Are you having suicidal thoughts and feelings? Perhaps you are convinced that life is not worth living. Your life seems hopeless, like a black hole with all love, hope, and joy sucked out. In CCEFs I Just Want to Die: Replacing Suicidal Thoughts with Hope, David Powlison describes the various reasons you might be feeling hopeless and explains that God is not surprised or put off by your hopeless feelings.Your life is precious to God. He knows everything about you--even how many hairs are on your head. He wants you to bring your despair to him and cry for help. He will answer and replace your suicidal thoughts with hope for a future filled with love for him and others.
From CCEF.
Your cancer diagnosis comes as a surprise and not a pleasant surprise. It is a hard and threatening jolt. Perhaps you are still in shock. Still trying to wrap your mind around the new reality of your diagnosis and what it means for your present and future. Is it possible to walk by faith on this difficult journey?
David Powlison, speaking both as a counselor and as someone who has been diagnosed with cancer four times, describes the uncertainty, the physical pain, and the emotional and spiritual struggles that come with a cancer diagnosis. There are no easy answers or quick fixes when you have cancer. But the presence and purposes of Christ make a decisive difference. He is the one who knows you, loves you, and promises to be with you as you walk through a valley of the shadow of death.
What makes you angry? Sometimes it's small things: traffic jams, a waiter's mistake, or a friend's inattention. And sometimes it's big things: betrayal, injustice, meanness, violence, oppression, selfishness, and lying. How do you deal with your anger? Do you dump it on those around you? Or stuff it deep inside?
David Powlison surprises us with the news that God is angry too, but his anger is expressed constructively, by giving his own Son, Jesus Christ, to right what's wrong with this world. Learn the five questions to ask yourself that will help you express your anger God's way in the difficult situations and relationships you face every day.
The damage you suffered may have been done in one terrible moment or over time. But the healing and the restoration will unfold at your pace, at a human pace. It unfolds as part of your story, and it unfolds over time.As a vulnerable child, instead of being protected, helped, and comforted, you were physically, emotionally, andor sexually abused. In CCEFs Recovering from Child Abuse: Healing and Hope for Victims by David Powlison, youll learn how to express your experience to God by composing your own personal liturgy. Pouring out your heart to God will begin the healing process and lead to the small growing steps of faith and restoration.
The turmoil women experience after having an abortion is sometimes called """"post-abortion syndrome."""" But you don't need a technical term to describe what you are feeling. The guilt, regret, depression, and grief are the honest struggles of a woman who's had an abortion and takes to heart what happened. David Powlison shares that whatever reactions and emotions you experience, God is committed to entering into your struggle. He sympathizes with you in your weakness, but he offers more than sympathy. Jesus steps into your life with mercy, hope, and healing. Listen CCEFs Healing after Abortion: Gods Mercy is for You and take to heart the tenderness of the God who promises to redeem your life.
You are bored or stressed or hurt. Something is hard in life and you want a break. What do you grab for that you hope will protect, soothe, and comfort? Whatever it is - shopping, overeating, drinking, drugs - promises relief, but never delivers. Instead, you are left feeling empty, anxious, guilty, and wanting more.In CCEFs Breaking the Addictive Cycle: Deadly Obsessions or Simple Pleasures?, David Powlison shares that God made us for rest and pleasure, not for an obsessed and unsatisfied life. Understanding the true pleasure that comes from loving God and enjoying the good gifts he has given us will reorder your thinking and bring you freedom from your obsessions. Take the practical suggestions that David Powlison outlines here and see how your pleasures increase and your obsessions decrease.
Sexual assault is an invasive event of traumatic evil. You were victimized, and now you are suffering. Whenever sexual abuse occurs, love is not part of the equation. Rather, the perpetrator uses power, domination, and control to injure innocent victims.
In CCEFs Sexual Assault: Healing Steps for Victims, David Powlison gently leads those who have been wounded sexually to a deeper relationship with God--beyond the pain--with biblical action steps.
By embracing their identity in Jesus, sufferers will not only understand the emotional and spiritual battles they face as sexual assault victims, they will be equipped to effectively overcome any fear, worry, anger, and shame and to offer hope to others in similar situation.
As a chronic fatigue sufferer, life as you once enjoyed it has ceased. Fatigue can be brought on by a myriad of physical, emotional, or spiritual issues. But, whatever the cause, your entire world is now affected by your diminished physical strength. David Powlison understands how debilitating and demoralizing a constant state of fatigue can be through his own five-year struggle after heart surgery. In CCEFs Im Exhausted: What to Do When You're Always Tired, Powlison encourages sufferers that, unlike the world, God embraces the weak and provides strong, enduring resources through Christ for moment-by-moment strength. Readers will learn to adjust their thoughts and expectations and lean into the steady arms of Christ.
If you're struggling with a sexual addiction of any sort, you understand that feeling of being trapped, out of control, and afraid of being found out. No matter what you try, it seems impossible to break free from the lure of illicit sexual thoughts and practices.
In CCEFs Sexual Addiction: Freedom from Compulsive Behavior, biblical counselor David Powlison encourages those who want to overcome their compulsive sexual behavior to remember that lasting change comes in degrees and is often a slow progressive process.
Addiction sufferers will discover powerful action steps to take and introspective heart questions to ask as they seek to conquer this harmful sin issue. Even though sexual temptation is everywhere, God's power and resource is closer still because the Holy Spirit resides within us to meet our every need.
Someone you know and love has died. You feel the emptiness and sorrow of loss. That alone is extremely hard. But suicide adds many other painful reactions to the heartache that death brings. Common reactions are feelings of anger, guilt, betrayal, and many, many unanswerable questions.This is one of life's broken, dark experiences in which you need help and encouragement to remember that the promises and presence of your God and Savior are real. CCEFs David Powlison speaks into this darkness with Grieving a Suicide: Help for the Aftershock. Powlison points you toward God who will be with you, uphold you, and help you live by faith through this tragedy.
Is a life-threatening illness, a major life change, or just plain old age forcing you to face your own mortality? Probably, like most of us, you'd rather not think or talk about your own death. But ignoring your death won't stop it from happening--the mortality rate is still 100%!
In CCEFs Facing Death with Hope: Living for What Lasts, David Powlison explains why you don't have to take this journey alone. Jesus faced death for you, and he promises to be with you as you pass through the valley of the shadow of death.
You started out telling each other everything. Time flew by when you were together. It all seemed so easy then. But now it seems like there's nothing to say. The intimacy and trust you once enjoyed are gone--replaced by bickering, long silences, and hurried conversations about your schedule. But it isn't too late to renew intimacy in your marriage.
In Renewing Marital Intimacy: Closing the Gap Between You and Your Spouse, CCEFs David Powlison takes a close look at those things that destroy intimacy in marriage and shows how renewing your marriage begins with a renewed relationship with God. Then he offers practical steps to achieving closeness in your marriage, including three questions to ask each other every day.
