old girl's desperation to harness the one thing in her life she has control over: what goes into, and out of, her mouth. As Holly drifts deeper each day into the secretive world of bulimia, she eventually puts her health in serious jeopardy without anyone at all barely noticing, least of all her divorced parents. Finally Holly finds a confidant in an unlikely friend. Mrs. Sinclair lives next door and is in her seventies. As she shares her own experiences as a child evacuee out of London during the Second World War, she helps Holly to reclaim her life in the most curious war possible: the war with oneself.
Joy Westfall seems too young to be jaded, but the twenty-eight-year-old has already weathered more hardship and sorrow than most people twice her age. She moves home to Paris, Tennessee, with her three-year-old daughter—the only good thing to have come from her mistake of a marriage—and sets up housekeeping, as well as her tailoring business, in a tiny abode she inherited from her aunt. She doesn’t much mind living on the outskirts of town, especially since the residents of Paris seem disinclined to welcome a divorcée. The same is true of the congregants of the church next door. Just as well. Joy doesn’t need their sympathy. Lucas Jennings feels blessed to be shepherding his own congregation so early in life. Since his arrival, attendance at Paris Evangelical Church has swelled—of course, it can’t hurt that he’s an eligible bachelor. Single women flock to the church from all over Henry County, yet none of them—not even the most pious—manages to capture his attention quite like the newcomer next door, who is hungry for the gospel but unwilling to admit it. A spark ignites between the “scandalous” divorcée and the upright pastor, but Joy’s rocky past has made her wary of male attention, and her feelings of failure, not to mention her disbelief in a God of love, drives an even deeper wedge between them. Moreover, Lucas puts the brakes on their budding friendship when his congregants begin to question his intentions. When an unforeseen danger threatens Joy and her daughter, will the tight-knit town stand by and watch? Or will they open their hearts to the God of mercy and allow Him to do an unexpected work?
It’s 1955, when scandalous affairs are never talked about, divorce is rare, a wife is a “homemaker” more often than not, and every Christian home displays its family Bible front and center. Certainly, a well-respected pastor in the conservative city of Muskegon, Michigan, would never be caught in the middle of a heinous secret that could ruin his career and break up his beautiful marriage and family. Or would he? When Henry Griffin was stationed in occupied Japan in the mid-1940s, he met Rina Hamada, a Japanese woman who fell head over heels for him. Despite having a young wife and baby daughter waiting at home in the States, Henry had too much to drink one night, and one thing led to another… He knew it was wrong. He struggled with guilt and expressed his resistance, but she professed her love and continued to pursue him. Now, ten years later, a letter from Japan arrives and threatens to upend Henry’s world. What to do and how to tell his wife are just the beginning of his troubles. Tough questions about faith, redemption, and preserving his reputation bring us here, under the shade of The Mercy Tree.
The author of "An Affair of the Mind" now uses abundant humor to ease the reader through this book's painful subject matter, presenting diagnoses and cures for a multitude of family problems.
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