Broken Heartbeats and Hope

About the Book

Religion broke my heart. A sectarian evangelical authority tore me away from my spiritual awareness of God, nurtured in childhood wonder by the Australian bush. It landed me in a war zone with my trusted inner self. Evil intruded into my picture of life. Trusted people became predators. I was ambushed by the Deep Sadness. This book is the story of my desperate search for some unknown relief from the grief of rejection, deception and the bullying that is spiritual abuse. When two words shone like a light from the text of the book I was studying for a Master’s degree, I was amazed. Enlightenment that required abandonment of current goals, gave wings of hope to my heart for the journey ahead.

About the Author

Connie grew up in the cultural community and educational institutions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She became a primary school teacher then married, had three daughters, and earnt a Bachelor of Divinity Degree from London University before teaching Biblical Studies to adult and year 12 students. She studied Islam and Arabic and led tours to the Middle East. She also tutored children in remedial reading, and completed two educational degrees from Monash University. For a short time she was an assistant chaplain at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, after training in counselling. Her final degree was an MA from Latrobe University with a thesis on ‘Accessing soteriology in the Gospel of John’. She lives in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.