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Spirituality and Religion September 2021 |
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| Living Brave: Lessons from Hurt, Lighting the Way to Hope by Shannon DingleWhat it is: This mix of memoir and self-help is the moving account of how writer and disability activist Shannon Dingle worked to rebuild her life and the lives of her children after her husband's sudden death at 37 years old.
Topics include: practicing self-compassion, overcoming shame, and the importance of self-care during even the darkest times.
Is it for you? Throughout Living Brave Dingle makes reference to her traumatic childhood, which includes discussions of topics like human trafficking and sexual abuse. |
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My Wynter season
by Jonathan Pitts
"When Jonathan Pitts took his wife of 15 years into his arms for their anniversary dance, he had no idea that within a month he would be on a completely different journey, navigating life after Wynter's sudden death at the age of 38. One moment he was married to a successful author and magazine publisher, and putting the finishing touches on their book about marriage. The next he was a widower and a single father of four grieving daughters. Without warning, the future his family had planned together dissolved, leaving Jonathan trying to answer the question that echoed through his daughters' hearts and his own: How could a loving God allow this unspeakable loss? My Wynter Season is Jonathan's story of losing the most wonderful gift he had ever been given and his journey toward understanding life without her. Yet in the wilderness of his grief, Jonathan found himself surrounded by God's extravagant love, and came to truly understand Christ's life-giving promise that death is not the end"--Amazon.com
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White magic : essays
by Elissa Washuta
"Throughout her life, Elissa Washuta has been surrounded by cheap facsimiles of Native spiritual tools and occult trends, "starter witch kits" of sage, rose quartz, and tarot cards packaged together in paper and plastic. Following a decade of abuse, addiction, PTSD, and heavy-duty drug treatment for a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, she felt drawn to the real spirits and powers her dispossessed and discarded ancestors knew, while she undertook necessary work to find love and meaning. In this collectionof intertwined essays, she writes about land, heartbreak, and colonization, about life without the escape hatch of intoxication, and about how she became a powerful witch. She interlaces stories from her forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life-Twin Peaks, the Oregon Trail II video game, a Claymation Satan, a YouTube video of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham-to explore questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule"
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Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing
by Lauren Hough
What it is: a candid and engaging look at the childhood and later life of author Lauren Hough, who grew up in the notorious group The Children of God (now called The Family International).
Don't miss: Hough's moving reflections on feeling like an outsider (both before and after leaving The Children of God) and her unique perspective on what makes a cult a cult.
Did you know? Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer left the band in 1971 in order to join The Children of God.
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Books You Might Have Missed
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Chasing vines : finding your way to an immensely fruitful life
by Beth Moore
"Join bestselling author Beth Moore in her life-changing quest of vine-chasing-and learn how everything changes when you discover the true meaning of a fruitful, God-pleasing, meaning-filled life. Most of us have times when, if we are honest, we'd admit to feeling like our lives are embarrassingly small and insignificant. Times when it seems like we're going through a whole lot of pain and striving without much to show for it. Like our daily pursuits don't really matter in the long run. At times like that, we can't help wondering if we really matter-to the world or even to God. In Chasing Vines, Beth Moore gives us a new hope, revealing the abundant secrets of a fruitful, Kingdom-building, God-pleasing life. Tracing the images of vinedresser, vine, branch, and fruit through Scripture, and sharing stories from her own journey, Beth shows us how nothing in our lives is wasted. Not the place we've been planted. Not the painful pruning. Not even the manure that gets dumped on us when we least expect it. Bethis convinced from Scripture that every person who knows Jesus is meant to thrive in fruitfulness. Life might not always be fun, but in Christ, it can always be immensely fruitful. Nothing is for nothing. Join Beth on her journey of discovering what it means to chase vines-and learn how everything changes when we understand and fully embrace God's amazing design for growing us into fruitful, meaningful, abundant life"
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Native : identity, belonging, and rediscovering God (e-book only)by Kaitlin B. Curtice"Drawing on her Native American heritage, Kaitlin Curtice shares her journey toward a better self-understanding, showing how her sense of nativeness both informs and challenges her Christian faith"
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Hollywood Park : a memoir
by Mikel Jollett
The frontman of indie band The Airborne Toxic Event reveals his upbringing in the infamous Church of Synanon cult, where he endured poverty, addiction and emotional abuse before slowly working his way toward college and a music career.
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Try softer : a fresh approach to move us out of anxiety, stress, and survival mode-and into a life of connection and joy (e-book only)
by Aundi Kolber
"In the wise and soulful tradition of teachers like Shauna Niequist and Brene Brown, therapist Aundi Kolber debuts with Try Softer, helping us align our mind, body, and soul to live the life God created for us. In a world that preaches a "try harder" gospel-just keep going, keep hustling, keep pretending we're all fine-we're left exhausted, overwhelmed, and so numb to our lives. If we're honest, we've been overfunctioning for so long, we can't even imagine another way. How else will things get done? How else will we survive? It doesn't have to be this way. Aundi Kolber believes that we don't have to white-knuckle our way through life. In her debut book, Try Softer, she'll show us how God specifically designed our bodies and minds to work together to process our stories and work through obstacles. Through the latest psychology, practical clinical exercises, and her own personal story, Aundi equips and empowers us to connect us to our truest self and truly live. This is the "try softer" life. In Try Softer, you'll learn how to: - Know and set emotional and relational boundaries - Make sense of the difficult experiences you've had - Identify your attachment style-and how that affects your relationships today - Move through emotions rather than get stuck by them - Grow in self-compassion and talk back to your inner critic Trying softer is sacred work. And while it won't be perfect or easy, it will be worth it. Because this is what we were made for: a living, breathing, moving, feeling, connected, beautifullyincarnational life"
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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