Paul Cardall
It’s a miracle the GMA Dove Award winning artist Paul Cardall is alive. Yet the gifts of music that he brings us add up to something even greater. His story is in fact a testament to the human spirit, to determination and humility, and above all to love, expressed through actions and art. Born with a profound disability, Cardall would undergo critical surgeries, the first one hours after his birth. Through and beyond his childhood he lived with essentially just half of his heart. Not surprisingly, he grew up fully aware of mortality, augmented by the shock of losing his closest friend in an auto/pedestrian accident when he was just 16. Grief and existential questions haunted him. If an album was a memoir, The Broken Miracle would be a soundtrack to the pianist and songwriter's life. Every year over a million children are born with some form of congenital heart defect that in most cases requires immediate surgery and a life long journey in and out of hospitals. Cardall took comfort in music as a teenager and since receiving a heart transplant in 2009, it's been his life's work to use music to help heal other hearts. The Broken Miracle is also a novel written by J.D. Netto based on the life of Paul Cardall. https://paulcardall.com/

Laura Story
Push past the loss of your “normal” with bestselling author Laura Story and embrace the soaring freedom found in living secure in God’s love. Bible teacher Laura Story gets what it’s like to have plans altered and to surrender perceived security when faced with circumstances beyond our control. But she also understands the blessing of having a Father who loves you enough to take off the training wheels and place his beloved children in the best possible scenario for good and growth. Building on Laura’s previous two titles, When God Doesn’t Fix It and I Give Up, So Long, Normal guides us to leave behind the idols of comfort, caution, and routine so we can live strong and well, even when life takes an unwelcome turn. She says, “Jesus doesn’t just save us from hell in the next life; He saves us from our addiction to ‘normal’ lives this side of eternity. Our preference for cautious, ordinary lives is really rooted in a lack of faith and a failure to understand how much better His plan is than ours.” In her confessional, conversational style, Laura weaves her own personal stories with examples from Scripture of characters whose lives were upended by unexpected (and undesired) change. Leaving, loving, or losing our “normal” is not the end of the world but the beginning of a new adventure with God that will change us forever. http://laurastorymusic.com