Monday, March 7, 2011

Life, In Spite of Me by Kristen Anderson

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Life, In Spite of Me - Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer

What would lead a 17 year old to desire death over life?  What would drive her to lie down on a railroad track while a freight train was barreling toward her with no chance of stopping?

In Life, In Spite of Me, Kristen candidly shares her suicide attempt and all the events that led up to it.  She grew up in an all-American family with a care-free childhood surrounded by a great family until... her grandmother died, 4 friends died (1 by suicide), and she was raped by a trusted friend.  Depression and a single suicidal thought crept in. 

With depression and suicide becoming more prevalent in our teenagers, this is a must read book.  Throughout the book, she writes encouraging notes to the reader - things she wished she had known or hoped someone would have shared with her when she was struggling the most.   Her story is an inspiration to anyone who has, or is, battling depression or suicidal thoughts.  There is life.... LIFE in CHRIST... even after desiring death.  God will bring beauty out of the ashes of our lives if we only let him guide us.  He had plans to use her and will continue to use her and her story to reach out to many suffering in silence.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 "He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
He drew me out of deep water. 
He led me to a place of safety;
He rescued me because He delights in me."

~ Psalm 18.16, 19

This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group's Blogging for Books Program.


Blessings,
Ellen

9 comments:

  1. Stopping by and following via the Waltz on over Wednesday blog hop. That recipe looks sooo good. I love it and my crock pot. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Found you through Wednesday Window, but this sounds like a great book to read. I imagine it is very inspiring in the end.

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  3. Oh, thanks for the book suggestion-I will defintaly look into it. Another nice post. I love your blog. Russo @ www.threegnomes.blogpsot.com

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  4. Russo... I read this book in under 4 hours. I cried and my heart was broken. Since I suffer from bouts of depression, I could "hear" her heart cry. She battled not only demons from the outside, but demons on the inside, too. I love the way she describes her medication therapy and how she managed it with her doctors. I'm having my daughter (age 17)read it. We just finished a study on depression and I think it would help her understand it better "hearing" it firsthand from Kristen.

    ~ Ellen

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  5. I wish you were my next door neighbour...I love homemade bread!!! I'm participating in the “It’s almost Friday” hop and I’m now the newest follower of your great site. Hope you have a chance to check out my blog, have a look around and maybe follow me back!!
    Monica
    http://oldermommystillyummy.blogspot.com/

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  6. That was an amazing book! I had the chance to review it as well. :)

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  7. It sounds like a very emotional book.

    Thank you for participating in last week’s Wednesday Window @ Frugality Is Free. I hope you’ll stop by to link up your favorite blog post this week as well.

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  8. I was just surfing around and found your blog this morning from a blog hop 5 questions for Friday. I like your review of this book and will have to see if I can find it locally.

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  9. Hi Ellen,

    I'm poking around your blog today, visiting you from the HHH. I read the excerpt of this books just now, and I'm totally hooked. I definitely want to read more of it! Thanks for letting me know about it.

    God Bless you!

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Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts with me! I look forward to getting to know you better.

If you do not wish to sign-in, please email me your comments and I will post them. Due to too many spam comments, I have chosen to close the comments to anonymous users. Thank you for understanding. ~ Ellen

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