Nelson Word this month, release an album of many of America's top CCM stars. But behind this project is the inspiration of a book, which has become a devotional classic. Kathy Bubel reports, Matthew Barnes took the pictures.

There's a lot of emphasis on self-love and self-esteem these days. Christianity seems to contradict this by showing us our need and unworthiness of God's love. Do the two jive?

"Can I be unworthy and have value at the same time? This has been perhaps the deepest struggle of my life. 'Love God with all your heart...and love your neighbour as yourself.' It sounds like a command in the Bible to nurture your own being even as you give yourself to others. It is not a contradiction, it is a step of faith."
"Sometimes He Comes In Clouds"

STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN
"Those are the places I was so sure I'd find him/I've looked in the pages and I've looked down on my knees/I've lifted my eyes in expectation/To see the sun still refusing to shine/But sometimes he comes in the clouds/Some things can only be known/And sometimes our faith can only grow/When we can't see."

3 January: "A man who has not been born of the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when you are baptised with the Holy Ghost, you find clouds and darkness are round about him...The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ. After the amazing delight and liberty of realising what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable darkness of realising who he is."

SANDI PATTY
"Lord Of All Of Me"
"Lord, you are the God of the morning light/Master of the shining sun and ruler of the night/God of the earth, God of the sea/Voice that fills creation from mountains' majesty/Lord God of all/You know my ways/Build up your kingdom in me/Be the God of all of me."

9 January: "...My God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature - Thou who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at - O my God, search me out."

How do you get to the place where you can honestly say "be God of all of me." Is it a daily exercise for you?

"For God to be ruler of all my life, it is a conscious daily choice for me. Some days when I wake up and it's sunny outside and I've had a good rest and my kids are being wonderful, that choice is not a hard one to make. Sometimes when I wake up and things are not only gloomy on the outside but gloomy on the inside, it becomes much more necessary and difficult to make that choice. It's more of a challenge when your emotional muscles are stiff. To choose to exercise them becomes more of a choice than when you're fully on top of everything. It is a choice for every day, for every situation, for every waking and sleeping moment, a conscious choice for the ruler of the universe to be 'God of all of me.'"

TWILA PARIS
"Where He Leads Me"
"There are many wondrous voices/Day and night they fill the air/But there is one so small and quiet/I would know it anywhere/When he calls me I will hear."

13 February: "The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me...a lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God's message to me. What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things...l am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what he likes but I do not hear him. The child attitude is always, 'Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.'"

What do you do to tune into the still small voice and get ready to hear and follow?

"Because God's is a still and small voice, I have found it is necessary to make a choice to get quiet at least in my spirit. Often, of course, he speaks to me through his word. Sometimes in prayer I make a conscious choice to listen instead of talk. And sometimes he speaks to me in times of worship, even in singing or playing."

POINT OF GRACE
"Hold On To Me"
"I could never offer you the praise that you deserve/The thanks for all you've given me/And with nothing in return/But I will give my life to you/My moments and my days/If only for the peace I find/Every time I hear you say/I love you so/Won't let you go/Hold on to me."

7 March: "The bedrock of the Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the cross of Calvary, a love we never can and never shall merit...Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can alter."