Great Day Every Day - Navigating Life's Challenges with Promise and Purpose

When we feel that life is out of control, He is in control.

When tragedy strikes, people desperately search for answers. Believers and unbelievers alike find themselves turning to God. Best-selling author and pastor Max Lucado points to the only real answer to tragedy and crisis: Prayer. In For the Tough Times, Lucado helps us understand how to pray despite our doubt and fear.

Grace.

We talk as though we understand the term. The bank gives us a grace period. The seedy politician falls from grace. Musicians speak of a grace note. We describe an actress as gracious, a dancer as graceful. We use the word for hospitals, baby girls, kings, and premeal prayers. We talk as though we know what grace means.

But do we really understand it? Have we settled for wimpy grace? It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn, fits nicely on a church sign. Never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?” who could say no?

Max Lucado asks a deeper question: Have you been changed by grace? Shaped by grace? Strengthened by grace? Emboldened by grace? Softened by grace? Snatched by the nape of your neck and shaken to your senses by grace?

God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you. From insecure to God secure. From regret riddled to better-because-of-it. From afraid to die to ready to fly.

Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.

Let’s make certain grace gets you. 

Endorsements for GRACE:

“God’s grace—His unconditionally loving, unmerited favor—is sometimes difficult for people to grasp, even though each one of us is in desperate need of it. But in Max Lucado’s new book, GRACE, it is completely embraceable and understandable. Through Lucado’s characteristic narrative style and profound biblical understanding, we learn that God’s grace is truly much more than we deserve and greater than we imagine. “ --Dr. Charles F. Stanley 

“Max Lucado has blended his creative writing style with honesty about how he has experienced God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness in his own times of failure and despair.  You will find comfort as Max shines the light of the Word of God revealing that Jesus Christ is truly the only hope that brings everlasting peace.” --Franklin Graham, President and CEO, Samaritan’s Purse, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

“Reading Max Lucado on grace is like hearing Warren Buffett on money or Julia Child on food—it’s a subject he spent a lifetime falling in love with.” --John Ortberg, pastor and author, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church 

“Few writers are better than Max Lucado, no subject is better than God’s grace." --Randy Alcorn, author of Heaven and If God is Good

"Max gives us encouragement, hope and a needed reminder that the grace we all possess as followers of Jesus should empower us to move mountains, vs simply settling for pushing wimpy molehills." --Brad Lomenick, President and Executive Director, Catalyst

“Max offers up a biblical vision of God’s grace that comes drenched in sweat and with a set of six-pack abs; a life-defining newness and relationship-refining kindness straight from the heart of God.” --Tim Kimmel, author of Grace Based Parenting

"Some writers aim for the mind, others for the heart and a small number for the soul. With his latest book, 'Grace,' Max Lucado hits the trifecta, touching on all three." -- Cal Thomas, Syndicated and USA Today Columnist and Fox News Contributor

“If you love the writings of Max Lucado, this will probably become your favorite.” -- Stephen Arterburn, Founder and Chairman of New Life Ministries, host of “New Life Live!” and best selling author

“I can think of no more needed message for weary people everywhere, and no better writer than Max Lucado to paint so gloriously the hope that "Christ in you" affords.” --Louie Giglio, creator of Passion Conferences and pastor, Passion City Church

In this short excerpt from The Cure for the Common Life...

It's Sunday afternoon and you're already dreading the inevitable Monday morning. You spend 50+ hours at a job you hate, only to come home too exhausted to pursue anything other than reality TV.

Well, you are not alone: 87 percent of workers don't find meaning in their work and 80 percent believe their talents are not used. And there are consequences-whether or not we realize it, our resulting attitude impacts our health, our relationships, and our fundamental sense of happiness-but best-selling author Max Lucado has a cure.

We are all unique individuals, created in God's image, with our own gifts, strengths and passions. In his winsome voice, Max will encourage you to explore your uniqueness, put it to work, and redefine your concept of career.

Table of Contents:

1. Your Sweet Spot (You Have One!)
2. Unpack Your Bag
3. Read Your Life Backward
4. Study Your S.T.O.R.Y

Conclusion
Notes

You know your Goliath. You recognize his walk, the thunder of his voice.

He taunts you with bills you can't pay, people you can't please, habits you can't break, failures you can't forget, and a future you can't face. But just like David, you can face your giant, even if you aren't the strongest, the smartest, the best equipped, of the holiest.

David. You could read his story and wonder what God saw in him. His life has little to offer the unstained, straight-A saint. He fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered. But for those who know the sound of Goliath, David gives this reminder:

Focus on giants -- you stumble; focus on God -- your giants tumble.

If you're ready to face your giants, let his story inspire you. The same God who helped him will help you.

Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.

They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, and doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, when you could trustmore and fear less. Can you imagine your life without fear?

The booklet contains Chapter 1 of Fearless with additional content.

Common people ...

Story after story marked by scandal, stumble, and intrigue. Who are these people? They're the people of the Bible.

And they're us. We find our stories in theirs. We find our hope where they found theirs. In the hands of an uncommon God.

In the midst of them all ... hovering over them all ... is the hero of it all: God. Maker. Shaper. Rescuer of sinking hearts. God. Passing out high callings, second chances, and moral compasses to all comers and takers.

In this gathering of inspiring stories from his numbers best-selling books, master storyteller Max Lucado revisits some of his favorite biblical characters -- all of whom were very human and imperfect, just like us.

If God can find a place for them ... He might just have a place for us too.