Recommended Reading List

At Holistically Divine Counseling (HDC), we believe in the transformative power of knowledge and self-discovery.

This curated selection of books reflects our commitment to supporting you on your journey toward personal growth, healing, and overall well-being. Whether you’re seeking practical techniques to navigate life’s challenges, a deeper understanding of psychological principles, or inspirational stories of resilience, this collection offers diverse resources to meet your needs. Each book has been chosen with care, aiming to provide you with insights, comfort, and the tools necessary to embark on a path of self-improvement and emotional empowerment. We may earn a commission when you purchase a book using the links below.

1-18 of 30 books
  • It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered
    • Faith & Spirituality
    It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered

    By: Lysa TerKeurst

    Life often looks so very different than we hoped or expected. Some events may simply catch us off guard for a moment, but others shatter us completely. We feel disappointed and disillusioned, and we quietly start to wonder about the reality of God’s goodness. Lysa TerKeurst understands this deeply. But she’s also discovered that our disappointments can be the divine appointments our souls need to radically encounter God.

  • Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents
    • Healing & Trauma
    Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents

    By: Lindsay C. Gibson

    In this breakthrough book, clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable. You will see how these parents create a sense of neglect, and discover ways to heal from the pain and confusion caused by your childhood. By freeing yourself from your parents’ emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react to them, and avoid disappointment. Finally, you’ll learn how to create positive, new relationships so you can build a better life.

  • Decolonizing the Body: Healing, Body-Centered Practices for Women of Color to Reclaim Confidence, Dignity, and Self-Worth
    • Healing & Trauma
    Decolonizing the Body: Healing, Body-Centered Practices for Women of Color to Reclaim Confidence, Dignity, and Self-Worth

    By: Kelsey Blackwell

    As a woman of color, you are more likely to experience oppression, discrimination, and physical or sexual violence in your lifetime. In addition, your family may have experienced generational trauma and systemic racism going back for centuries. This old and new trauma can manifest in both the mind and body. However, there are ways you can free yourself from this trauma, build confidence in yourself and your abilities, and restore your powerful sense of self.

  • Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe

    By: Craig Groeschel

    Do you ever wonder, “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” Do you wish you could see the evidence that prayer changes lives? Are you tired of playing it safe with your faith? In Dangerous Prayers, New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel helps you unlock your greatest potential and tackle your greatest fears by praying stronger, more passionate prayers that lead you into a deeper faith.

  • Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity

    By: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith

    How can you keep your energy, happiness, creativity, and relationships fresh and thriving in the midst of never-ending family demands, career pressures, and the stress of everyday life? In Sacred Rest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, reveals why rest can no longer remain optional.

  • The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
    • Healing & Trauma
    The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

    By: Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

    Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.

  • After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love
    • Healing & Trauma
    After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love

    By: Alexandra Elle

    Part memoir and part guide, Elle shares stirring stories from her own remarkable journey from self-doubt to self-love. This soulful collection is filled with illuminating reflections on loss, fear, bravery, healing, love, acceptance, and more. Readers follow along her journey as she transforms challenging experiences—a difficult childhood, painful romantic relationships, and single parenting as a young mom—into fuel for her career as a successful entrepreneur and author driven by purpose and passion.

  • Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
    • Healing & Trauma
    Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself

    By: Melody Beattie

    Melody Beattie’s compassionate and insightful look into codependency—the concept of losing oneself in the name of helping another— has helped millions of readers understand that they are powerless to change anyone but themselves and that caring for the self is where healing begins.

  • Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good

    By: Jess Connolly

    It’s one thing to know in your head that you were created in the image of God. Yet it’s quite another to experience this belief in your body, against the cultural ideals of a woman’s worth. And between the two lies a world of frustration, disappointment, and the shame of somehow feeling both too much and never enough in your body.

  • Prayer Journal for Women: 52 Week Scripture, Devotional & Guided Prayer Journal
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Prayer Journal for Women: 52 Week Scripture, Devotional & Guided Prayer Journal

    By: Shannon Roberts, Paige Tate & Co

    Prayer Journal for Women: 52 Weeks Scripture, Devotional, & Guided Prayer Journal includes Scripture verses, reflections on the Word, and journaling prompts to guide your walk with God and strengthen your faith.

  • You Got This: 90 Devotions to Equip and Empower Hardworking Women
    • Faith & Spirituality
    You Got This: 90 Devotions to Equip and Empower Hardworking Women

    By: Melissa Horvath, Sweet Water Decor

    It’s easy for women to get wrapped up in all that we do and then forget who God created us to be. Whether we’re hardworking inside the home or outside the home or both we all need encouragement and grace to meet the demands life puts on us. This 90-day devotional helps women de-stress by focusing on how we’re blessed.

  • No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
    • Healing & Trauma
    No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

    By: Richard Schwartz Ph.D., Alanis Morissette

    Is there just one “you”? We’ve been taught to believe we have a single identity, and to feel fear or shame when we can’t control the inner voices that don’t match the ideal of who we think we should be. Yet Dr. Richard Schwartz’s research now challenges this “mono-mind” theory. “All of us are born with many sub-minds―or parts,” says Dr. Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us―and the key to health and happiness is to honor, understand, and love every part.”

  • A Million Years: Finding God’s Highest Purpose in Your Spiritual Wilderness
    • Faith & Spirituality
    A Million Years: Finding God’s Highest Purpose in Your Spiritual Wilderness

    By: Beverly A. Price

    This book contains the essential resources to successfully navigate a personal wilderness step by step. With each chapter, discover how this unique spiritual exploration can lead to a victorious life of faith. Even though it feels like it’s been a hopeless struggle for a million years, take this transformative journey of a lifetime and discover God’s highest purpose for your life.

  • Bible Promises for Moms: Inspirational Verses of Hope & Encouragement for Christian Mothers
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Bible Promises for Moms: Inspirational Verses of Hope & Encouragement for Christian Mothers

    By: Heidi St. John

    God understands the heart of a mom, as well as the daily cares and worries that can weigh you down. No matter where you are in your mothering journey, God’s mercies and promises are for you. This pocket-size book of Scriptures provides hundreds of Bible promises that are relevant to the needs of every mother, interweaving them with personal reflections from popular author Heidi St. John.

  • Crazy Faith: It's Only Crazy Until It Happens
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Crazy Faith: It’s Only Crazy Until It Happens

    By: Michael Todd

    There are many things that seem normal or average today that at one point in time seemed absolutely crazy. Smartphones, Wi-Fi, and even the electric light bulb were all groundbreaking, history-making inventions that started out as crazy ideas. Our see-it-to-believe-it generation tends to have a hard time exercising true faith—one that steps out, takes action, and sees mountain-moving results. Many of us would rather play it safe and stand on the sidelines, but it’s crazy faith that helps us see God move and reveals His promises.

  • Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

    By: Craig Groeschel

    Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel understands deeply this daily battle against self-doubt and negative thinking, and in this powerful new book he reveals the strategies he’s discovered to change your mind and your life for the long-term.

  • The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color
    • Healing & Trauma
    The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color

    By: Natalie Y. Gutiérrez LMFT

    If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone.

  • Prayers to Share: 100 Pass-Along Notes for Believing Bigger
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Prayers to Share: 100 Pass-Along Notes for Believing Bigger

    By: Marshawn Evans Daniels

    God has big plans for all of us, but sometimes we let doubt and fear get in the way. Prayers to Share: 100 Pass-Along Notes for Believing Bigger gives multiple opportunities to empower and encourage others to boldly embrace the love of God and step out confidently, knowing that He has a magnificent future planned for them.