Showing results by narrator "Devon O’ Day" in All Categories

It's easy to trust God when things are going our way and the world makes sense. But when suffering strikes—especially seemingly senseless suffering—we are filled with doubt and stunned by events spiraling beyond our control. In the midst of suffering, we often question the very foundation of our faith—our belief in the God who says he loves us. Joni Eareckson Tada, a woman who has lived in a wheelchair for more than thirty years, and Steve Estes, a pastor and one of Joni's closest friends, explore the answers. When God Weeps is not so much a book about suffering as it is about God.

Bree Nicholls and her K-9 search-and-rescue dog, Samson, recover missing persons around the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. Together they’ve become an unstoppable mystery-solving team. When a man working at a new plant near Rock Harbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Bree’s involvement in the investigation leads to an astonishing find—family she didn’t know she had. Then Samson goes missing. As she tracks down her loyal dog, Bree finds that the mysterious murder and dognapping are connected. The clues lead her to evidence buried deep in the wilderness.

Katie Russell loves working as a telephone operator in Mercy Falls, California. But since childhood she has been expected to marry well. Her family presses for an engagement to wealthy bachelor Bartholomew Foster and though he doesn't stir her heart, their engagement promises a secure financial future. Working the phone lines one evening, Katie overhears a chilling exchange between her friend Eliza and a familiar male voice.

At twenty-nine, auctioneer Toby Miller is a notorious bachelor. But his job keeps him on the road for months out of the year, and he knows no Plain woman could want a marriage that would force her to live and raise children alone. Thankfully, Toby’s content to dedicate his life to the family business, especially now that his grandfather is retiring. So why does his heart keep longing for something—or more specifically, someone—he can’t have?

With her folksy wisdom, Wilson shows us how to dump our baggage, resist stress, loosen up, and begin simply to be the unique individuals God created us to be. Part motivational writer, part spiritual director, part Everywoman, Wilson offers a wise and lighthearted take on the serious business of maturing in faith.

Part life story, part philosophy text, and part spiritual guide, Sister Jean's wit, wisdom, and common sense has broad appeal and application that transcends religious creed, belief, and even feelings on Loyola's basketball team.

Over four decades ago, a diving accident left Joni a quadriplegic. Today, she faces a new battle: unrelenting pain. The ongoing urgency of this season in her life has caused Joni to return to foundational questions about suffering and God’s will. A Place of Healing is not an ivory-tower treatise on suffering. It’s an intimate look into the life of a mature woman of God. Whether listeners are enduring physical pain, financial loss, or relational grief, Joni invites them to process their suffering with her.

As Christmas day nears, Bree Matthews and her faithful search-and-rescue dog Samson follow the trail of a troubling mystery into the snowy forests of Rock Harbor.Newlywed Bree Matthews and her husband Kade are preparing for Christmas guests when word arrives that a parachuter has disappeared in the North Woods, along Lake Superior's icy shore. Bree and Samson plunge into the search.Will this snowy, silent night search lead Bree and Samson to the missing girl?

In a secluded corner of Hope Beach, one woman must decipher a stranger’s memories...before they cost her everything. Elin Summerall was one of the lucky ones. Not only did she get a heart transplant, but the donor was a perfect fit. A miraculously perfect fit. But when Elin begins having violent flashbacks - and vivid dreams of being strangled - she realizes that she has been the recipient of more than just a new heart. Elin is remembering her donor's murder.

In The Mother and Child Project, Melinda Gates, Kay Warren, Tony Campolo, Christine Caine, and Senator William H. Frist, along with other inspirational leaders, cultural icons, political experts, academics, and service providers, provide a personal yet fact-based narrative exploring the plight of women and children living in extreme poverty in an effort to educate and inspire the church to speak up in support of maternal and child health issues in the developing world.

Mallory's mother died 15 years ago. But her father's last words on the phone were unmistakable: "Find...mother." Shame and confusion have kept Mallory Davis from her home for the last 15 years, but when her dad mysteriously dies on his mail boat route, she doesn't have any choice but to go back to Mermaid Point. Mallory believes her father was murdered and childhood sweetheart Kevin O'Connor, game warden in Downeast Maine, confirms her suspicions. But Kevin is wary of helping Mallory in her search. She broke his heart and left - without a word - years ago.

Sometimes it takes a stranger to see you as you really are. Born and raised on sprawling Texas land, Margaret O'Brien prides herself on her competence as a rancher. But her father believes she's made for more than just dawn-to-dusk work. He wants her to have the love of a good man, to raise children, to build a life. But Margaret gave up such dreams years ago. She's convinced no man would have her, that the ranch is her life now. So when Margaret's father hires Daniel Cutler as a new foreman, she's frustrated and suspicious.

Lucy Marsh's worldly resources are running out, but she's fiercely determined to care for her younger brother and sister. When she discovers that their father's recent death was no accident, Lucy is eager to leave town. She accepts a proxy marriage she believes will provide safe refuge. But trouble follows her to Texas where her new husband is surprised to suddenly have a wife and children to care for.

Our culture is self-obsessed - in our schedules, in our relationships, and especially online. (Can you say selfie?) But in this near-narcissism, people are less content than in decades past. Why? Because we forgot the joy that comes from putting others first. Doing so requires us to live alert, listening for "heart drops", hints from those in our lives who need a helping hand or a generous dose of encouragement. Living alert lifts our own spirits, showing us that blessing others blesses us even more.

Two little girls, frozen in black and white. One picture worth killing for. The Civil Rights Movement is less than a distant memory to Lisa Waldren - it is someone else’s memory altogether, passed on to her through the pages of history. Her life as a federal prosecutor in Boston feels utterly remote from the marches in the South that changed her father’s generation - and the entire nation - forever.

The proposed closing of the lumber mill comes as unwelcome news for the citizens of Smitten. How will the town survive without its main employer? A close-knit group of women think they’ve got just the plan to save Smitten. They’ll capitalize on its name and turn it into a tourist destination for lovers - complete with sweet shops, a high-end spa, romantic music on the square, and cabins outfitted with fireplaces and hot tubs. But is this manly town ready for an influx of romantically minded guests?

For a moment in the 1980s, Carolyn Pfeiffer was the only woman in Hollywood who could greenlight a movie. Working with directors like Sam Shepard and Wes Craven, and with actors like River Phoenix and Bette Davis, she had a hand in producing or distributing many landmark films, among them Ridley Scott's The Duellists, Alan Rudolph's Choose Me, and the Academy Award-winning Kiss of the Spider Woman. However, long before establishing herself as a player in the world of film, Carolyn was a horseback-riding tomboy who dreamed of exploring the world beyond her small hometown.

In 1989, Claire Dellamare disappeared from her own fourth birthday party at the Hotel Tourmaline on the island of Folly Shoals, Maine. She showed up a year later at the same hotel, with a note pinned to her dress but no explanation. Nobody knows where Claire spent that year - and until now, Claire didn’t even know she had ever been missing. But when Claire returns to the Hotel Tourmaline for a business meeting with her CEO father, disturbing memories begin to surface...despite her parents’ best efforts to keep them forgotten.

Hannah Thomas believes she’s escaped Galen Wright’s evil intentions by marrying an older lighthouse keeper. Seemingly safe in faraway Massachusetts, her world is upended when John is killed in one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War. She thinks her loneliness will subside when her younger sister arrives, but she finds Lydia’s obsession with Galen only escalates the dangerous tides swirling around her. A stormy night brings a shipwrecked sea captain to Hannah’s door, and though he is a Tory, her heart is as traitorous as the dark-eyed captain.

Pennsylvania, 1940s. The only life Brighton Friedrich has ever known is the one she has endured within the dreary walls of Riverside Home—the rural asylum where she was born. A nurse, Joann, has educated and raised Brighton, whose mother is a patient at the hospital. But Joann has also kept vital information from Brighton—secrets that if ever revealed would illuminate Brighton’s troubling past and the circumstances that confine her to Riverside.