April Yamasaki

When a shattered dream breaks your heart, how do you learn to hope again? When April Yamasaki and her husband married, they were young and full of dreams. After almost forty-five years of marriage, those dreams fell apart as Yamasaki found herself grieving the death of her husband. How could life go on without him? Yet even in the depths of her sorrows, she experienced God's goodness and mercy--big enough for her soul's lament, longer and deeper and wider than our laments can ever be. Whether you're grieving the loss of a loved one, a job, a marriage, a church community, or a dream, you too may find yourself wondering, How can I go on? What hope is there for the road ahead? Whatever loss you're living with, you can find comfort in these short, easily digestible readings accompanied by prayers and spiritual practices from a seasoned devotional writer. Grounded in Scripture, personal experience, and a pastoral heart, Hope Beyond Our Sorrows invites readers to journey with grief, find a new way forward, and live with faith and hope beyond their broken dreams.

The reader of On The Way With Jesus, based upon the gospel lessons for Cycle A of the Revised Common Lectionary, will appreciate the creative and descriptive writing style of April Yamasaki. Her passion and celebration for the craft of sharing the word shines through every message of this collection. Her love of God's word and the people to whom it is preached is evident in the pages of this book. April Yamasaki is an ordained minister with 25 years of ministry experience as the lead pastor of a mid-size, multi-staff church. She is now Resident Author with Valley CrossWay Church, which is a liturgical worship community in Abbotsford, B. C., and the Editor of Purpose, which is a monthly magazine featuring stories of everyday inspiration. She writes on spiritual growth and Christian living online and in print, including her two websites: www.aprilyamasaki.com and www. WhenYouWorkfortheChurch.com. Her book publications include Ordinary Time with Jesus which is a collection of sermons; Sacred Pauses: Spiritual Practices for Personal Renewal; and Four Gifts: Seeking Self-Care for Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter @SacredPauses.

Sarah Bessey's Field Notes Book Club January 2019 SelectionIs self-care different from being selfish or self-indulgent? Is it the same as caring for your soul? And what does self-care look like in light of following Jesus, who called his followers to deny themselves? In Four Gifts, pastor and author April Yamasaki addresses these and other questions about self-care. Drawing on the ancient scriptural command to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, Yamasaki helps readers think about the spiritual dimensions of attending to your own needs, setting priorities, and finding true rest in a fast-paced world. She weaves together personal stories, biblical and theological insights, questions for reflection, and practical ideas for self-care. Four Gifts helps readers sustain their spirits and balance competing demands. Feeling overwhelmed by the pace and stress of daily life? Find respite from superficial definitions of self-care and move toward deeper engagement with God. Featured by Focus on the Family Canada

Every person of faith has a story. At times our lives are interesting and compelling, mundane and routine. Yet taken together these individual moments create a mosaic that can be shared with others. This study will empower you to discover how to communicate your own story with others as an effective way of sharing your faith. Weary of Christian faith wrapped in a flag and trapped in your heart? Tired of faith as usual? Live out your Christian faith through the lens of Jesus. Follow values that seem so counter-cultural they appear to be upside down. Each compelling six-session Upside-Down Living Bible study helps us encounter the teachings of Jesus and wrestle with living out the kingdom here and now. The Bible isn't a cookbook with solutions for every ethical dilemma, but it helps us raise the right questions, encounter the teachings of Jesus, and discover new ways of faithful living in the world. Ideal for Sunday school or Bible study sessions, each topical study covers a specific theme or issue, and comes with thought-provoking discussion questions and activities. Be inspired and transformed in your faith. Live upside down. 46 Pages.

Nothing about Jesus was ordinary. He defied the expectations of religious leaders. He embraced the castaways. He surrendered to a crude wooden cross. It is extraordinary, then, that more than 2,000 years beyond his death and resurrection, his words continue to transform -- even in the most mundane moments of our lives. Inevitably, discouragement finds its way to our hearts. We get caught up in the demands of life, and we often forget that we can find Jesus in our everyday moments of work, play, and home. Yamasaki's Ordinary Time with Jesus presents ten Pentecost (last third) sermons that beautifully weave the gospel scriptures with our daily experiences. She reminds us to surrender our ideas, our hopes, and our expectations to Jesus as she closes each sermon with a simple prayer, emphasizing total dependence upon Christ. Pastors can rely upon each sermon found within the pages of Ordinary Time with Jesus to challenge both themselves and their congregations to live a "cross-shaped life," one that reaches up to God and out to others. Whether looking for a sermon resource, a private devotional, or a small-group study, readers will be refreshed by Yamasaki's commitment to scriptural authority as it intersects with her relevant understanding of today's culture. Throughout each sermon, Yamasaki invites readers to journey with her, confidently proclaiming the magnificence of an extraordinary God living and breathing in ordinary times. Some of the sermons included in this book: Free Indeed (John 8:31-36) No, We're Not There Yet (Mark 13:1-8) Jesus: The Original Superhero? (John 18:33-37) April Yamasaki is the lead pastor of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Yamasaki's newest publication is Sacred Pauses: Spiritual Practices for Personal Renewal (Herald Press, February 2013). April is also the author of "Led by the Spirit" a section of Sermons on the Gospel Readings (CSS Publishing, 2009); Where Two Are Gathered; Remember Lot's Wife and Other Unnamed Women of the Bible; Living the Vision: Leadership and Community; and Making Disciples: Preparing People for Baptism, Christian Living, and Church Membership. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia (B. A.) and Regent College (M. C. S.). She is married to Gary Yamasaki who teaches at Columbia Bible College.

In a fast-paced world full of distractions, spiritual practice can help us become more centered-more in touch with ourselves and others, more in touch with the world around us, more in touch with God. Sacred Pauses is an introduction to this more centered way of life. The author, a pastor in British Columbia, begins with her own longing for personal renewal. What would it take to feel renewed every day? Instead of waiting for a vacation to smooth out the tensions of life, instead of waiting until the end of the week to shed our weariness, what if we could take time out every day? Live a renewed life every day? Be refreshed by God every day? Sacred Pauses offers simple ways for readers to do just that. Each chapter explores a different spiritual practice-from the classic disciplines of Scripture reading and prayer to other creative approaches such as paying attention, making music, and having fun. With plenty of stories from real life and ideas to try, this book is personal and practical. Its flexible format is appropriate for personal use or in a group, every day or any time. 190 Pages.