Audiobooks narrated by Ruth Bloomquist

Seven Desires: Looking Past What Separates Us to Learn What Connects Us

This new take on relationships changes everything! By examining the seven desires we all share, Mark and Debra Laaser illustrate how men and women are actually more alike than different. Do you long for ways to: - Tune in more closely to your children? - Connect on a deeper level with your spouse? - Strengthen friendships? - Reach a fuller relationship with God? The Laasers look past what separates us to examine what connects us. Instead of focusing on how to sidestep or compensate for perceived differences, they dig deeper, to the core of our souls, to examine how the basic needs of all people make us more alike than different. Seven Desires explores the common desires God has given us--to be heard, affirmed, blessed, safe, touched, chosen, and included. Using stories, biblical references, and sound psychological principles, the Laasers explain each desire and show us how we seek it and what it feels like to have it truly fulfilled. You will learn healthy ways to embody these desires in your relationships and receive the tools you need to start repairing and rebuilding relationships and developing new skills for creating emotional and spiritual intimacy.

Debra Laaser, Mark Laaser (Author), Max Bloomquist, Ruth Bloomquist (Narrator)

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Work, Love, Pray

The number of Christian women in today's professional workforce is increasing, and they are hungry for practical mentoring. They yearn to learn from someone who has climbed the ladder of success without sacrificing family or faith---something author Diane Paddison has done with excellence and grace. The stories Paddison shares about her corporate, personal, and spiritual life, as well as the lives of other women like her, are both inspiring and instructive, providing on-target advice and concrete examples of how to succeed without feeling overwhelmed or compromised. This is a working book for working women. Full of practical, proven guidance that is both professionally viable and biblically sound, each chapter includes sidebars featuring pertinent facts from current research, resources relevant to the chapter's topic, action-oriented 'to do' lists, and other interactive material. Chapters also include questions suitable for discussion, making it an excellent resource for use in small groups. Work, Love, Pray is a valuable resource for professional Christian women, but it's also a must read for the husbands, sisters, daughters, and friends who share their lives.

Diane Paddison, Ruth Bloomquist (Author), Ruth Bloomquist (Narrator)

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Finishing Well

Author Bob Buford called them 'code breakers'. They are people age 40 and older who have pioneered the art of finishing well in these modern times, and who can teach us to do the same, starting today. Buford sought out 60 of these trailblazers---including Peter Drucker, Roger Staubach, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard and Dallas Willard---and has recorded their lively conversations in these pages so that they can serve as 'mentors in print' for all of us. 'Twenty years from now,' Buford writes, 'the rules for this second adulthood as a productive season of life may be better known. But for now, we're out across the frontier breaking new ground.' Buford gives you a chance to sit at the feet of these pioneers and learn from them about Finishing Well so that you may shift into a far more fulfilling life now, no matter your age. A life of significance that will be a legacy for future generations too.

Bob P. Buford (Author), Max Bloomquist, Ruth Bloomquist (Narrator)

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Half the Church

Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God's kingdom as they were designed to do. Furthermore, the plight of women in the Majority World demands a Christian response, a holistic embrace of all that God calls women and men to be in his world. The loudest voices speaking into women's lives in the twenty-first century thus far come from either fundamentalist Islam or radical feminism. And neither can be allowed to carry the day. The Bible contains the highest possible view of women and invests women's lives with cosmic significance regardless of their age, stage of life, social status, or culture. Carolyn Custis James unpacks three transformative themes the Bible presents to women that raise the bar for women and calls them to join their brothers in advancing God's gracious kingdom on earth. These new images of what can be in Christ free women to embrace the life God gives them, no matter what happens. Carolyn encourages readers with a positive, kingdom approach to the changes, challenges, and opportunities facing women throughout the world today.

Carolyn Custis James, Ruth Bloomquist (Author), Ruth Bloomquist (Narrator)

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The Best Is Yet to Come

The Best Is Yet to Come is an encouraging and motivating devotional for women who have been so caught up in the hectic pace of life that they have forgotten their own greatness and potential as women of God. Offering sixty devotional meditations with targeted Scripture, focused prayer, and practical application, this devotional guide was written for women by a woman---a minister, mother, and grandmother, who knows that a woman's fulfillment is found in a deeper relationship with God. Author Fran Fernandez says, 'Today's Christian woman is hungering for more of God and the abundant life He promised. To reach, and maintain this goal of intimacy with the Lord, daily, she has to stop to refuel at the source---God and His word. Only in this secret place hidden in the arms of her beloved, her ear pressed against His heart,can a woman be complete.' Written with baby boomer women in mind, the timeless principles apply to any Christian woman, no matter what her age or background. The Best Is Yet to Come shows women that God is calling them to ever greater works, and that a truly dedicated woman of faith is never limited to what has been, because she worships the God of unlimited love and possibility.

Fran Fernandez, Zondervan (Author), Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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Crossroads

If you've ever felt lonely, abandoned, lost, or unloved, you're not alone. Although she's a successful Gotee recording artist today, Stephanie Smith has had her fair share of hurt and heartbreak. Her journey has been a long one, filled with the pain of being fatherless, struggling with her identity, and looking for love in the wrong places. And while she's not yet done with her journey, and still far from perfect, she has found hope, and through her story, you may find hope of your own. The truth Stephanie has come to realize is that, 'In all of our trials, tribulations, heartaches, and brokenness, God is there. We have a choice: We can walk with God, or we can walk away from him.' Walk with Stephanie as she shares her journey and her heart. You may find that in the midst of your own pain and troubles, you can find the hope and help that Jesus has to offer---and you, too, can be a rock star!

Stephanie Smith, Suzy Weibel (Author), Hewitt James, Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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I Love You More

How to make the thorns in your marriage come up roses. The big and little annoyances in your marriage are actually opportunities to deepen your love for each other. Relationship experts and award-winning authors Les and Leslie Parrott believe that your personal quirks and differences---where you squeeze the toothpaste tube, how you handle money---can actually help draw you together provided you handle them correctly. Turn your marriage's prickly issues into opportunities to love each other more as you learn how to ? build intimacy while respecting personal space ? tap the power of a positive marriage attitude ? replace boredom with fun, irritability with patience, busyness with time together, debt with a team approach to your finances . . . and much, much more. Plus---get an inside look at the very soul of your marriage, and how connecting with God can connect you to each other in ways you never dreamed.

Dr. Les Parrott, Les And Leslie Parrott, Leslie Parrott (Author), Max Bloomquist, Ruth Bloomquist, Ruth/max Bloomquist/bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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The Gospel of Ruth

This isn't the Ruth, the Naomi, or the Boaz we thought we knew. Carolyn James has unearthed startling new insights from this well-worn story ... insights that have life-changing implications for you. Naomi is no longer regarded as a bitter, complaining woman, but as a courageous overcomer. A Female Job. Ruth (typically admired for her devotion to Naomi and her deference to Boaz) turns out to be a gutsy risk-taker and a powerful agent for change among God's people. She lives outside the box, and her love for Yahweh and Naomi compels her to break the rules of social and religious convention at nearly every turn. Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer, is repeatedly caught off-guard by Ruth's initiatives. His partnership with her models the kind of male/female relationships that the gospel intends for all who follow Jesus. Carolyn James drills down deeper into the story where she uncovers in the Old Testament the same passionate, counter-cultural, rule-breaking gospel that Jesus modeled and taught his followers to pursue. Within this age-old story is a map to radical levels of love and sacrifice, combined with the message that God is counting on his daughters to build his kingdom. The Gospel of Ruth vests every woman's life with kingdom purposes and frees us to embrace wholeheartedly God's calling, regardless of our circumstances or season of life. This story of two women who have lost everything contains a profound message: God created women not to live in the shadowy margins of men or of the past, but to emerge as courageous activists for his kingdom.

Carolyn Custis James (Author), Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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His Brain, Her Brain

She reads people, and he reads manuals He doesn't ask for directions, and she doesn't appreciate his advice She is so mysterious, and he is so practical He does not seem to listen, and she seems so emotional The list goes on and on ... In a world where men and women are constantly told they are not different, His Brain, Her Brain shows couples what they instinctively know---men and women are different, and these divinely designed differences, when understood, make a marriage stronger and happier. Combining the latest brain research along with their experiences in over three decades of marriage and counseling, Dr. Walt and Barb Larimore explain how the unique design of each sex, particularly the unique brain and hormones of each, results in different habits, tendencies, and nuances of thought and action.

Barb Larimore, Max Bloomquist, Walt And Barb Larimore, Walt Larimore, Walter L. Larimore (Author), Max Bloomquist, Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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Roadkill on the Highway to Heaven

When life's left you flatter than a steamrolled possum, turn here for a little hope, humor, honesty, and encouragement from the Bible. It's the best of Chonda Pierce's celebrated Roadkill Reports to her fans, plus lots of new material, and it's perfect for reinflating your outlook---anytime, anywhere! [Postcard from Chonda] I tell jokes for a living. It's adventurous. But to do that, I have to fly for hours. I have to take a bus for days. I have to walk up steep stairs in skinny heels. In short, I sometimes take a beating like roadkill on a country highway! Life really is one long journey to heaven. My travel journal is filled with what I've learned along the way---the hurts, the laughter, the victories, the failings, the crowds and the loneliness, and mostly, the times I've seen God at work. ---Chonda

Chonda Pierce, Ruth Bloomquist (Author), Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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When Life and Beliefs Collide

In Praise of When Life and Beliefs Collide. Sooner or later, life's difficulties bring every Christian woman to God's doorstep with questions too personal to ignore. 'Why does God let me go through such painful circumstances?' 'Why does he seem indifferent to my prayers?' We're tired of spiritual pie in the sky. We want authentic, God-as-he-really-is faith---the kind that holds us together when our world is falling apart and equips us to offer strength and hope to others. When Life and Beliefs Collide raises a long-overdue call for us to think seriously about what we believe about God. With passion, brilliance, and eloquence, Carolyn Custis James weaves stories of contemporary women with episodes from the life of Mary of Bethany to illustrate the practical benefits of knowing God deeply. Examining the misperceptions and abuses that discourage women from pursuing a deeper understanding of God, this insightful book demonstrates how practical and down to earth knowing God can be. 'This outstanding book offers the best demonstration that everyone needs theology, the best expository account of Mary and Martha, and the best trajectory for women's ministry in modern North America that I have yet read.' ---James I. Packer 'Thoughtful, scholarly, and motivating . . . should inspire and encourage women for years to come.' ---Joni Eareckson Tada 'You will not think the same way, nor hopefully be the same, after reading this thought-provoking book.' ---Vonette Zachary Bright '. . . affirms women in their calling, chosen-ness, and gifting, and makes us know we are cherished and planned for.' ---Jill Briscoe

Carolyn Custis James, Ruth Bloomquist (Author), Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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10 Great Dates to Energize Your Marriage

Small groups of couples can learn important skills and revitalize their marriages with this fun and unique approach. 'You will love growing together while going out together.' -John Gray Author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Remember back to your dating days---the excitement you felt? Now you can reclaim that same spark, connection, and creativity in your marriage through ten intentional, memory-making dates. This proven approach to relationship growth is low-key, purposeful, effective, easy, and fun , and will help you * Communicate better * Put the sizzle back in sex * Process anger and resolve conflicts * Develop spiritual intimacy * Appreciate your differences * Balance busy lifestyles * And much more! Enjoy your dates alone as a couple or start your own 10 Great Dates group in your church or community. You probably already know 5-6 couples who could benefit from time-out to build their marriage and enrich their relationship with 10 Great Dates. See 10 Great Dates DVD Curriculum for everything you need to lead this effective, husband-friendly and fun program.

Claudia, Claudia Arp, David And Claudia Arp, David Arp (Author), Claudia Arp, David And Claudia Arp, David Arp, David/claudia Arp/arp, Ruth Bloomquist, Zondervan Publishing (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Ruth Bloomquist