Book picks similar to
Why Me? by Jacob Damkani


biographies
christian
nonfiction
memoir-biography-autobiography

The Devil in Pew Number Seven


Rebecca Nichols Alonzo - 2010
    In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him--with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in his way, he unleashed a plan of terror that was more devastating and violent than the Nichols family could have ever imagined. Refusing to be driven away by acts of intimidation, Rebecca's father stood his ground until one night when an armed man walked into the family's kitchen . . . And Rebecca's life was shattered. If anyone had a reason to harbor hatred and seek personal revenge, it would be Rebecca. Yet The Devil in Pew Number Seven tells a different story. It is the amazing true saga of relentless persecution, one family's faith and courage in the face of it, and a daughter whose parents taught her the power of forgiveness.

31 Days To Happiness: How to Find What Really Matters in Life


David Jeremiah - 2013
    . .Why is life so frustrating?Is happiness within my reach?Is it too late for me?Dr. David Jeremiah takes a look at history’s wisest and most successful man, King Solomon, and challenges readers to find what really matters in life. Solomon tested life’s haunting questions head-on. Tasted the fullness of life’s riches. But found his answers in the last place he thought to look.If you thought happiness was only an empty hope, maybe you’ve simply been looking in all the wrong places. In this book Dr. Jeremiah reveals the way to the happiness you have longed for, the never-dimming light of your fondest dreams.

A Message from God: A 12-Year Old Boy's Experience in Heaven


Retha McPherson - 1973
    While in the coma, he had a supernatural experience where he went to heaven, saw God, the angels, Moses and Abraham. Aldo came back with one message: "Jesus is Alive!" This book challenges the complacent. Is God still your first love? Are you sold-out to Him? Filled with Scripture references, and direct quotes from the Bible, A Message from God will ignite the sparks of the Holy Spirit in your life and bring you closer to God, while Aldo's letters in his own hand writing give a sense of authenticity not often found in miracle stories.

Completely His: Loving Jesus without Limits


Shannon Ethridge - 2007
    Completely His: Loving Jesus without Limits

Appointment in Jerusalem: A True Story of Faith, Love, and the Miraculous Power of Prayer


Derek Prince - 2009
    In Lydia Prince’s search for God and her life’s purpose, she is led to Jerusalem, where she learns the power of prayer and experiences many miracles of provision and protection.   Lydia rescues a dying baby girl and then miraculously survives many dangers, including gunfire, siege, and barricades. She enters into her true appointment from God and, in the process, rescues scores of abandoned sick and orphaned children from disease and death.   Follow Lydia’s astounding journey and see how you, too, can:  Experience powerful answers to prayerBe guided through difficult challengesFind God’s unique plans for your lifeLearn the secret to being led by God  Discover how God can remarkably use those who trust Him!

Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God, a Broken Mother's Search for Hope


Christopher Yuan - 2011
    "'Christopher, you must choose! You must choose the family or choose homosexuality.' He looked at me and said, 'It's not something I can choose. I am gay. If you can't accept me, then I have no other choice but to leave.'" Christopher Yuan, the son of Chinese immigrants, discovered at an early age that he was different. He was attracted to other boys. As he grew into adulthood, his mother, Angela, hoped to control the situation. Instead, she found that her son and her life were spiraling out of control, and her own personal demons were determined to defeat her. Years of heartbreak, confusion, and prayer followed before the Yuans found a place of complete surrender, which is God's desire for all families. Their amazing story, told from the perspectives of both mother and son, offers hope for anyone affected by homosexuality. God calls all who are lost to come home to him, and he wants everyone to pursue holy sexuality. Out of a Far Country speaks to prodigals, parents of prodigals, and those wanting to minister to the gay community. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." - Luke 15:20

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey Into Christian Faith


Rosaria Champagne Butterfield - 2012
    She had a tenured position at a large university in a field for which she cared deeply. She owned two homes with her partner, in which they provided hospitality to students and activists that were looking to make a difference in the world. There, her partner rehabilitated abandoned and abused dogs. In the community, Rosaria was involved in volunteer work. At the university, she was a respected advisor of students and her department’s curriculum. And then, in her late 30s, Rosaria encountered something that turned her world upside down—the idea that Christianity, a religion that she had regarded as problematic and sometimes downright damaging, might be right about who God was, an idea that flew in the face of the people and causes that she most loved. What follows is a story of what she describes as a “train wreck” at the hand of the supernatural. These are her secret thoughts about those events, written as only a reflective English professor could."Conversion put me in a complicated and comprehensive chaos. I sometimes wonder, when I hear other Christians pray for the salvation of the “lost,” if they realize that this comprehensive chaos is the desired end of such prayers. Often, people asked me to describe the “lessons” that I learned from this experience. I can’t. It was too traumatic. Sometimes in crisis, we don’t really learn lessons. Sometimes the result is simpler and more profound: sometimes our character is simply transformed." —Rosaria Butterfield

Right and Wrong Thinking


Kenneth E. Hagin - 1980
    If we thinking. If we think wrong we believe wrong.

Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power


Levi Lusko - 2015
    But they never expected that, five days before Christmas, their five-year-old daughter would suddenly go to heaven after an asthma attack. How do you walk out of the ER without your daughter?Through the Eyes of a Lion will help you turn your journey into a “roar story” by guiding you to look past what you can see with the naked eye. Whether you’re currently facing adversity or want to prepare yourself for inevitable hardship, it’s time to look at the adventure of your life through Jesus’ eyes—the eyes of a Lion.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity


Nabeel Qureshi - 2014
    Providing an intimate window into a loving Muslim home, Qureshi shares how he developed a passion for Islam before discovering, almost against his will, evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and claimed to be God. Unable to deny the arguments but not wanting to deny his family, Qureshi's inner turmoil will challenge Christians and Muslims alike. Engaging and thought-provoking, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus tells a powerful story of the clash between Islam and Christianity in one man's heart---and of the peace he eventually found in Jesus.

Just as I Am


Billy Graham - 1999
    In Just As I Am Graham reveals his life story in what the Chicago Tribune calls "a disarmingly honest autobiography." Now, in this revised and updated edition, we hear from this "lion in winter" (Time) on his role over the past ten years as America's pastor during our national crisis of the Oklahoma bombing and 9/11; his knighthood; his passing of the torch to his son, Franklin, to head the organization that bears his name; and his commitment to do the Lord's work in the years of his and his wife Ruth's physical decline.

Rush of Heaven: One Woman’s Miraculous Encounter with Jesus


Ema McKinley - 2014
    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.Once an athletic, powerhouse woman with multiple jobs and volunteer positions, Ema became a modern-day Job who lost everything except her faith and desire to trust God more fully. Ema wrestled with pain, anger, and unforgiveness, but now takes the reader on a healing miracle encounter of Biblical proportions.Rush of Heaven will ignite readers’ passion for Jesus and help them walk hand-in-hand with Him through life’s darkness. It will open hearts to embrace the impossible.“Jesus gave me this miracle for you too!” — Ema McKinley

Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America


Mike Yankoski - 2005
    By his own choice, Mike's life went from upper-middle class plush to scum-of-the-earth repulsive overnight. With only a backpack, a sleeping bag and a guitar, Mike and his traveling companion, Sam, set out to experience life on the streets in six different cities—from Washington D.C. to San Diego— and they put themselves to the test.    For more than five months the pair experienced firsthand the extreme pains of hunger, the constant uncertainty and danger of living on the streets, exhaustion, depression, and social rejection—and all of this by their own choice. They wanted to find out if their faith was real, if they could actually be the Christians they said they were apart from the comforts they’d always known…to discover first hand what it means to be homeless in America.   Mike and Sam's story is gritty, challenging, and utterly captivating. What you encounter in these pages will radically alter how you see your world—and may even change your life.

The Autobiography of George Muller


George Müller - 1899
    Join him on his journey from a life of sin and rebellion to his glorious conversion. Share his struggles and triumphs as he establishes orphan homes to care for thousands of English children, depending on God's response to his prayer of faith to supply all things. Mller's unwavering, childlike dependence upon his heavenly Father will inspire you to confidently trust the God of the impossible in every area of your life.

Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line


Abby Johnson - 2010
    That simple act became a national news story because Abby was the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who, after participating in her first actual abortion procedure, walked across the road to join the Coalition for Life. "Unplanned" is a heartstopping personal drama of life-and-death encounters, a courtroom battle, and spiritual transformation that speaks hope and compassion into the political controversy that surrounds this issue. Telling Abby’s story from both sides of the abortion clinic property line, this book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the life versus rights debate and helping women who face crisis pregnancies.