I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion but Found My Faith

Grammy Award–winning hip-hop artist Lecrae delves into his struggles, shame, and destructive habits in this powerful follow-up to his 2016 memoir Unashamed. Lecrae writes that he used to see himself as “the tribal devotee addicted to proclaiming my own self-righteousness,” but after the publication of his last book, he began to feel like he hadn’t fully faced himself yet and realized that “accolades couldn’t hide the weaknesses of the heart.” He describes his life as “a wreck,” and says he turned to alcohol and pills to deaden the pain of long-buried childhood and teenage traumas. Lecrae discusses growing up in a family that felt “apathy toward pain and dysfunction,” suffering sexual and physical abuse, and his tumultuous “history with organized religion” and Reformed theology. To “rehabilitate [his] life,” Lecrae took a four-month sabbatical from work, and he credits daily therapy for “revamping safeguards [he] had previously torn down” and “recultivat[ing his] relationship with God.” Lecrae also riffs on the current state of American politics, particularly the power of the Black Lives Matter movement and the nefarious effects of white privilege, as well as his own process of self-care and the ways he’s adjusted to celebrity, always returning to faith and his healing process: “I finally feel true joy. I feel the love that comes from allowing myself to be forgiven without constant shame.” Lecrae’s fans will love this. (Oct.)