My Leaning Post - Tapa dura

“An inspirational story of a woman’s painful pursuit to escape the guilt that imprisoned her.”–Kirkus Reviews One of Elizabeth Baldwin’s earliest memories is of being confined to her family’s Midwest farmhouse, a “Quarantine” sign nailed to the front door and a pane of icy glass separates her from the father she loves and leans on for comfort. This cold separation is perpetuated throughout her life, beginning with her emotionally distant mother and complicated by her father’s ongoing affair with her mother’s live-in half sister. Betrayed by her father, Elizabeth leans on the strict teachings of the Catholic Church for support until she committed a “sin” that sets her spiraling downward into a life of debilitating shame and guilt; a sin which leads her astray from her life of innocence into one of paralyzing fear, betrayal and abuse; a sin that separates her from the church she loved and who now abandons her. Elizabeth shares her shame and struggle of abuse and the spiritual journey that leads her to freedom; a journey that eventually leads her to discover the true meaning of her relationship with God, where she learns to trust enough to uncover those parts of her she has kept hidden and to come to know herself apart from the woman others have molded. It is this discovery that changes her life, and perhaps, will change yours.