Behind the Pages of My Memoir: Raised & Redeemed
The sun glinted off the palm trees outside our new high-rise in Boca Raton as I sat down to write Raised & Redeemed. I believed God was telling me I was ready.
I was newly married, halfway across the country from anyone and anything that had ever hurt me, and determined to live a life that honored God—no matter how hard that might be.
But as I sifted through my parents’ letters from prison, childhood photos that carried more scars than smiles, and old text messages from past friends and lovers that still stung like fresh wounds, the weight of it all pressed down on me—I needed more time.
It wasn’t until two years later that something shifted. Through the Raised & Redeemed Podcast, I told my testimony enough times that the pain lost its sting. I had settled into a reliable routine as a new wife. And finally, I saw a purpose in my story bigger than myself.
I had just found out I was pregnant with our first baby girl, my sisters were teenagers now, and I was seeing one girl after the next fall into the traps of our culture—sexual promiscuity, selling their bodies for money, and a New Age spirituality that condoned it all.
They had to know.
They had to know the generational curses I’d been fighting hard to break with my own obedience to God. They had to know the consequences of pursuing ungodly relationships that left me more empty than before. And they had to know the spiritual dangers of counterfeit religions and demon gods that promise healing, purpose, and pleasure—at the cost of our very souls.
Deep into my pregnancy and amidst two moves, I wrote. And in the trenches of sleepless nights and the newborn stage, I edited. Revisiting each stage of my life that would eventually lead me to God and help me see the purpose in my pain was more healing than any therapy session or ritual I had ever done. I found meaning in every line—exposing my sins and shortcomings to reveal the enemy’s tactics, and uncovering the hidden blessings and gentle whispers that pointed me back to God.
But after three years of relentless work, the self-doubt I’d battled since childhood came pouring in:
"I’ve never written a book."
"What if I don’t do God’s story justice?"
"But I still struggle with XYZ."
The devil’s voice whispered seductive lies, trying to stop me from exposing the destruction he had brought into my life through my own deception and disobedience.
But I kept going anyway.
Even now, as my baby begins to walk and life gets ever busier, I’m tempted to stop. But I’m in too deep to turn back now.
As I write this, I’ve begun sharing my manuscript with select beta readers and querying literary agents, praying someone sees something in my story that will help me share it with the world. Raised & Redeemed isn’t just my story—through its pages, readers will learn about the hidden battle for our souls, how the enemy works through trauma, temptation, and deception, and ultimately, how no one is too far gone from redemption.
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And to my Raised & Redeemed podcast listeners, thank you for bearing with me while I take time to finish this important project. I hope to be back with sneak peek episodes very soon!
