Mary E. DeMuth draws me to her with a thick cord of kinship in her memoir,
Thin Places.* No, I haven't experienced all the same events in my life, but all of us have struggled with acceptance, frailty, disappointment. In overlapping circles of phases of her lifestory, Mary topically narrates her journey to and with Jesus.
In the opening chapter, "Studebaker," we meet Jim, Mary's dad, and learn the hurt of her life's father-shaped hole. It will be years before she--and many of us readers--will understand the love of a Father who will never, never leave us.
"Snapshot" reveals the terrible days of Mary's childhood that still cause her to wonder why and how such things could have happened to her. Yet she looks back and spies mercy and grace in some of the circumstances.
I first misread the chapter title, "Like Me," to mean "similar to me." Mary's need for approval resembles so many of us humans, wanting to please others. I love the way she ends this section, comparing Atticus Finch to Jesus, the "balcony folks" to those we've touched with Jesus' love, cheering us on.
"Narcissism" treads on my toes, speaking of a clean heart and dirty hands, reminding me how little like Mother Teresa I am, how I want the head-turning attention and not the hard work of being a real in-the-trenches believer.
In these and every other chapter, Mary taps me on the shoulder, with soberness, with lightness, to whisper and shout that I'm a mess, yet I'm loved, redeemed, and fit for whatever He calls me to do. Read it. Rejoice. And go and do likewise.
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Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted, and of the millions of sexual abuse and rape victims, 15 percent are under the age of 12, according to a 2007 study by the U.S.
Department of Justice. Critically acclaimed author Mary DeMuth is among the millions of adults who are victims of childhood rape and are living with the emotional scars of the haunting abuse.
DeMuth bravely shares her painful story in her new memoir, Thin Places (February, 2010).
Repeatedly raped by two neighborhood boys at a young age, DeMuth details her traumatic and
disturbing childhood in the memoir. Raised in a broken home, she lost her biological father when
she was ten and was stripped of her innocence growing up in an unstable environment where
drugs were commonplace.
But Thin Places is about hope and healing more than it is about the traumatic events of
DeMuth's childhood. According to DeMuth, thin places are "snatches of time, moments really,
when we sense God intersecting our world in tangible, unmistakable ways." When she
encountered the true love of Jesus at a Young Life camp in high school, DeMuth's life-trajectory
changed. God reassembled the pieces of her emotionally fragile self, which initiated true healing
and peace.
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*A review copy was provided to me at no cost. I will give this away in a drawing.
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