Spiritual Memoir

Blindness became Captain Scotty Smiley’s journey of supreme testing. As he lay helpless in the hospital, he resented the theft of his dreams, but with his wife’s love and the support of family and friends, Scotty’s response became God’s transforming moment. Since the moment he forced his way through nurses and cords to take a simple shower, he has climbed Mount Rainier, won an ESPY Award, surfed, skydived, become a father, earned an MBA from Duke, and much more.

Dare to See includes 30 personal essays that illuminate how Brown has found God's presence in her own real-life experiences from early childhood to the present. From being a victim of a drive-by shooting, experiencing incredible career success, or searching for family fulfillment, Brown's stories will resonate with anyone whose life has been touched by doubt, hurt, defeat, understanding, love, abundance and hope. In Dare to See, Brown shows us how to discover God everywhere we go and in nearly everything we do.

In this heartfelt memoir, Carmel Desgrottes shares her personal journey of faith, resilience, and spiritual growth. From moments of doubt to triumph, her story is a testament to the transformative power of trusting in God's plan. With raw honesty and unwavering hope, she invites listeners to walk alongside her and discover how faith can lead us through life's most challenging seasons. This book is a powerful reminder that no matter the struggle, faith has the power to heal, guide, and uplift.

On a quest for enlightenment, Benjamin Shalva journeyed through the wilds of Tibet and took a pilgrimage to a white-walled monastery in Rhode Island. He wrestled with demons, danced with temptresses, and sang with hundreds of voices under the stars. Now, using the lessons and techniques gained through years of religious exploration and inward reflection, Shalva offers simple and powerful ways to connect with your spiritual self, whether it be in a place of worship or the yoga studio, or even while sitting in traffic.

Connell illumines the rare but supremely brilliant leadership of the first and only unanimously elected President of the United States. George Washington, modest yet elegant, handsome, always projecting strength, graciousness and power, was universally considered the most humble man who ever lived. Born into modest circumstances, he wholeheartedly responded to whatever opportunities life offered him.

More than a narrative about a young man destined to accomplish the impossible, more than a chronicle of successful Hollywood writer, producer, and director Lee Stanley's unparalleled success that changed not only his life but also the lives of millions of others.... Faith in the Land of Make Believe is the gritty memoir of someone who was never taught how to be a man, a husband, or a father, and was scared to death somebody would find out.

No one has ever been in a position to see the presidents, and the presidency, so intimately, over so many years. They called him in for photo opportunities. They called for comfort. They asked about death and salvation; about sin and forgiveness. At a time when the nation is increasingly split over the place of religion in public life, The Preacher and the Presidents reveals how the world's most powerful men and world's most famous evangelist, Billy Graham, knit faith and politics together.

When Ernest Gordon was 24 he was captured by the Japanese and forced, with other British prisoners, to build the notorious "Railroad of Death", where nearly 16,000 prisoners of war gave their life. Faced with the appalling conditions of the prisoners' camp and the brutality of the captors, he survived to become an inspiring example of the triumph of the human spirit against all odds.

Join Laura on a secret intellectual and spiritual story. She experienced a series of intense dreams and spiritual interludes that seemed easier and more appropriate to ignore. Finally, it all catches-up with her as she never stops feeling driven to make sense of these experiences. She finds herself on a quest to utilize opportunities within her career to apply the broadest of philosophical principles to aspects of healthcare. At each step by drawing from the context of her surroundings, it seems as if there is some way to understand the true nature of knowledge.

Although Andrew Jackson gained notoriety as a rakish young man, religion's influence on him ebbed and flowed as he established himself as part of the South's planter elite. With his devout wife, Rachel, he attended church and knew his Bible and religious subjects well, and while his determination to preserve his reputation involved him in numerous personal conflicts—including a duel that led to his killing a rival—he blended the principles of the antebellum South's honor-based culture with his belief in a traditional, orthodox version of Christianity.

Anne Graham Lotz leads you through the first eleven chapters of Genesis, unlocking hidden messages in the familiar stories of Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the ark, the Tower of Babel, and others. She thoughtfully illuminates each moment of Creation with inspiring insights and probing reflections to better reveal God, the Creator of us all. In God's Story you will thrill to the beauty, majesty, and tenderness of God's personal involvement in creating the world, and you will come to recognize the Creator's infinite power at work in your life as well.

From his difficult childhood on the poor side of town to his rise as a multiple Grammy-winning artist, Kirk Franklin’s Church Boy is a personal story of unwavering faith, remarkable talent, and unyielding perseverance. His narrative is a testament to how God can transform pain and adversity into sources of strength and joy. In this gripping account, Franklin shares the pivotal moments that shaped his faith, including a dramatic ten-foot fall from a darkened stage in November 1996.

Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision unpacks this oft-ignored, but essential, element of Toni Morrison's work - her religion - and in so doing, gives listeners a deeper, richer understanding of her life and her writing.

Growing up in the only Korean family in a Minnesota town, Michelle Lee-Barnewall has felt the pain of racial discrimination and the resulting identity confusion that follows. Through the telling of her personal story, she seeks to transcend the current divide between those who emphasize social justice concerns and those who believe these concerns compromise the core of the gospel. A Longing to Belong integrates a biblical worldview and personal experience on the topic of race and race relations.

The very word 'reverend' inspires solemnity. To be a priest is to dedicate one's life to quiet prayer and spiritual contemplation. Isn't it? Fergus Butler-Gallie reveals what it's like to become a priest in the twenty-first century. Find out why black really is slimming, how to keep a straight face when someone is inadvertently hot-boxing a funeral, and which royal-themed biscuit tin can best contain a very loud personal alarm that no one knows how to switch off. Spot a sweet old lady trying to pay for a taxi with coinage from fascist Spain? Congratulations, shepherd, she's your problem now.

God, the Devil and Divorce tells the story of a Christian woman’s marriage and divorce recovery from her “crazymaking” spouse; and how she learned to trust God along the way.

In 1974, Jim and Tammy Bakker launched their television show, The PTL Club, from a former furniture store in Charlotte, North Carolina, with half a dozen friends. By 1987, they stood at the center of a ministry empire that included their own satellite network, a 2300-acre theme park visited by six million people a year, and millions of adoring fans.

Abraham Lincoln is the most beloved of all US presidents. He freed the slaves, gave the world some of its most beautiful phrases, and redefined the meaning of America. He did all of this with wisdom, compassion, and wit. Yet, throughout his life, Lincoln fought with God. In his early years in Illinois, he rejected even the existence of God and became the village atheist. In time, this changed but still he wrestled with the truth of the Bible, preachers, doctrines, the will of God, the providence of God, and then, finally, God’s purposes in the Civil War.

For too long, the Southern woman has been synonymous with the Southern belle, a "moonlight and magnolias" myth that gets nowhere close to describing the strong, richly diverse women who have thrived because of - and in some cases, despite of - the South. No more. Garden & Gun’s Southern Women: More Than 100 Stories of Trail Blazers, Visionaries, and Icons obliterates that stereotype by sharing the stories of more than 100 of the region’s brilliant women, groundbreakers who have embraced the South’s proud traditions and overcome its equally pervasive barriers.

Mania surrounding messianic prophets has defined the national consciousness since the American Revolution. From Civil War veteran and virulent anticapitalist Cyrus Teed, to the dapper and overlooked civil rights pioneer Father Divine, to even the megalomaniacal Jim Jones, these figures have routinely been dismissed as dangerous and hysterical outliers. After years of studying these emblematic figures, Adam Morris demonstrates that messiahs are not just a classic trope of our national culture; their visions are essential for understanding American history.