Recommendations based on "Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit"

Based on your reading history, we think you will also enjoy the following books.

By Sarah Bessey

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A nurturing and hopeful collection of practices to help an emerging generation of Christians reconnect to their faith, find inner healing, and build spiritual community—from Glennon Doyle’s “favorite faith writer” and the author of Jesus Feminist and editor of A Rhythm of Prayer“This is the perfect guide for all those of who need to be reintroduced to a faith full of grace, mercy, and love.”—Kate Bowler, author of Good EnoughIt’s hard to leave a faith that has raised us. Maybe it’s even harder to stay. But what can feel impossible is living in the tension. Living with a faith that evolves.Sarah Bessey is an expert at faithfully stumbling forward. As a New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Evolving Faith,the foremost community for progressive Christians, she has been trusted by thousands of people to pursue a reconstruction of faith centered on compassion, truth, and inclusion. Bessey has found a deeply underserved and underestimated remnant in the wilderness of Christianity who are still devoted to Jesus, deeply rooted in the Gospel, fascinated with Scripture, and committed to reimagining their faith.Field Notes for the Wilderness guides us through multiple principles to live by for an evolving faith, including• practicing wonder and curiosity as spiritual disciplines• mothering ourselves with compassion and empathy• making space for lament and righteous rage• finding good spiritual teachers• discovering what we are for in this life, and moving in that directionIn this groundbreaking and nurturing book, Bessey becomes a shepherd for our curiosity, giving us a table for our questions, tools to cultivate what we crave, and a blessing for what was—even as we leave it behind.

By Rachel H

Making Whole is a poetry collection about the stories God has been writing behind-the-scenes. These heartfelt poems give you permission to ask the hard questions and rest in the One who holds the answers. Written for those who feel worn out or weary from waiting, this book is a timely reminder that God has a plan and purpose for His world. You are part of a bigger story than you could ever imagine.

By Craig Groeschel

Can God be good when life is not? Rediscover faith in the character, power, and presence of God. Even in the questions. Even in the hurt."I want to believe, I want to have hope, but . . ." Pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel hears these words often and has asked them himself. We want to know God, feel his presence, and trust that he hears our prayers, but in the midst of great pain, we may wonder if he really cares about us. Even when we have both hope and hurt, sometimes it's the hurt that shouts the loudest.In Hope in the Dark, Groeschel explores the story of the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus, saying, "I believe! Help my unbelief!" In the man's sincere plea, Jesus heard the tension in the man's battle-scarred heart. He healed not only the boy but the father too, driving out the hopelessness that had overtaken him. He can do the same for us today.As Groeschel shares his pain surrounding the health challenges of his daughter, he acknowledges the questions we may ask in our own deepest pain: "Where was God when I was being abused?" "Why was my child born with a disability?" "Why did the cancer come back?" "Why are all my friends married and I'm alone?"He invites us to wrestle with such questions as we ask God to honor our faith and heal our unbelief. Because in the middle of your profound pain, you long for authentic words of understanding and hope. You long to know that even in overwhelming reality, you can still believe that God is good.Hope in the Dark is also available in Spanish, Esperanza en la Oscuridad.

By Shauna Niequist

Cold Tangerines is a collection of stories that celebrate the extraordinary moments hidden in our everyday lives. It is about God, and about life, and about the thousands of daily ways in which an awareness of God changes and infuses everything.

By Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall explores her life and personal spiritual odyssey, discussing the lessons she learned as she studied chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe preserve.

By James B. Smith

In today's world, many people fail to experience the powerful freedom and healing of God's grace. Even Christians too often experience judgment rather than the love that is the vital essence of Christian life. This visionary guide calls believers back to the basics: understanding the promise of God's love to transform our most important relationships and fulfill our deepest spiritual needs. The moving insights found within illuminate the gentle nature of God's love and teach readers how to continue on the path of love by embracing it day by day.

By Jessica Dore

“An instant classic, a must-have for every tarot enthusiast, and a manifesto for insightful living.” —Chani Nicholas, astrologer and author of You Were Born for This“Generous, practical, and gently radical.” —New York TimesThough tarot is often thought of as a tool for divination and fortune-telling, it also has deep roots in spirituality and psychology. For those who know how to see and listen, the cards hold the potential to help us better navigate the full spectrum of the human experience.In Tarot for Change, Jessica Dore divulges years of hard-won secrets about how to work with tarot to better understand ourselves and live in alignment with what’s precious. Dore shows readers how to choose a deck, interpret images, and build a relationship with the cards, while also demonstrating how the mythic imagery of tarot supports modern therapeutic concepts like mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion. Her reflections on each of the seventy-eight cards are a vibrant tapestry that weaves together ideas from psychology, behavioral science, spirituality, and old stories, breathing new language into ancient wisdoms about what it means to be human.This is as much a book for those who are new to tarot as it is for those who have worked with the cards for years. And it's a book for anyone interested in exploring what it means to experience joy, heartbreak, wonder, stagnation, grief, loneliness, love. A book of secrets, symbols, and stories, Tarot for Change is a charm for remembering that our problems are not new, we are never alone, and whether we know it or not, we are always in a process of change.

By Elizabeth Lesser

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This inspiring guide to healing and growth illuminates the richness and potential of every life, even in the face of loss and adversity—now updated with additional toolbox materials and a new preface by the authorIn the more than twenty-five years since she co-founded Omega Institute—now the world’s largest center for spiritual retreat and personal growth—Elizabeth Lesser has been an intimate witness to the ways in which people weather change and transition. In a beautifully crafted blend of moving stories, humorous insights, practical guidance, and personal memoir, she offers tools to help us make the choice we all face in times of challenge: Will we be broken down and defeated, or broken open and transformed? Lesser shares tales of ordinary people who have risen from the ashes of illness, divorce, loss of a job or a loved one—stronger, wiser, and more in touch with their purpose and passion. And she draws on the world’s great spiritual and psychological traditions to support us as we too learn to break open and blossom into who we were meant to be.

By Zach Williams, Robert Noland

From a hard-rocking life fueled by substance abuse to a hope-filled life of freedom and joy--this is music star Zach Williams's bold and vulnerable story of faith and redemption.Before two-time GRAMMY Award winner Zach Williams penned heartfelt, faith-filled ballads like "Chain Breaker," "There Was Jesus (featuring Dolly Parton)," and "Fear Is a Liar," there was darkness. A rock-and-roll singer who thought he had all he ever wanted to make him happy, Zach instead felt empty. The drugs, alcohol, and late-night gigs played around the world couldn't satisfy the longing in his heart for a place to belong. He was desperate for change.It came while on tour in Spain with his band, and in this powerful and poignant memoir, Zach shares in vivid detail his personal Rescue Story. He reflects on his childhood and the prophecy that kept his parents from giving up hope, his descent into the substance abuse that held him captive for so long, and ultimately the rescue he didn't think was possible but embraced with open arms.A compelling, honest story of God's unconditional love, grace, and redemption, Rescue Story shares the intimate journey of a beloved music artist and challenges you to seek resilient hope in the trials of your own life--because Jesus offers real freedom and joy, despite the mistakes of your past.

By Julia Cameron, Emma Lively

“The book you hold in your hands is the distillate of a quarter century’s teaching. It is my attempt to answer, ‘What next?’ for students who are embarking on their ‘second act.’” —Julia Cameron   Julia Cameron has inspired millions with her bestseller on creativity, The Artist’s Way. In It’s Never Too Late To Begin Again, she turns her eye to a segment of the population that, ironically, while they have more time to be creative, are often reluctant or intimidated by the creative process. Cameron shows readers that retirement can, in fact, be the most rich, fulfilling, and creative time of their lives. When someone retires, the newfound freedom can be quite exciting, but also daunting. The life that someone had has changed, and the life to come is yet to be defined. In this book, Cameron shows readers how cultivating their creative selves can help them navigate this new terrain. She tells the inspiring stories of retirees who discovered new artistic pursuits and passions that more than filled their days—they nurtured their souls.  This twelve-week course aimed at defining—and creating—the life you want to have as you redefine and re-create yourself, this book includes simple tools that will guide and inspire you to make the most of this time in your life: -  Memoir writing offers an opportunity to reflect on and honor past experience. This book guides you through the daunting task of writing an entire memoir, breaking it down into manageable pieces.  -  Morning Pages—private, stream-of-consciousness writing done daily—allow you to express wishes, fears, delights, resentments, and joys, which in turn, provide focus and clarity for the day at hand. -  Artist Dates encourage fun and spontaneity. -  Solo Walks quell anxiety and clear the mind.This fun, gentle, step-by-step process will help you explore your creative dreams, wishes, and desires...and help you quickly find that it’s never too late to begin again.