The Story of Your Life Review

the When Grammy-nominated recording artist Matthew West started writing his top-selling new album, The Story of Your Life (Sparrow, 2010) he asked fans to submit personal experiences. More than 10,000 tales of hope, perseverance, and redemption poured in. With friend and author Angela Thomas, West presents some of these powerful stories paired with meaningful devotions they inspired.


Wendy gave birth to her daughter in jail. When all seemed hopeless, she found God and her life transformed into something beautiful.

• Cory, a married youth pastor, had an affair and his life fell apart. With God’s mercy, he and his wife gathered the broken pieces and started again.
• Sheila always struggled with severe insecurity. Now she lives confidently in the purpose God has for her.

This unforgettable devotional journey inspires readers to discover God as the author of their unique lives and to share the power of their story.

My Review:

This is a touching compilation of just what the title indicates, the story of our lives.  Matthew West is a christian musician who decided to create an album based upon the stories of his listeners.  Over 10,000 fans submitted their stories and Matthew used them to create the album titled Story of Your Life.  From that project grew this book.  Matthew invited author and speaker Angela Thomas to join him on this book.

Together they selected stories to create a years worth of reading on topics such as Chosen, a Mother's Love, the family of God, and so much more.  Each of the 52 topics includes the letter(s) submitted, Bible verses that relate to it, and a response from either Angela or Matthew.  Many of these stories will touch your heart, whether you see yourself in them or someone you know.  You will find your heart breaking when Kristin tells you how close she came to taking her life and how she reached out for help from God, or find yourself in Melissa's letter that simply states "I don't have a very dramatic story.  I just love God".  (Matthew shows us how God can use that to do big things in the world.)  Or maybe you will find yourself in Kelli's letter.  A single mom raising two children who watched her son join the military and fight not only in the Gulf war, but be deployed six years later to defend our country again in Afghanistan. 

The stories are beautiful, the responses are inspired and this book is well worth the money to purchase it!