10 Memoirs by Faithful Women

When I was compiling the list of books for my “10 Books to Read in the First Five Years of Ministry” article, I got a lot of recommendations for memoirs. In order to end up with only ten books on that list, it felt like I would have to prioritize one person’s experience over others. Instead, I decided to spin-off a completely different article that would highlight only memoirs. By doing it this way, I can include all the great recommendations that I received while including a couple of the memoirs that have made an impact on me. Enjoy, because sometimes we need to be encouraged by the stories of those who have gone before, or alongside, us in faith.

1. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (1999)
This is the first memoir that I’d read where I recognized a Christian faith and community like the one that I was raised in: mainline Protestant and drawn together by a God who is most apparent not in our moral superiority, but in our states of disgrace. I appreciated her honesty about the messiness of life and faith and that God’s grace is tenacious despite it all. Plus, her writing is funny.

Click here to read the rest of the list at Fidelia Magazine, a digital publication of Young Clergy Women International where I am a Writer-in-Residence.