A book review

Undivided by Vicky Beeching.

I don’t normally do book reviews, and this is not much of a review, more of a response to the thoughts and feelings that reading a book has had on me.

I downloaded this book, the title of which comes from Vicky’s song, Undivided Heart, on June 14, then on June 15 went on our Church’s family weekend, where one of the themes was that God’s story is for us to have an undivided heart.

I have also written in this blog about my journey back to God and recently facing up to my own darkness. I blogged on that at the end of June, link at the end of this blog. The Lyrics of Undivided Heart start:

Brokenness has brought me to my knees
Face to face with all that’s dark in me

What the book is not is a biography. Nor is it a book of theology, it is a memoir, but it is deeply theological, in that Vicky show the route to what she did and works out her relationship to God.

What this memoir is about is a British girl who wrote Christian songs, knowing that she was gay, ending as a young woman as a worship leader mainly in the southern states of the USA, where their beliefs were that sexual orientation other than to the opposite sex is satanic. The book follows Vicky’s coming out as gay which she feels is more authentic than standing in churches where anti-gay rhetoric is spouted from the pulpits. whilst knowing inside that she is attracted to other women.

It is a book of brutal honesty and a book of hope. Through the dark times of Vicky’s journey there are rays of joy that shine through the dark times of her journey, which also covers battles with fibromyalgia and ME, and with stress and depression. It is about hope that it shows how God meets people in dark times. It is about hope because it shows that prejudice is not the way of Christ.

The build-up to Vicky admitting she was gay to her best friend, and the reaction is a poignant highlight. This is a book to be read with an open heart and an open box of tissues. Crying is not compulsory, but it is likely.

A recommended read, this book could well change attitudes if people are open to look at this book on its own merits.

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Here is Vicky Beeching singing Undivided Heart.

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My recent blog on my darkness.