Mysteries Of The Messiah

At Christmas, families gather and presents are exchanged. But the true meaning of the holiday does not come wrapped in brightly colored paper, nor are scrumptious meals the reason for the season. The real gift of Christmas is the birth of Jesus—and the celebration is to honor the miracle with those we love.

In Follow the Star, T. D. Jakes illuminates the meaning of the holiday through family stories about finding the Christmas spirit during the worst times of poverty and hardship—and of the need during the best of times to slow down and appreciate fellowship, love, and God. With warmth and wisdom, Bishop Jakes makes Christmas past and present come alive—and leads us to embrace fully the magnificent miracle of the birth of Christ.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation. What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor.

What is “biblical womanhood” . . . really?

Strong-willed and independent, Rachel Held Evans couldn’t sew a button on a blouse before she embarked on a radical life experiment—a year of biblical womanhood. Intrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans decided to try it for herself, vowing to take all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible for a year.

Pursuing a different virtue each month, Evans learned the hard way that her quest for biblical womanhood required more than a “gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:4). It meant growing out her hair, making her own clothes, covering her head, obeying her husband, rising before dawn, abstaining from gossip, remaining silent in church, and even camping out in the front yard during her period.

See what happens when a thoroughly modern woman starts referring to her husband as “master” and “praises him at the city gate” with a homemade sign. Learn the insights she receives from an ongoing correspondence with an Orthodox Jewish woman, and find out what she discovers from her exchanges with a polygamist wife. Join her as she wrestles with difficult passages of scripture that portray misogyny and violence against women.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury shares a collection of inspiring true stories from women whose faith has sustained them through monumental trials. For mothers, wives, sisters, and friends, this book will uplift the hearts of its readers through accounts of faith proving triumphant over any obstacle.