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Out of the Dark is Mandisa's exploration of the journey she's taken from when she first became a Christian, to her rise as an American Idol finalist and receiving multiple Grammy and Dove Award nominations, as well as the dark and challenging times she experienced along the way. She writes personally and openly about the hardships she has faced and the way she felt betrayed by God, but also about how God has brought her out of the valley into His glorious light. Along the way, she also shares her struggles in learning how to love her body and care for her health.
Just as Mandisa's Grammy-award winning song "Overcomer" was topping the Contemporary Christian Music charts, her friend for whom "Overcomer" had been written passed away. After losing this close friend to cancer, despite years of prayers on her behalf, Mandisa descended into depression, isolating herself and turning to her familiar friend, food, for comfort.
Throughout Out of the Dark, Mandisa uses her experiences to address the following themes:
- The pain of grief and loss Surviving abuse
- Embracing true beauty and a healthy body image
- Coping with severe depression
- Healthy—and disordered—eating
- The role of faith in hope and healing
- Letting go of shame
- Following your unique calling and passion
- How friends and family are crucial for healing
- The challenges of 2020, including protecting mental and emotional health while navigating a public health crisis; quarantining; and coping with racial injustice
- Trusting God daily for hope and healing
In the darkness, Mandisa knew God was there — but she wondered if she could trust Him. Even at her lowest point where she saw no human way forward, God was at work, powerfully redeeming her story and calling her out of the dark.
Mandisa tells her story with warmth and vulnerability, challenging us all to focus on God's purpose for our lives, surround ourselves with friends who will fight for us, and face life's challenges with courage and faith. If you've ever found yourself in a dark place as the result of grief, depression, or loss, Mandisa's story will reassure you that even when you're walking through dark valleys, God can and will lead you on a path to joy and hope.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 15, 2022 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781954201019
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781954201019
- File size: 1639 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Gospel and contemporary Christian musician Hundley, with co-author Gosselin, chronicles her struggles with food addiction and depression in this debut inspirational remembrance. The year 2014 should have been a happy one for the author. She'd just won a Grammy Award for best contemporary Christian music album, and the album's title track and lead single, "Overcomer," had become a hit. The song was inspired by Hundley's longtime friend and former backup singer Lakisha Mitchell, who was fighting breast cancer. "None of us imagined how the anthem would strike a chord with listeners," writes Hundley, adding that the song provided fans with "hope that with God's help they could prevail over hard circumstances in their lives." Hundley was sure that Mitchell would be saved by a miracle, but when her friend died in 2014, the singer's faith was shaken to the core. Her grief was so profound that she relapsed into food addiction, a condition that had plagued her for much of her life. Over the next 18 months, the author gained 200 pounds and descended into a deep depression. In this second memoir, which shares a title with Hundley's most recent album and follows Idoleyes (2007), she tells the story of a traumatic adolescence, her embrace of Baptist Christianity, and her rise to music stardom as well as her long struggles with addiction and mental illness. Hundley's prose effectively marries emotional candor with attestations of faith, switching easily from the language of mental health to that of Scripture: "Turning to food when difficult emotions hit has continued to be a struggle for me. In fact, emotional eating may be something like the 'thorn in the flesh' Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 12:7, and something I always struggle with." She centers her faith in her story while also discussing the professional help she received from therapists. Her perspectives on diversity and intolerance in the world of contemporary Christian music are also engaging. Fans of that musical genre will likely get the most from Hundley's story, but it also ably sheds light on the immense difficulties of food addiction. A concise and earnest memoir about music, grief, and faith.
COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)
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