There are inescapable aspects of life we are all marked by. We have less control than we want, more anxiety than we're comfortable with and just enough insecurity to continually remind us of our shortcomings. To experience these things is to be human. We aren't superheroes and invincibility isn't an option.

Through personal experience and countless conversations, speaker and Bible teacher Jennie Allen has come to realize that most of us need to unlearn some deeply damaging messages about our emotions. We've been taught, for example, that emotions are untrustworthy when, in fact, they are a gift from God to help us notice what is wrong and where we need to heal. Your emotions are not something to suppress or ignore. They are meant to be felt, examined, and shared.

Too often, we feel disappointed with our "right now"—our life circumstances, our relationships, our progress, our daily grind. We want to do so many things—good, godly things—but our situations don't allow us to step into them. Are we missing out on our own lives? Why does right now seem so far from where we really long to be? Bestselling author Ruth Chou Simons reminds us that it's okay to not like the right now we've been given, but we don't have to like it to lean in.

In this practical guide, seasoned pastors Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry help weary leaders renew their love for ministry by equipping them to build a gospel-centered culture into every aspect of their churches. Emphasizing the importance of healthy doctrine, they explain that failing to also nurture a healthy culture can be frustrating, polarizing, and even unbiblical. This encouraging guide features Scripture-focused advice on honesty, honor, preaching, leadership, and mission to support leaders and help them regain a beautiful, Christ-centered vision for their ministries.

For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an exception: someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class. But that narrative was called into question one night, when McCaulley answered the phone and learned that his father—whose absence defined his upbringing—died in a car crash.