summer reading…

I bought this book intending to read it on what will be a very long road trip to Baton Rouge in early August, but I made the mistake of starting it and now I have to find another book for our trip! Needless to say I couldn’t put it down.

The book is a biography written by Elissa Wall(with the help of freelancer writer Lisa Pulitzer) which describes her life growing up in the Fundamentalists Church of the Ladder Day Saints (FLDS), her unwanted marriage to an abusive husband at age 14 and her courage to escape the polygamous sect controlled by Warren Jeffs.

“I don’t want to know the God of Warren Jeffs. I didn’t want to know a God who would willingly break apart families. I didn’t want to know the God who forced girls to get married. The God I knew, who I believed in and who I still believe in to this day, was real, but he had nothing to do with Warren Jeffs.”

The inner workings of the church were startling. I knew a little from news reports when the FBI stormed the Texas ranch a few years ago and took away hundreds of children from their mothers, but Wall goes into detail.

This book is more than an inspirational story about finding strength, freedom and love. (Yes, there is a sweet love story in there too.) Somehow after being brainwashed her entire life (and she uses that word in the book), she found the courage to stand up for what is right and find FAITH.

Bible Update: Although I have gotten distracted reading other books, I am still committed to reading the Bible. I finished 2 more books and I am working on Proverbs now.