Spiritual Memoir

Much like The Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs Of Christmas, The Stories Behind The Great Traditions of Christmas and More Stories Behind The Best Loved Songs of Christmas this new Collins Christmas book will fill a void in the book world.

In Coming Clean, Seth Haines writes a raw account of his first 90 days of sobriety, illuminating how to face the pain we’d rather avoid, and even more importantly, how an abiding God meets us in that pain. Seth shows us that true wholeness is found in facing our pain and anxieties with the tenacity and tenderness of Jesus, and only through Christ's passion can we truly come clean.

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.

Journalist and baseball lover Ed Henry reveals for the first time the backstory of faith that guided Jackie Robinson into not only the baseball record books but the annals of civil rights advancement as well. Through recently discovered sermons, interviews with Robinson's family and friends, and even an unpublished book by the player himself, Henry details a side of Jackie's humanity that few have taken the time to see.

In 1971, at age 20, Visakha had just published her first book and was beginning her ascent to fame and fortune through a career in photojournalism. Then, at the invitation of her college boyfriend, Visakha traveled east, where she first learned about bhakti yoga - the yoga of devotion - from a simple Indian sage. The bhakti tradition seemed irrelevant to Visakha. Five Years, Eleven Months and a Lifetime of Unexpected Love is Visakha’s deeply personal account of the emotional upheaval caused by her doubting her own cherished convictions....

Grammy-winning gospel singer, television star, and radio host Erica Campbell speaks to women of all shapes and sizes, demonstrating that true beauty is found not in external appearances, but in celebrating the person God made you to be.

Can drugs, sex, and revolution lead to lasting fulfillment and love? This memoir by Eli Jaxon-Bear, framed as a teaching story, using Joseph Campbell’s model of the hero journey, answers this question in an exciting, funny, and deeply personal memoir.

An inside snapshot view of the innovative Seattle church called Mars Hill and its Acts 29 network. This audiobook provides - with a touch of sarcasm and humor - both principles and practices shared from the people actually doing missional church ministry with people often untouched by todays traditional and contemporary churches.

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, credits her Christian faith as the steady anchor amid life’s trials and triumphs. With intimate stories about her remarkable life, The Faith of Queen Elizabeth by Dudley Delffs explores the personal beliefs, private struggles, and public service behind the crown.

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.

What Catholic guy made money as an organ-grinder's assistant, spent one-on-one time with John Paul II, met a very nice Thai prostitute, and confessed his sins on a beanbag chair? Lino Rulli, of course!

In The Minister’s Wife, Karen shines a light on the rhythms and tough realities of the spiritual life for each and every one of us. She explores how community helps us grow; the unexpected beauty of doubt; the messy pain of families and funerals; how church can hurt and heal; and the beauty of showing up when sometimes it is more appealing to go to a coffee shop on a Sunday morning (even when you’re the pastor’s wife).

As a beloved evangelist and a respected man of God, Billy Graham’s stated purpose in life never wavered: to help people find a personal relationship with God through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This was a calling that only increased over time, and Billy embraced it fully throughout his active ministry and beyond. Yet Billy pursued his life’s work, as many men do, amid a similarly significant calling to be a loving husband and father.

The remarkable true story of the miraculous journey that made the Dalai Lama into the man he is today and sparked the fight for Tibetan freedom. In the early weeks of 1959, a bloody uprising gripped the streets of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as ragtag Tibetan rebels faced off against their Communist Chinese occupiers. Realizing that the impending battle would result in a bloodbath and his own capture, the young Dalai Lama began planning an audacious escape to India, a two-week journey.

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.

The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers focuses on Mr. Rogers' spiritual legacy, but it is much more than that. It shows us a man who, to paraphrase the words of St. Francis of Assisi, "preached the gospel at all times; when necessary he used words".

Vaneetha Risner contracted polio as an infant, was misdiagnosed, and lived with widespread paralysis. She lived in and out of the hospital for 10 years and, after each stay, would return to a life filled with bullying. When she became a Christian, though, she thought things would get easier, and they did: carefree college days, a dream job in Boston, and an MBA from Stanford where she met and married a classmate. But life unraveled. Again.

One thing I have learned is that I love writing. Though I had the desire to compose with words from an early age, it wasn't until the last eleven years that I found the time to begin to put thought and words into some kind of form. I had written plays, lyrics to songs, and tons of letters, but more philosophical things sat unwritten in the deeper recesses of my mind. Then one day I was asked to write something of spiritual encouragement for a monthly church bulletin.

Finding Joy in Suffering. Quite a title right? Usually you wouldn’t think that joy and suffering would exist together. But in my life, they have. I’ve experienced great suffering and loss early on in my life, and many have asked me how I continue to put a smile on my face having lived through what I have. Ever since I was a kid, my response has been, “I don’t know, it’s because of Jesus.” For a while, I couldn’t understand why I had joy in my heart after my mother died. But I knew that God was providing joy in ways that I couldn’t begin to explain.

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.