Review: Life, In Spite of Me

My Synopsis:

Life, In Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice by Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer

(For review from Waterbrook Multnomah)

Kristen Anderson grew up in an average home, on an average street in an average town. But, she wasn't an average girl. She had the picture perfect life it seemed to people on the outside, but inside she was screaming for help. The death of her grandmother and the suicide of a close friend, weigh heavily on her mind and heart. She is raped at a party and cannot even bring herself to tell her friends or her parents. Everything seems out of control, but when she doesn't come one night, her parents are frantic to try to do something about her behavior and decide to ground her indefinitely.

Kristen is so distraught from all of heartache she has suffered that she makes a choice that will change her life forever. She decides to take her own life by lying down on the railroad track in front of an oncoming train. 38- freight cars running at over 55 mph run over Kristen and still she lived to tell the story. Both of her legs were severed and she had to re-evaluate everything in her life. Still fighting bouts with depression and suicidal thoughts Kristen finds God and starts to make over her life. She realizes that she has been focused on herself when she should have been focused on him. Kristen uses her story to teach young adults, teens and even adults about suicide and how to prevent it. What to look for, how to find more in life than just the pain.

My Thoughts:

Kristen's story is dramatic and gripping. She writes from that honest place inside herself that wants to help people who may be suffering what she went through. God chose to let Kristen live because He had a greater plan for her life even though it took her awhile to find it. He was always right there waiting. One of my favorite parts of the book talked about how she had to find a way to let God, be her best friend. That really struck a cord in me. We tell our best friends everything, we lean on them when we need a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. We ask their advice and we listen. Thats how I want my relationship to be with God. I want him to be my best friend.

She also talked about she how she had been focusing so much on herself, because she felt like that's what she needed to do to get better, when in reality she needed to be focused on something else. In this case that something else was God. She surrounded herself with a good church family and people who were putting God first in their lives and she began to see great changes in her own life. Kristen's website "Reaching You Ministries" has helped numerous people who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. She is a brilliant speaker and a great writer.

Here are a few other interesting things from Kristen Anderson and Waterbrook Multnomah.

Here is a link to the video trailer for Life, In Spite of Me!

And here is a link to download an excerpt from Life, In Spite of Me.

This book was very moving. It's the kind of story that you don't forget about when you put the book down.

Life, In Spite of Me is available NOW from Waterbrook Multnomah.

I give this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag! Check back later in the day, for your chance to win a copy of Life, In Spite of Me, by Kristen Anderson.