Spiritual Biography

America's pastor has gone home. But his lifelong message, his passion for the gospel, and his compassion for people still echo in Hear My Heart. This intimate work, a compilation of articles that spans Billy's ministry from 1955 to 2014, invites you to sit down with Billy and hear in his own unvarnished words the things that moved his heart regarding relevant issues of the day. The Biblical convictions he abided by. The reasons and regrets behind some of his decisions. And the wisdom he gained in his century on this earth.

In her best-selling children's book Take Heart, My Child, Ainsley Earhardt drew on her childhood and the inspirational notes her father wrote her before school each morning. In this moving memoir, she reminisces about growing up with a father who loved his children unconditionally - a cherished model of parenthood she has adopted with her own daughter - how her Christian faith has shaped her life, and the dynamic journalism career that has made her a trusted household name.

Once a trained athlete in peak condition, Joanne Moody suffered a postpregnancy injury that sidelined her for the next 14 years. Not one to give up easily, Moody fought to find an answer to her pain year after year. Countless doctors attempted to treat her until, finally, one recommended a surgeon in France. Joanne and her sisters made the trek only to stare death in the face again. At the moment of greatest pain, God reached down and gave her a promise.

Dolly Parton has entertained, educated, and inspired millions of fans for over five decades. Whether she’s writing songs, performing live, recording new albums, acting in or producing new movies and TV programs, expanding her wildly successful Dollywood amusement park, helping children around the world learn to read with her Imagination Library nonprofit, or donating millions of dollars to schools, charities, and people in need, the Queen of Country Music has never been shy about crediting her Christian faith for her success.

For decades Steven Curtis Chapman's music and message have brought hope and inspiration to millions around the world. Now, for the first time, Steven openly shares the experiences that have shaped him, his faith, and his music in a life that has included incredible highs and faith-shaking lows. Listeners will be captivated by this exclusive look into Steven's childhood and challenging family dynamic growing up, how that led to music and early days on the road, and his wild ride to the top of the charts.

As a troubled teenager, Tamara Laroux just wants the pain to go away. Crying out to God for forgiveness, she makes the heart-wrenching decision to end her life. As she plummets from her body to a place of vast darkness, torment, and agony, Tamara instantly realizes the finality of her rash decision and begs God to save her.

Is it possible to be grounded and have a rich interior life? Is it possible to get through the day with poise when everything hits the fan? Is it possible to have a spiritual life and not be a wing nut? For Jen Weigel, the answer to all three questions is a resounding yes.

DEMENTIA and OUR LOVE, Caregiving as spiritual practice, is the story of Gary and Heather's love that sustained them through an unusual and courageous life across continents, including tending Gary and his onset of dementia at 73 years. The story helped them remember their love and use this energy to move through the hard times. We will always remember us this way, a song by Lady Gaga, was pivotal in keeping Heathers focus.

More and more people - especially millennials - are turning to religion as a source of comfort and solace in our increasingly chaotic world. But rather than live a cloistered life of seclusion, the Daughters of Saint Paul actively embrace social media, using platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to evangelize, collectively calling themselves the #MediaNuns. In this collective memoir, eight of these Sisters share their own discernment journeys, struggles and crises of faith that they’ve overcome, and episodes from their daily lives.

Pastor Jim Cymbala believes that Jesus wants to renew his people - to call us back from spiritual dead ends, apathy, and lukewarm religion. In this compelling audio presentation, Cymbala tells the story of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a struggling congretation of 20 - until they began to pray, and God began to move, and street-hardened lives by the hundreds were transformed by Christ's love.

In this six-session audio Bible study, bestselling author Max Lucado explores the life of Elijah to reveal how God calms our fears, guides our steps, and turns the impossible to possible when we trust in him. With God's help and following Elijah's encouraging example, you will discover strength to ride the storm of this turbulent life with a steadfast faith.

Arnold Palmer taught world-class pro golf instructor Brad Brewer how to play golf. But that was just the beginning. For more than 30 years, Palmer taught Brad how to live. As a businessman, a father, a celebrity, a philanthropist, and a friend, Palmer showed those around him that true success has nothing to do with the final score - and everything to do with how you play the game.

Famously neurotic comedian Richard Lewis finds himself on a gurney in the ER at the age of 44, hallucinating from excess cocaine use and his body poisoned by acute alcoholism. The same dysfunctions that had been the basis for his successful stage persona and inspired his best material had, it seemed, turned on him. In this very funny, deeply honest, and inspiring book, Lewis explores how he got there, how he finally got on the road to recovery, and how he copes with being Richard Lewis sober on a daily basis.

In 1967 at the age of nineteen, Ethan was unsuspectingly catapulted from his self-imposed, fortress of atheism to swimming in the ocean of the Divine in one blinding, mind-melting flash of insight. He never looked back. This is one man's journey, spanning more than fifty years, through the brambles and the thickets; through the ancient halls of mystery, the pure emptiness of being and into the bliss of the Divine Light. This is a story of love, love and more love; a transfiguration from mind to Heart.

Fasting for Ramadan is structured as a chronicle of daily meditations during two cycles of the 30-day rite of daytime abstinence required by Ramadan for purgation and prayer. Estranged in certain ways from his family’s cultural traditions when he was younger, Ali has in recent years re-embraced the Ramadan ritual, and brings to this rediscovery an extraordinary delicacy of reflection, a powerfully inquiring mind, and the linguistic precision and ardor of a superb poet.

In this cuttingly poignant memoir, Susan Isaacs chronicles her rocky relationship with the Almighty - from early childhood to midlife crisis - and all the churches where she and God tried to make a home: Pentecostals, Slackers for Jesus, and the über-intellectuals who turned everything, including the weekly church announcements, into a three-point sermon. Casting herself as the neglected spouse, Susan faces her inner nag and the ridiculous expectations she put on God.

Dr. Richard Alpert, a former Harvard professor and Timothy Leary cohort, was an icon of the hippie, LSD-fueled revolution of the 1960s. Thereafter, on a trip to India - like Clark Kent changing into Superman - he became the much-beloved spiritual teacher Baba Ram Das. His 1970s' iconic book Be Here Now turned on a generation to the deep, non-sectarian spirituality within us all.

In Ley Lines of Love, Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle shares wisdom gained from a lifetime of spiritual seeking and devoted practice. A dedicated practitioner of Buddhism, she shares many remarkable stories about her inner journey, including the joys of learning from enlightened teachers. She also recounts how her years of involvement with a devotional tradition from India ended in an archetypal story of disillusionment.

Easter weekend, eighteen years earlier, an ordinary workday turned into a nightmare when Ema McKinley passed out and was left hanging upside down in the storage room. Rather than improving, Ema's body became progressively bent and disfigured. Doctors diagnosed Ema with reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), an extremely painful trauma-induced disease which led to Ema's hand and foot deformities, painful sores, insomnia, gastrological distress, curvature of the neck and spine, heart and lung failure, and permanent confinement to a wheelchair.

Are you ready to be challenged, have your heart exposed, and face raw truth? Pilgrim on God and Salvation by John Bunyan (author of The Pilgrim’s Progress) will peel away layers of your very person until you face the raw truth of your soul before God. Bunyan wrote this book during his 12 year imprisonment, and the audiobook will transport you to his dungeon. Listeners will imagine themselves in a cell with Bunyan while he speaks passionately to the heart.