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Featured
Review
Unmasked: One Soul’s
Journey from Anonymity to Identity
Paige DeHart
Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing & Enterprises,
2006
To Order: Go to
www.dehartministries.com
Every now and then a book comes along
that needs to be read carefully, word for word, and Unmasked,
by Paige DeHart, is one of those books that is worth the careful
reading. Paige’s Unmasked deserves reading more than once for
a more thorough understanding of addiction and the 12 Steps recovery
program that has worked for her (and others).
Unmasked will help many people; including the struggling
addict, the person in recovery, the families of those struggling
with addiction, and leaders working in recovery (whether inside or
outside the church). For those who have worked or understand the 12
Steps, in some sense Paige’s book is a very public Fourth and Fifth
Step. One feels the heartache, pain, hopelessness, and hopefulness
of someone struggling to find freedom from addictions and
compulsions that had their beginnings in early childhood. One
discovers that the road to recovery is not always a steep, uphill
climb to the top, but can be a terrifying roller coaster ride of
ecstatic success and hope, then a fall and decline that makes
recovery seem impossible, and then another hopeful round of
sobriety, followed by another drunken episode or destructive
compulsive behavior that makes recovery seem even more remote or
unlikely. Anyone who has struggled to overcome any problems (and who
hasn’t), and anyone who has loved and worked with addicts will
understand emotionally and intellectually the road to recovery that
Paige traveled. Those seeking hope will find hope from reading
Paige’s book. Those struggling to overcome addictions, compulsions,
dependencies, or other weaknesses can be helped by reading Paige’s
book, and will perhaps understand how and why the 12 Steps is a
proven and God-given program that can and must be (in some way or
another) traveled to find and maintain recovery and serenity.
In Unmasked , Paige has shared with us her private journal
from 1980 to 2004. She makes public the most important excerpts from
her journal followed by quotations that relate to her entry. Her
quotations need time to read, and take time to think about and learn
from if you plan to reflect on how they relate to her experience.
Her journal reveals Paige’s true thoughts and feelings as she
started down the road to destruction, traveled down that road, tried
to take another road, took a wrong turn, got back on the right road
(only to be misled again), and then finally began to walk
consistently down the road of recovery – one day at a time. A great
value of her approach in Unmasked lies in her actually
sharing her thoughts and feelings at the time, rather than writing a
book of mature reflection that could not accurately describe her
true thoughts and feelings while traveling her twelve step journey
to recovery. If you really want to understand Paige, her problems,
and the helpful resources she offers with her quotations at the end
of each journal reading, you will take your time in reading her book
and read it more than once.
As you read her book, keep reading the Bible, keep praying, keep
reading your own devotional or recovery literature, and keep going
to meetings (or get going), for Paige’s book can be depressing and
frightening at times as you identify more and more with her and her
struggles, defeats, and seeming successes (this is not a negative
comment, but an encouragement to keep working your own program and
not get discouraged over her struggles). Paige does eventually find
and travel the road to serenity and recovery, but you may begin to
wonder if she ever will and when she will. As you read Paige’s book,
you will discover reason after reason to keep working the 12 Steps,
and if you have a loved one in recovery (or needing to be), then you
will learn the value of participating regularly in meetings such as
AA or Al-Anon or other Serenity Groups.
I applaud Paige’s honesty and humility in sharing Unmasked
with us. You can tell a lot of prayer and effort went into a very
well written and published book that deserves our attention. Paige
DeHart is now an ordained minister and the co-founder of More
that Conquerors Through Christ Jesus, a Christian Twelve Step
Ministry. You can learn about Paige and More that Conquerors
Through Christ Jesus from
www.dehartministries.com.
Review provided by:
Christian Recovery Reviews
www.ChristianRecoveryReviews.com
L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
Prayer Steps to Serenity
www.PrayerSteps.org
Serenity Groups
www.SerenityGroups.org
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