Spiritual Biography

As a minister, Doug Manning shared encounters and lessons from scripture with his congregation. As an author of over 50 books on grief, elder care, and life transitions as well as a world-renowned public speaker, he shared stories from others who were walking difficult paths. Now, at the age of 91, Doug is sharing his own story.

Sister Helen Prejean’s work as an activist nun, campaigning to educate Americans about the inhumanity of the death penalty, is known to millions worldwide. Less widely known is the evolution of her spiritual journey from praying for God to solve the world’s problems to engaging full-tilt in working to transform societal injustices. Sister Helen grew up in a well-off Baton Rouge family that still employed black servants.

As a young girl, Maggie Rowe took the idea of salvation very seriously. Growing up in a moderately religious household, her fear of eternal damnation turned into a childhood terror that drove her to become an outrageously dedicated born-again Christian - regularly slinging Bible verses in cutthroat scripture memorization competitions and assaulting strangers at shopping malls with the "good news" that they were going to hell.

Following Jesus is a journey none of the people in this book ever expected to take. Why did they? What difference did it make? The book you’re looking at is dangerous. If you listen to it, you’ll see that God is still active in saving even the most unexpected people: An atheist woman who viewed Christians as “idiots.” A married couple high in the leadership ranks of the Mormon church. An African-American man who became a Black Muslim out of hatred for white Christians. And much more!

My story is not about my past, but about your future, says Marie Roberts Monville. In the startling tragedy of the Amish schoolhouse shooting at Nickel Mines, one story has never been told; Marie Roberts Monville, the wife of the man who created such horror, tells her story for the very first time. It is a story of sorrow and destruction, but also one of majestic deliverance, unending compassion, breathtaking forgiveness, and grace-filled redemption. Within a solitary moment, Marie Monville realized that life, as she knew it, was over.

A Prairie Girl's Faith provides the first extended, in depth discussion of the Christian faith of one of America's most beloved pioneer women - Laura Ingalls Wilder. Although the faith of the Ingalls' family pervades books in the Little House series, the more specific details of Laura's faith have never been fully explored. It took extraordinary pluck for anyone to survive the harshness of frontier life - from the heartbreak of sudden crop losses to murderous storms to unrelenting loneliness.

Este libro presenta el testimonio poderoso de lucha, sanidad, milagros y victoria de la autora, a raíz de accidente automovilístico que la dejó con parálisis del cuello hacia abajo. Enseña cómo sumergirse en El Río del Espíritu Santo para limpiar, restaurar y vivificar el alma. Muestra cómo aplicar 34 herramientas espirituales que dan salida a quienes: Buscan vencer ante sus conflictos y caídas. Necesitan sanar su alma herida y vacía, en abuso, rechazo, temor, soledad...

Dallas Willard spent his life making eternal living concrete for his friends. After his unexpected passing in 2013, the kaleidoscope of memories and the diversity of the lives he had touched could not be confined to one or even two memorial services but three. It is this wide breadth of impact that inspired friends, family, colleagues, students, and leaders of the church to gather their reflections on this celebrated yet humble theologian and philosopher.

Best-selling and beloved author Madeleine L’Engle, Newbery winner for A Wrinkle in Time, was known the world round for her imaginative spirit and stories. She was also known to spark controversy - too Christian for some, too unorthodox for others. Somewhere in the middle was a complex woman whose embrace of paradox has much to say to a new generation of readers and listeners today. A Light so Lovely casts a vivid portrait of this enigmatic icon’s spiritual legacy, starting with her inner world and including fresh reflections on her writing for today’s listeners.

In 2005, Anne Rice startled her readers with her novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and by revealing that, after years as an atheist, she had returned to her Catholic faith. And now, in her powerful and haunting memoir, Rice tells the story of the spiritual transformation that produced a complete change in her literary goals.

Like so many saints before him, Samuel Rutherford did his best work while he was imprisoned for the gospel. While in exile from his hometown, he wrote hundreds of letters to his friends and members of his congregation. Christians of all walks have drawn strength from Rutherford's letters, which were printed several years after his death in 1661 and have been called “the most remarkable series of devotional letters that the literature of the Reformed churches can show.” The Loveliness of Christ is a collection of short excerpts from these letters.

Do you hate making small talk? Do you wish you could walk up to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and just start talking to them? Well, it isn't difficult.… In this book I detail everything I've used to overcome my fear and inability of making small talk so that you can, too. You can pick up this book, listen to it, and have an actionable step-by-step structure to follow so you can master small talk. Everything in this book has been boiled down to its simplest form and then molded into actionable steps.

Does a day without difficult news seem out of reach? Does this world seem topsy turvy at best, toxic at worst? Max Lucado’s signature storytelling and biblical insights provide strength and encouragement amid the current chaos. In Be Strong and Courageous, today's headlines and the truth of Scripture intersect in compelling fashion. Max offers a fresh look at the story of Elijah the prophet, showing listeners how they can stand firm day by day in the face of turbulent times, regardless of the challenging circumstances they may face.

This honest book will help you discover a different Jesus from the flannelgraph Sunday school figure, the sweetly smiling Victorian Savior, and all the cultural clichés that have tamed Jesus and kept him in comfortable religious boxes. Philip Yancey cuts through existing views and preconceptions of Jesus - citing opinions from church history, modern history, and popular culture; discussing how different people and cultures view Jesus; dissecting popular quotes about Jesus; and much more - and he offers a more accurate perspective by pointing us back to the Bible.

This book follows the story of highly motivated and entrepreneurial twin brothers David and Jason Benham, from their formative years and ventures into professional baseball to their rise as owners of a multimillion-dollar business empire and securing an HGTV reality series.

Two years after Marilyn loses her fiancé to cancer, she becomes a Christian and marries Henry, joining him in a worldwide ministry that leaves little time for family or personal reflection. When her old grief resurfaces, she’s shocked by the tsunami that rips through their lives. Intensive counselling fails to bring healing, and when Henry writes a public letter that decimates their churches and spins them out of fellowship—and lifelong employment—she faces an emotional and spiritual reckoning that challenges her to the core.

From a stranger in a casting office predicting Matt would succeed at a time when he felt like giving up, to deciding to work with Tim Allen after vowing not to work with another comedian after Roseanne, to learning what love really meant after “Spirit” told him he would marry Angelina—Williams realized that these “glimpses of God” have served as the loving, quiet providence that watched over him. Our job, then, is to pay attention to our lives. Regardless of your beliefs Glimpses will inspire you to look for and find God in your daily life.

Not Less Than Everything: One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment is the inspirational true story of how author, August Turak overcame depression and meaningless despair through a daring quest for life’s ultimate meaning and purpose.

Into the Nothing: A Spiritual Autobiography is about the wild, adventurous, mystical life that led to the liberation of Gabriel Cousens, MD. The book takes us through the unique process of classical spiritual awakening and liberation in several paths, including yoga, Torah-Kabbalistic traditions, and also his experiences in the Lakota Sundance, Eagle Dance, and Spirit Dance.

In this provocative spiritual autobiography, Diarmuid O'Murchu explores the many paschal journeys in his personal life as well as in the life of the church and the world. He shows how the paschal paradox—the movement through death and resurrection—is at the heart of God's creation and gives meaning to all life.