Monday, July 29, 2024

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!  

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