I was asked to read Tracy Elliott’s book Unbroken. This was a book that I probably wouldn’t have bought on my own. That would have been my loss.

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Tracy’s story is amazing. It is one of heartbreak, abuse, dysfunction but most importantly Grace–God’s Grace. Tracy’s parents both died when she was young. Her dad died first and that sent her mother into a life of drinking. Actually she had been drinking a lot already but her mom died when Tracy was six years old because of her drinking. Tracy then went to live with her 70 year old grandmother along with her two older brothers. It is bad enough that she lost her parents but now she lives in a home with a grandmother who enabled her grown sons.

Tracy’s uncles were for the most part bums. They rarely worked and when they did they wasted the money on booze. They resented Tracy and her brother for living there yet these men were in their 30-40’s. One of Tracy’s uncles began to sexually abuse her for about 3 or 4 years. He took her innocence away. As I read this book it really moved me. I guess that is why I have been so angry about the “clergy” abuse issue that has been coming up lately. I can’t imagine that someone could do something so horrible to another person.

It was during this time that Tracy went to a local Southern Baptist Church. She actually asked Jesus to come live in her life. But unfortunately the abuse didn’t stop. That part was hard for me to swallow. In fact it didn’t stop until she became a teenager and was able to move out. Tracy must be a beautiful woman because she was a cheerleader and participated in beauty pageants.

Eventually she moved out of her abusive home and lived with a divorced lady from her church. The only problem is this woman took Tracy partying with her. Tracy began to use drugs and alcohol. Her life began spiraling out of control. She moved to Atlanta and started working as a stripper. Then she moved to Dallas, TX and continued that career.

It was in a Dallas strip club that she met her future husband. I don’t understand this but she says that God spoke to her while she was stripping and said she was to marry this man. However, he was married. I’m still working through that one. Eventually he divorced his wife and she started dating this man and they moved in together and then got married. She became pregnant within a month of their marriage.

Having children caused a range of emotions to creep into her life. Within a few years she and her husband separated for a while but then got back together. They got involved in a church and God blessed her husband’s business. But she had another demon to get rid of. She was addicted to pain pills. She went through rehab and eventually witnessed to everyone in the rehab center–patients and staff. In the end she was crowned Mrs. Texas. Her platform for the Mrs. America competition was “Better, not Bitter.”

The title of the book was about her life and a cabinet that somehow made it through the abuse in her grandmother’s home. Her brother brought it out to her in Texas and she put it in her prayer room and has not refinished it to remind her of how she made it through “unbroken.”

Wow, what a story. For me it is good to read stories like this because I was not exposed to this kind of hell. I would recommend reading Unbroken. I give it 4.5 hockey sticks out of 5.