Book picks similar to
Blessings: A Heartwarming Classic of Hope by Mary A. Craig
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Corners: Voices on Change
Amy Lou Jenkins - 2018
In Corners: Voices on Change, writers find a way through changes. Their literary essays offer honesty, comfort and humor. Tracing their stories helps us to process our own changing lives. Be inspired by thoughtful lives as the writers— - Deal with grief and loss- Reject antiquated patterns of prejudice and selfishness- Get fired- Engage in War- Experience disappointment in God- Find their voice- Say “no”- Navigate the ubiquitous anxiety of loving a recovering addict- Save themselves from disappearing into marriage or parenthood- Discover lynchpins in family and culture- Choose a new religion and choose to love within the backlash- Learn to love a Trump-voting spouse when it seems a betrayal- Recreate a great life when the body, brain, or life circumstance won’t return to the old normal- Accept responsibilities, truths, and realities- Celebrate differencesThese voices don’t prescribe a singular path to self-actualization. That would be a lie. We all face corners. We have to turn. We must make accommodations, or we get stuck clinging to beliefs and ways of life that can no longer sustain us. The beauty in these very human stories is laden with honesty, triumph, humor, resignation, comfort and insight. The cumulative effect of these personal stories is even greater than the sum of the parts. Readers experience the gallant pursuit of managing responses to change. Writers celebrate and lament the past, but don’t cling to it. They find a new normal. They strive. They accept.
My Brief History
Stephen Hawking - 2013
Now, for the first time, perhaps the most brilliant cosmologist of our age turns his gaze inward for a revealing look at his own life and intellectual evolution. My Brief History recounts Stephen Hawking’s improbable journey, from his postwar London boyhood to his years of international acclaim and celebrity. Lavishly illustrated with rarely seen photographs, this concise, witty, and candid account introduces readers to a Hawking rarely glimpsed in previous books: the inquisitive schoolboy whose classmates nicknamed him Einstein; the jokester who once placed a bet with a colleague over the existence of a particular black hole; and the young husband and father struggling to gain a foothold in the world of physics and cosmology. Writing with characteristic humility and humor, Hawking opens up about the challenges that confronted him following his diagnosis of ALS at age twenty-one. Tracing his development as a thinker, he explains how the prospect of an early death urged him onward through numerous intellectual breakthroughs, and talks about the genesis of his masterpiece A Brief History of Time—one of the iconic books of the twentieth century. Clear-eyed, intimate, and wise, My Brief History opens a window for the rest of us into Hawking’s personal cosmos.
Transfigured: Patricia Sandoval's Escape from Drugs, Homelessness, and the Back Doors of Planned Parenthood
Christine Watkins - 2018
Donald Calloway, MIC, say that the world, especially Catholics, need to read this story of redemption? Why would he claim that Transfigured is one of the most powerful conversion stories ever written? Because Patricia Sandoval’s life story is an unusually gripping, hard-to-put-down ride along a journey that leads to an extraordinary triumph of God’s mercy—the mercy that waits patiently for all of us. Patricia came from a broken home, good and bad boyfriends, three abortions, a job at Planned Parenthood (where she was told never to reveal what she saw), followed by methamphetamine addiction and homelessness. The way that Jesus came to her in the streets will leave you breathless, as will the heights to which God has since carried her. If you know of someone who believes they cannot be forgiven, or return to Church, this is the book to give them. (Watch the video of reader comments below.) Read Transfigured. Be Transfigured. Patricia now travels the world as a pro life speaker, sharing her story with millions in packed stadiums and on radio and television shows, such as EWTN’s Bookmark, Life on the Rock, Women of Grace, At Home with Jim and Joy; and in Spanish, on EWTN’s Cara a Cara, Nuestro Fe en Vivo, Ellas lo Dicen—and now on her own show with Fr. Víctor Salomón: De Dos en Dos. Transfigured, endorsed by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, and Bishop Michael C. Barber, has been translated into Spanish (Transfigurada) and French (Transfigurée). Patricia Sandoval's story is available, as well, on a critically acclaimed, life-changing DVD, as seen on EWTN. See PatriciaSandoval dot com.
Water To Wine: Some of My Story
Brian Zahnd - 2016
“I was halfway to ninety—midway through life—and I had reached a full-blown crisis. Call it garden variety mid-life crisis if you want, but it was something more. You might say it was a theological crisis, though that makes it sound too cerebral. The unease I felt came from a deeper place than a mental file labeled “theology.” I was wrestling with the uneasy feeling that the faith I had built my life around was somehow deficient. Not wrong, but lacking. It seemed watery, weak. In my most honest moments I couldn’t help but notice that the faith I knew seemed to lack the kind of robust authenticity that made Jesus so fascinating. And I had always been utterly fascinated by Jesus. What I knew was that the Jesus I believed in warranted a better Christianity than what I was familiar with. I was in Cana and the wine had run out. I needed Jesus to perform a miracle.” –Water To Wine
Preserving Patients: Anecdotes of a Junior Doctor
Tom Parsons - 2017
From being the saviour of a man’s anus to being mistaken for the milkman, Tom describes the complexity and absurdity of today’s medical practice with humour and aplomb. Tom is a junior doctor working in the National Health Service. Tom Parsons is a pseudonym. * Amazon/Kindle/Fiction/Medical, March 2018
A Work in Progress
Connor Franta - 2015
His words will resonate with anyone coming of age in the digital era, but at the core is a timeless message for people of all ages: don't be afraid to be yourself and to go after what you truly want.This full-color collection includes photography and childhood clippings provided by Connor and is a must-have for anyone inspired by his journey.
Fall Out: A Memoir of Friends Made and Friends Unmade
Janet Street-Porter - 2006
Everyone needs them. Especially when relations between you and your family are less than perfect. And for the talented and ambitious Janet Street-Porter, her friends became her family. is the story of these vibrant characters – some famous, some infamous, all extraordinary – and their often volatile relationships with her. Above all, it is a portrait of an exciting and creative era, by someone who lived it to the full.
The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures
Louis Theroux - 2005
Or April, the Neo-Nazi bringing up her twin daughters Lamb and Lynx (who have just formed a white-power folk group for kids called Prussian Blue), and her youngest daughter, Dresden. For a decade now, Louis Theroux has been making programs about offbeat characters on the fringes of U.S. society. Now he revisits the people who have most intrigued him to try to discover what motivates them, and why they believe the things they believe. From his Las Vegas base (where else?), Theroux calls on these assorted dreamers, schemers, and outlaws--and in the process finds out a little about the workings of his own mind. What does it mean, after all, to be weird, or "to be yourself"? Do we choose our beliefs or do our beliefs choose us? And is there something particularly weird about Americans? America, prepare yourself for a hilarious look in the mirror that has already taken the rest of the English-speaking world by storm: "Paul Theroux's son writes with just as clear an eye for character and place as his father.... And he's funny.... Theroux's final analysis of American weirdness is true and new." -- Literary Review (England)
Displaced: A Memoir
Esther Wiebe - 2020
In the span of her early childhoodthrough adulthood, Esther takes you on a journey of unspeakable losses, survival,resilience and strong family bonds.For Esther, the youngest of fourteen siblings born into a conservative Mennonite Colony in the heart of South America, everyday life revolves around rules, routine and monotonous chores on a family farm without so much as electricity and running water. As she sees it, her childhood is normal and ordinary. That is until one catastrophic day when everything changes. Suddenly, eleven-year-old Esther must leave behind everything she’s ever known.This is the true, heartbreaking account of growing up in a Mennonite family and theharrowing events that eventually lead to her and her three youngest siblings’ dramatic escape to Canada. Everything Esther has ever known about her identity is left behind as she struggles to find a place for herself in a new country, a new culture, and a new language.
The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew Into My Power and Purpose
Porsha Williams - 2021
I've Been Thinking . . .Reflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life
Maria Shriver - 2018
Shriver’s wisdom will fill you up.” —Hoda Kotb, coanchor, The Today ShowA book of reflections for those seeking wisdom, guidance, encouragement, and inspiration on the road to a meaningful life. As a prominent woman juggling many roles, Maria Shriver knows just how surprising, unpredictable, and stressful everyday life can be. In this moving and powerful book, she shares inspiring quotes, prayers, and reflections designed to get readers thinking, get them feeling, get them laughing, and help them in their journey to what she calls The Open Field--a place of acceptance, purpose, and passion--a place of joy.I've Been Thinking . . . is ideal for anyone at any point in her life. Whether you feel like you've got it all together or like it's all falling apart--whether you're taking stock of your life or simply looking to recharge, this is the book you will turn to again and again. Spend the weekend reading it cover to cover, or keep it on your nightstand to flip to the chapter you need most. Like talking with a close friend, it's the perfect daily companion—an exceptional gift for someone looking to move forward in life with hope and grace.
Never Say Die: RPA's Favourite Surgeon on his Life from Doctor to Patient
Chris O'Brien - 2008
As he knew, few sufferers survive past 12 months. Nevertheless, he was determined to beat the odds.With the support of his close family, O'Brien took the option of radical brain surgery under the supervision of well-known neurosurgeon Dr. Charlie Teo. His health and relative youth - he was 54 when diagnosed - have helped him make the painful transition from doctor to patient, and renewed his faith in the importance of an optomistic outlook as the cornerstone of recovery.Here, in his warm and lively memoir, Chris O'Brien takes a look back over his life and the forces that have shaped him - from his modest beginnings and early years as a doctor, to becoming the popular face of RPA and his crusade for the establishment of cancer centres, through to the shocking news that literally changed his life.
Alaska Man: A Memoir of Growing Up and Living in the Wilds of Alaska
George Davis - 2017
He survives this perilous wheel of fortune, and thrives in the face of danger! I would like to add to why my book is important, is that we are true authentic Alaskans that live life off of the grid and that we have been entrepreneurs, making our living off of the land and sea. We are wilderness and off the grid consultants if that is important. On our website we have a variety of things we consult on from sport fishing, hunting, adventures, lodges/outfitters, developing or improving remote properties, and much more.
Sean of the South: Volume 2
Sean Dietrich - 2015
His humor and short fiction appear in various publications throughout the Southeast.
Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
Todd Burpo - 2010
What they weren't expecting, though, was the story that emerged in the months that followed--a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy's trip to heaven and back.Colton, not yet four years old, told his parents he left his body during the surgery--and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital while he was being operated on. He talked of visiting heaven and relayed stories told to him by people he met there whom he had never met in life, sharing events that happened even before he was born. He also astonished his parents with descriptions and obscure details about heaven that matched the Bible exactly, though he had not yet learned to read.With disarming innocence and the plainspoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members. He describes Jesus, the angels, how "really, really big" God is, and how much God loves us. Retold by his father, but using Colton's uniquely simple words, "Heaven is for Real" offers a glimpse of the world that awaits us, where as Colton says, "Nobody is old and nobody wears glasses.""Heaven is for Real" will forever change the way you think of eternity, offering you the chance to see, and believe, like a child.