Life, In Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice

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This year, two people committed suicide that were part of our lives in different ways. When this happened, it deeply affected us and many people that we know – one of them was a senior at our school and the other person was an auctioneer that my husband Chet worked with. It is shocking, painful and so difficult to come to terms with – the loss and the regret for what we could have said…what we should have done.

Being a teenager is such a difficult time: learning who you are, discovering so much about the realities of life, reaching for independence and dealing with the consequences of what you do during that time or the things that happen to you. For so many, it’s a time full of tears and depression. I know it was for me. I cried almost every day, I felt stuck between who I was and who I wanted to be. I hated myself. And yes, there were times I thought about suicide. My guess is that more teenagers consider this than we realize. It’s a time when we act like we don’t want support, but desperately need people around us to care for and encourage us much more than it seems.

Kristen Jane Anderson was 17-years old when she laid down on the train tracks and waited to die. Even when she made that split second choice, she wasn’t one-hundred percent sure that it was what she wanted – but she was hurt and wounded and caught in a sliding current of painful experiences.

This is the story of a person on the other side, a person who saw no reason to keep on living. And her miraculous second chance at life despite herself. It is a powerful testimony to the grace of God at work in her life – and in all of ours. This is the story of the Lord taking a devastated life and filling it with His hope – a story that could change you…and perhaps change the course of someone that you love. This is a journey that needs to be heard. A testimony that it wouldn’t hurt any teenager to read!

Tricia Goyer has a strong testimony herself and a gift for speaking life and hope and direction into teenagers. This book is no exception. She’s written Life, In Spite of Me with Kristen Jane Anderson’s in a story form that for the most part flows well. It was one of only a few non-fiction books that I have found difficult to put down…definitely well-told.

This book was provided for review by Bethany House Publishers.