Every day people suffer from mental illness which can be deliberating. What can you do about it? Seek help? Have a doctor prescribe you a medication? For some who suffer, they feel trapped and isolated. Lisa Slaton, author of REDEMPTION THROUGH FORGIVENESS: HOW GOD USED MY MENTAL ILLNESS TO SAVE ME has a different viewpoint. Diagnoses with Multiple Personality Disorder and other mental illness, she created other personalities to help her survive trauma from abusive situations in her childhood. As an adult, she came face-to-to face with them only to find that they were Christian alter-egos whom God chose to help her cope and to understand. She said the God used her, and her personalities for the better. She said, "It is when God gives me the most difficult challenge I have ever faced - forgiving my other for the immense emotional damage that she caused me, that I finally learned that I am worthy enough to let God love me and save me. Read more about Lisa and her upcoming book below.
- LISA SLATON"Redemption Through Forgiveness: How God Used My Mental Illness To Save Me"
- Tell your readers a little about yourself, where you grew up, where you live now, where you went to school etc. Let them get to know the personal you.A native of Illinois, I have been a Christian for over 30 years. After graduating from Columbia College at the age of 42, I received a BA in Psychology. I have worked in the health care field since I was a teenager. I am single and live with my furbabies - six cats and two dogs.
- What inspired you to author this book?I was exploring ways to use my traumatic life experiences and my struggles with mental illness to share my faith and love for God when God led me to use my talent for writing to reach out to other people.
- Where did you get the inspiration for your book’s cover?I found several book cover images that I liked from going through Adobe stock images, and my publishing company helped me pick out the one that fit my story the best. I feel the cover represents my anguish and surrender to God perfectly.
- Who has been the most significant influence on you personally and as a writer?The most significant influence on me personally and as a writer has not been an external person. It was the personalities that I created to help me survive abuse that gave me the strength and determination that I needed to start writing books that would reach out and inspire people, especially those with troubled lives, to reach out to a God who loves them and wants to help them.
- What were your struggles or obstacles you had to overcome to get this book written?Finding time and stamina to write while working a part-time job and balancing my struggles with mental illnesses were the biggest obstacles I had to overcome to get this book written.
- Tell your readers about your book.Diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder and other mental illnesses, I created personalities as a child to help me survive trauma and abuse. As an adult, I finally meet my adults, and discover that they are Christian alters whom God will use to help me understand His great love and mercy for me. It is when God gives me one of the most difficult challenges of my life - forgiving the person that I hate the most in the world, my mother - that I finally learn how to accept God's forgiveness and salvation.
- Who is your target audience, and why?My target audience is anybody with mental illness, depression, abuse, or any kind of trauma in their background - anybody who is struggling to forgive people who have hurt them - any person who feels unloved and unworthy - people who need the love and mercy and help of God.
- What do you consider your greatest success in life?My greatest success in life was turning my mental illnesses over to God and allowing Him to use my illnesses for His purposes and His glory, which enabled me to write this book and the subsequent sequel that will follow.
- What one unique thing sets you apart from other writers in your genre?While there are many books on the market about forgiveness, and books about Multiple Personality Disorder, I have not found any other book that puts the two together, and where the personalities created are Christian alters who are used by God to help show His love and mercy to the person who created the alters. This book is a unique perspective on how everything can be used by God for His glory and His purpose, including mental illness.
