About the Book and Author

Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
The Gift of Hard Things
Finding Grace in Unexpected Places
By Mark Yaconelli

About the Book

Using extraordinary stories from his own life and the lives of others, Mark Yaconelli offers a narrative journey through ways in which disappointments have turned into gifts. In these pages is a wealth of spiritual practices that will carry us deeper into the grace we find in unexpected places.

In many ways society teaches us to try to have everything under our control. If we are honest, we tend to think that this can be true even of our spiritual lives. But Mark Yaconelli eloquently expresses the reality of our situation:

"We are small, sensitive creatures with short lifespans, in a world that is often chaotic, capricious, mysterious, terrible and wonderful all at the same time. Failure, disappointment, loss and other difficult experiences call us to accept our humanity, feel grateful for what has been given, receive the care of others and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit."

Using extraordinary stories from his own life and the lives of others, Yaconelli offers a narrative journey through ways in which disappointments have turned into gifts. In these pages are a wealth of spiritual practices that will carry us deeper into the grace we find in unexpected places.

About the Author

Mark Yaconelli is a writer, speaker, spiritual director, retreat leader, community activist and storyteller. He is the founder and executive director of The Hearth Community, a registered nonprofit that assists cities and charitable agencies in producing personal storytelling projects.

Mark has developed, facilitated and produced community storytelling events for multiple groups within the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom including The Ford Family Foundation, The Church of Wales, The Boys and Girls Club, The Geos Institute, Asante Hospital Hospice, The Oregon Department of Human Services and many others. Prior to his work with The Hearth, Mark spent five years as the co-founder and program director at The Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont Lincoln University where he helped to develop a compassion formation program.

Mark is the author of numerous books including Contemplative Youth Ministry, Growing Souls, Downtime and Wonder, Fear, and Longing. Profiles of Mark and his work have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, ABC World News Tonight, New York Times Online, Washington Post Online, CBS Radio and Youthworker Journal. Mark lives in Southern Oregon with his wife Jill and their three children.