Good Books by Christian Musicians

I went through a phase in college where I almost exclusively read chick lit with bright pink covers and biographies/memoirs of musicians. I have been enjoying the occasional musician biography/memoir again, this time with a focus on Christian musicians. I imagine this list will just grow and grow. 

🎶 Adorning the Dark... Andrew Peterson talks alot here about creativity in general and I learned a lot about albums from this one. 

🎶 The Chase... This one is about young adult relationships, not music, but I included it here since author Kyle Kupecky is a musician. 

🎶 City on Our Kness... This TobyMac book will light a fire in you to make a difference in your community. 

🎶  I Can Only Imagine... This is the story of Bart Millard from MercyMe and has also been made into a movie. 

🎶  I Still Believe... Jeremy Camp's novel about his first wife's young death has also been made into a movie.

🎶  In Unison... I liked this Jeremy Camp book, too, written with his wife Adrienne. This one is focused more on marriage advice but still shares music details, too. 

🎶 Like a River... Granger Smith's story is heartbreaking but powerful and this memoir was so well done! He's a great writer.

🎶  My Jesus... Anne Wilson's music story starts with grief. The first halfof the book really broke my heart but this girl has such a lovely heart! 

🎶  Rescue Story... Zach Williams lived fast and hard before he really found Jesus. He talks a lot here about substance abuse and a dysfunctional if not abusive marriage in the beginning of his testimony so be ready for that. 

🎶  Slow Down... Nichole Nordeman's motherhood book wasn't my personal favorite but I did enjoy it. 

Powerful Christian nonfiction about overcoming an abusive childhood

I'm sure this list needs no introduction or trigger warning but I'll give one just in case. These books are all powerful and inspiring, but also painfully difficult to read. Each author has his or her own past experiences so some share stories of verbal abuse, some violent physical abuse, some sexual, and some a combination. How detailed each author was varies.

📖 All My Knotted-Up Life... This one is the life story (thus far) of popular author and speaker Beth Moore. She came under fire for some controversy not too long ago and she does address that here.

📖 The Complicated Heart... Sarah Mae's mother was an abusive alcoholic and Sarah's life was anything but easy as a result. She has been very open in the past about her teenage abortion and testimony, and she shares that in this one too.

📖 A Family Shaped by Grace... I was quite surprised by this book, was expecting a simple how-to for grace-filled conflict resolution and while there were some great tips, there was also some very powerful background story.

📖 Finding Spiritual Whitespace... Again, this book really surprised me. I thought I was getting just a simple how-to and instead found myself frequently tearing up, deeply moved and inspired by Bonnie Gray's story. 

📖 I Can Only Imagine... This one is by the frontman of MercyMe. I listened to their music a lot while reading through this one and then watched the movie when I finished. 

📖 Leaving Cloud 9... This is one of those books that came into my life at the exact right time. A person in my life had just made a very dark choice but reading about similar mental health struggles in this book gave me important perspective and helped me find my way to the grace and compassion I'm called to have.

📖 The Mom I Want to Be... This one is less about motherhood in general and more about the author's journey into healthy and loving motherhood despite being given an abusive model as a child. 

📖 Stormie... I had read some of this author's Power of a Praying ___ books in the past but had no idea just how powerful her faith story was! The whole first half of this memoir is dark and painful to read but the faith journey is such a beautiful sight to behold!  

Six great books that talk about cancer

The Baxter Family books by Karen Kingsbury (Contemporary Christian fiction) ... I always try to warn that this series isn't for everyone even though its an absolute favorite of mine so far. It can be very intense and emotional at times, heartwarming and joyful at other times. 

Beyond by Amber Van Linge (contemporary Christian fiction) ... This is a miracle story about a young teenage girl with a brain tumor and I loved getting to know her. The paragraphs are not set up in a traditional format but I didn't feel that it detracted from the story. 

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip (Christian timeslip)* ... I just had the pleasure of reading this new release and I can't recommend it enough! Mrs. Kid's faith is such a beautiful thing to behold and the relationship she and Aidyn develop is so heartwarming. The bulk of the contemporary storyline takes place in Mrs. Kip's hospice home and the flashbacks show us the story of her life, mostly during the 1970s. 

The Hardest Peace (Christian nonfiction) ... This memoir was written by a wife and mother with terminal cancer. It was just as moving as it was painful. This is a HARD book to read but it was also a richly rewarding treasure trove for me. 

Strands of Truth (Christian suspense) ... This suspense/thriller was not focused on cancer- The main character finds her biological family through a DNA testing site and then finds many of the people in her life turning up dead, going missing, or dealing with mysterious circumstances that need to be uncovered- but you do see a supporting character going through cancer treatment. 

Undone by Michele Cushatt (Christian nonfiction) ... The author of this memoir shares a lot of her life but a big part is her tongue cancer story. I got so much out of this book! 

* I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. 

9 powerful Christian memoirs by parents whose children faced a medical crisis

This is a very specific type of memoir and it's definitely the most painful kind I read. In this season of my life I can't imagine anything harder than seeing my children suffering through a medical condition. I learn so much from the parents of these books and their faith journey (and resilience!) is so inspiring to me. 

These books aren't for everyone and they certainly aren't light reads but if you can handle them you'll walk away with so much more than you brought in! 

Anchored... Kayla Aimee tells the story of her micropreemie daughter's long NICU journey with wisdom and a great deal of humor. 

Blessed, Blessed, Blessed... This is Missy Robertson's (of Duck Dynasty) story about her daughter's cleft lip and palate journey. Mia's attitude is also very inspiring! 

A Different Beautiful... This is a beautiful story. Courtney Westlake's daughter was born with an incredibly rare disorder which has affected both the function and appearance of her skin. Courtney has learned to navigate it all with grace and to redefine what beautiful looks like. 

Forgiving God... Hilary Yancey's picture-perfect pregnancy was quickly turned on its head when her baby was given multiple diagnoses. Craniofacial abnormalities and a missing eyeball are just the beginning of her son's struggles and Hilary had to really come to terms with what this all said about God and his love for her and her son. 

Heaven is for Real... You've likely heard of this book, or at least the movie. This is Todd Burpo's story about his son Colton's appendectomy and Colton's insistence afterwards that he spent his anesthesia time in Heaven. 

A Love That Multiplies... I know a lot of you have no interest in the Duggar family but I was really into this family back in the day. It was an appropriate show we could watch with our kiddo! This particular book is heavily focused on the NICU story of their micropreemie, Josie. 

Miracles from Heaven... This is a crazy powerful story about a young girl's gastrointestinal disease and its sudden disappearance after she fell through the trunk of a tall tree. This one was made into a movie starring Jennifer Garner. 

Through the Eyes of Hope... Lacey Buchanan has a beautiful story here about her son's journey after amniotic bands prevented the growth of his eyes during her pregnancy.  

Unreasonable Hope... Chad Veach has a very powerful story to share about his daughter, Georgia. Georgia has a rare condition called smooth brain but Chad and his wife have an incredibly powerful faith (unreasonable hope) that God will heal Georgia. 

I'd also love to take a moment to remind you of one of my books, Blessed by Birth. While most of the birth stories in this book are just fun and happy moments, a handful of them contain health struggles as well. If this type of memoir moves you, it would mean the world to me and the other contributors if you would consider checking out our book! 

Memoirs

I was talking to a friend the other day and she confessed that she wasn't sure if she liked memoirs or not. "I love them," I shared. "Such a cool thing to me to see God moving in other peoples' lives."

I hadn't realized that was what I loved about them until I said it.

I love to see Romans 8:28 played out in another person's tragedy. I love to see people find joy in spite of circumstances they once thought would render them forever joyless. I love to see perseverance change lives. I love to see the amazing things God can and does do for us--and often in spite of us--gently rolled out through the pages of a good book.

To me, this is what life is. Life is just this long (or short, really) winding path where we're all (hopefully) trying hard to make the world a better place than it was when we got here. You know when you get necklaces tangled up together and you spend wayyyyy to much time untangling them? I sometimes feel like that's how we view our lives. We think God's plans are like a tangled part of our necklace and we work way too hard trying to separate his plans out of our lives. But really, in the end,  it wasn't like that at all. His plans are what made the hard parts of the story beautiful in the first place. 

I like all kinds of memoirs, but Christian memoirs are my favorites. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order...

The Vow // Nourished // Chasing Slow // Kisses from Katie // The Lucky Few // 7 // Unreasonable Hope // Miracles from Heaven // Undone // A Different Beautiful // Riley Unlikely // Through the Eyes of Hope // Anchored // and for your kids (although Ryan and I both liked it quite a lot too), Lost on a Mountain in Maine

If you have any to recommend, I'd love your suggestions!