They are very nice!

I love the blue prayer rope.

I love this book because it shows how to parent with humility, patience, and kindness. I have not found this warmth and respect for children in many Christian parenting books. This is a book I would buy for any new parent in the Christian faith.

In an culture of spiritual drought, this book is a welcome call to recommit and renew yourself in God. I find myself using the 15-minute rule in the morning and feeling better the rest of the day.

Incredible book. Very insightful and helpful.

Lovely beads, and light too - perfect for my arthritic hands.

Great book! I would recommend this to anyone looking to deepen their faith.

Beautiful!

Have not received this book yet. I know it will be five star!

I bought two of these, one for my family and one for a gift. Lovely.

Very pleased with my purchase. Couldn’t be happier.

Healing Your Wounded Soul is exactly the book I was looking for. I participate in a reviewer group for Ancient Faith Publishing, and I have received a number of free review copies from Ancient Faith through that group. However, Healing Your Wounded Soul is a book that I purchased on my own, and I’m so glad that I did.

Fr. Joshua Makoul is a spiritual father and therapist with many years of experience helping people to heal. His expert-level approach is so apparent through the gentle, understanding demeanor that he conveys and the masterful way he lays out the material of his book and guides the reader through it.

Healing Your Wounded Soul really strikes me as a masterpiece. Much of what Fr. Makoul writes perfectly addressed my own struggles. I repeatedly thought, “He knows *exactly* how I feel!”

The book conveys deep meaning and genuine hope. It helps the reader understand common sources of trauma, which continue to bring harm in our lives if we don’t come to terms with our experiences and bring them before God for healing. Fr. Makoul masterfully strikes a balance between generality and specificity with his examples. I often felt as though he were speaking directly to me about what I’ve gone through, even though the examples he gave were never exactly the same as what I’ve experienced.

I felt the love of God coming through the page and was so convinced that He brought this book into my life. I’ve been copying large sections of the book into my journal, which is not something I’ve done before! I feel compelled to write them down in order to help me absorb them better.

I’ve been working through some major past trauma for a long time now, and this book both affirmed the healing that I’ve experienced so far and led me toward the next stage of my journey toward wholeness. I especially appreciate how Fr. Makoul makes the book truly Orthodox by describing “this healing work,” as he calls it, as an integral part of our path of theosis.

I strongly recommend Healing Your Wounded Soul for anyone who wants to better understand how trauma may be affecting our lives and how, with our Lord’s help, we can choose healing and growth.

Renewing You: A Priest, a Psychologist, and a Plan (Ancient Faith, 2020) is the first book offering from Fr Nick and Dr Roxanne Louh, hosts of the popular “Healthy Minds, Healthy Souls” live call-in show on Ancient Faith Radio. Throughout the book, the Louhs lean on their expertise in pastoral care (Rev. Dr. Nicholas) and psychology (Dr. Roxanne) to guide us through a series of successive steps and actionable strategies we should take in the process of being renewed in our faith and in our lives. In short, they show us a path toward living an authentic faith in our families and in the world, and if you’re in need of some revival in your own life, consider picking up this book.


From the outset, the Louhs emphasize the necessity of faith in our lives as the foundation that all else gets built upon: “if we can view listening to God as the thing from which all the rest of our work springs […] those items on our to-do lists that seem to lack spiritual significance can benefit from God’s influence.” How absolutely right this is! A friend of mine likes to emphasize that “there is no neutral ground” in the spiritual life—after all, there’s a [cosmic, spiritual] war on. If we don’t make faith our foundation, we are giving ground to the devil and the results are disastrous: “we find ourselves locked into the busyness and distractions of the world rather than pursuing what’s actually important!” Rather than becoming people of the world who are “chronically busy,” the Louhs counsel us to seek silence and stillness so that we can know God. They also provide the strategy for doing this handed down to us from the Church Fathers: enter into scripture, pray (beyond Sunday morning Liturgy!), and read spiritually profitable material like the lives of the saints.

After making faith our foundation, each chapter of the book discusses each subsequent step in the process of renewal. These chapters are (in order): Remodel Your Mind, Find Victory over Your Vices, Turn Your Trials into Triumphs, Tend to Yourself, Make over Your Marriage, Equip Your Children, and Share Your Light. While I would love to give each chapter a paragraph discussing its merits, suffice it to say that it is worth working through this book on your own. Each chapter is filled with great anecdotes to underscore the point being driven home; these anecdotes are largely drawn from the lives of the authors, especially their own ministry, clinical practice, or formative life experiences. Beyond personal anecdotes, the testimony of scripture threads through the entire work. Alongside the engagement with scripture are a bits and pieces of psychology that underscore the issues dealt with and the approaches offered, helping the reader understand the “why” and the “how” and not just the “what.” Each chapter ends with a prayer and some discussion questions, setting up Renewing You to be a great parish book club choice. Lastly, after we are taken through about 300 pages of ways to bring renewal into our own lives (first our selves, then our marriages, and lastly into our relationships with our children), we are reminded that “God has called us out into the world to shine our light before all people.” In this final chapter of the book, the Louhs rightfully direct our (ongoing and never truly completed) renewal towards a lived faith in God: lived in compassion, generosity, and encouragement.

If I had to make a critique, it would be that it doesn’t bring forth the testimony of the Church Fathers, though their advice clearly permeates the book. For example, the encouragement of “guarding your thoughts,” while attested to in Holy Scripture, is fleshed out most thoroughly in the ascetic literature written by the saints of the Church; the Louhs emphasize this following the teaching of the Church, but it is couched in a way that wouldn’t lead a reader to search out further patristic writing on νῆψις—perhaps that’s really the job of the reader’s priest and not this book. Similarly, the Louhs advise us to find meaning in our suffering; this is another clearly patristic approach to our life in Christ, even if they don’t explain it by expounding the virtue of podvig. In any case, their approach is emblematic of the tension of Orthodoxy in America: do we assimilate our explanations of our life in Christ or do we present it using the language of bygone centuries? (I don’t think this is really an either/or question, to be clear.) Because of the approach taken by the Louhs, readers who might not be interested in a dense book filled with patristic citations can pick this up and find their faith being enriched without being overwhelmed.

A book to be read and re-read. Great spiritual wisdom

I have several Icon Nesting Dolls and have never been disappointed in their quality. Their workmanship has always been solid, and this Nativity Scene is no exception. The Icons themselves are exquisite and rich in detail. Highly recommended for your home or as a gift!

Absolutely beautiful!

It’s not every day you read a book that is as heart-felt, inspiring, and unforgettable as this novel. This book tells a story of a boy who lives on an island in Greece during a siege in 1522. The boy gets separated from his family and then encounters three Orthodox monks. He travels with the monks, and they lead him through many challenges with prayer and wisdom. As young boys ourselves, we felt personally inspired by the holiness and generosity of the monks. We could relate to the boy getting to know God through the challenges that he faced. This book strengthened our faith in God and we believe that it will inspire other young readers too. ~ Noah (11 years old) & Jonah (10 years old)

When you pick up this book, you are not going to want to put it down. I was so excited when I got my copy in the mail and began to read. This book couldn’t have been published at a better time, and I, like many of us could use some renewing. Fr. Nick and Dr. Roxanne weave faith and psychology in a beautiful, practical and organic way, taking principles and practices we can all implement in our daily life. They remind us all to put God at the center and that God walks in our lives with us as they share their own personal experiences and research in a real, but friendly and loving tone throughout the whole book. The reflection questions at the end of each chapter allow for self-reflection and inspired me to keep a journal again. I became a new mom this year and so enjoyed reading all the stories Fr. Nick and Dr. Roxanne have with their own children, especially in Chapter 5 when they write to “just be” and live in the moments. An abundance of hard work and love was poured into the writing of this book and you can see it and feel it as you read.

A fascinating look at one of the giants of the early church. If you’re not familiar with St. Ignatius, get this book and study a model for the Christian life.

A quick read that does a wonderful job of explaining three key aspects of the Orthodox Christian life. A must read for anyone interested in growing in the faith.