How do you live with the pain of watching someone you love suffer from addiction? How do you cope with the grief of losing them especially when your job is to make people laugh every day?Comedian Rickey Smiley has dealt with these immensely difficult questions for years—first with his father, then with his son. Both battled drug addictions. Both died from overdoses. Both left Rickey weary and wounded.Far from healed, Rickey has learned how to find moments o...

True and False Worship When worship becomes performance, the sanctuary becomes a theater, the congregation becomes an audience, and worship becomes entertainment. The applause and approval of the congregation then becomes the measure of success. But when worship is for the glory of God, his presence moves in the sanctuary. Even the unsaved visitors will fall down on their faces, worship God, and confess that God is among us.

Part memoir, part testimonial, and part life guide, Stand by Your Truth mixes Rickey Smiley’s down-home humor with the values he learned from being raised by three generations of elders, steeped in the Baptist church, and mentored by some of the most celebrated comics in the entertainment industry today.“I’m very passionate about everything that I do and I don’t play any games. I just keep it honest. I don’t put on airs. That’s the only way you can...

Read by the author.How do you live with the pain of watching someone you love suffer from addiction? How do you cope with the grief of losing them especially when your job is to make people laugh every day?Comedian Rickey Smiley has dealt with these immensely difficult questions for years—first with his father, then with his son. Both battled drug addictions. Both died from overdoses. Both left Rickey weary and wounded.Far from heal...

Part memoir, part testimonial, and part life guide, Stand by Your Truth mixes Rickey Smiley’s down-home humor with the values he learned from being raised by three generations of elders, steeped in the Baptist church, and mentored by some of the most celebrated comics in the entertainment industry today.“I’m very passionate about everything that I do and I don’t play any games. I just keep it honest. I don’t put on airs. That’s the only way you can...

Don't let your past keep you from a full future.Like every girl, Sarah Jakes dreamed of a life full of love, laughter, and happy endings. But her dreams changed dramatically when she became pregnant at age thirteen, a reality only compounded by the fact that her father, Bishop T.D. Jakes, was one of the most influential megachurch pastors in the nation. As a teen mom and a high-profile preacher's kid, her road was lonely. She was shunned at school, gossiped about a...

A New York Times bestseller.“My life was a complete mess, and God bless all of it. Because it’s in the messes where we learn the most—as long as we slow down enough to realize what God is trying to show us.”Suddenly in the spotlight, twenty-four-year-old Hannah Brown realized that she wasn’t sure what she wanted. After years of competing in beauty pageants, and then starring on The Bachelorette and Dancing wit...

From the heart of one of the world’s most beloved entertainers comes an engaging memoir of professional triumph, private heartbreak, and personal victory.It didn’t take Wynonna Judd long to find her purpose—or her voice. She picked up her first guitar at nine and in less that ten years was performing with her mother Naomi in a celebrated, multiple-award-winning, platinum-selling duo—a phenomenal success story that would set the stage for an equally triumphant solo ...

Regina Brett, author of the New York Times bestselling God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours offers inspiring stories about the decisions we make and how our choices can make the impossible possible.Want to live your dreams--or even surpass them? Want the world to change for the better? Want to see a miracle? What are we waiting for? Why not be the miracle?That's the challenge Regina Brett sets forth in Be the Miracle.To be...

**A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA remarkable story about the power of friendship.**Chosen by Essence to be among the forty most influential African Americans, the three doctors grew up in the streets of Newark, facing city life’s temptations, pitfalls, even jail. But one day these three young men made a pact. They promised each other they would all become doctors, and stick it out together through the long, difficult journey to attaining that dream. Sampson D...

One thing, a cupboard, was the only thing in Tracy Elliott's life that didn't get shattered. As a stripper, Elliot lived hard and suffered the consequences. In Unbroken, she tells the deeply impacting story of how her life was put back together by the power and redemption of God.

Forgiveness frees us to get on with our lives! We can all benefit from letting go of our anger, and the 101 personal, touching stories in this collection will help you see the power of forgiveness and how it can change your own life.Whether it’s forgiving a major wrong or a minor blunder, forgiving someone is healing and frees you to move on with your life. You don’t have to forget or condone what happened, but letting go of your anger improves your wellbeing and r...