One woman’s fight to provide hope for the hopeless…
Seven ex-cons who changed her heart forever…
For Brenda Spahn, entrepreneur and businesswoman, wealth was a lifestyle—until a brush with the law threatened to send her to prison. In those dark moments, Brenda made a promise to God.
Spared incarceration, a renewed Brenda glimpsed into the lives of women serving time in one of the worst places in America—the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama.
What she saw prompted a God-inspired vision.
With a heart to help and a will that couldn’t be crushed, Brenda fought the system and overcame tremendous obstacles to take ex-cons into her own home and help them navigate the alien world of life on the outside.
This is the story of Brenda’s journey from rags to riches to redemption. It’s the story of the first unlikely year of her “Whole Way House” and of the extraordinary lives of the first seven women who came to call her “Miss Brenda.” It’s a story that testifies to the power of faith and how God changes hearts every day.
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: WaterBrook Press; Reprint edition (February 17, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307732193
ISBN-13: 978-0307732194
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
Brenda Spahn is founder and executive director of the Lovelady Center, the largest and most successful nonprofit transitional center for women in the country. It serves 450 women and children every day, providing substance abuse counseling, drug rehabilitation, meals, childcare, career counseling, and job opportunities to women working to establish successful lives outside of prison walls. Brenda is married and has four adult children as well as one young child who lives at home.
Irene Zutell is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Pieces of Happily Ever After and coauthor with Vanessa Williams of You Have No Idea.
MY REVIEW
Miss Brenda and the Loveladies is a very good book that I found interesting and heartwarming. How a lady is very successful and almost goes to prison, but gets a second chance at life. So she decides to help those coming out of prison to get a new start and to make a difference in life.
I never really thought about how a woman would act or get along in society after being in prison her whole life or for most of it. It was eye-opening to me.
The chapter that really hit me is called Imagine. Here’s the first paragraph of that chapter. “Imagine if you could not remember any time in your life when you had been happy. Imagine if you’d never been to a party or a restaurant or an amusement park or a beach. It would be your birthday and no one would give you a present or bake you a cake or even say, “Happy birthday.” You never had a Christmas tree. You didn’t really know about Christmas or Easter or New Year’s. You never learned how to ride a bike or swim or play catch. You didn’t go to your prom or a dance or a school play or a football game.”
We just take for granted all that we have and all that we have learned. Some of these ladies only know about doing drugs or anything to make more or get the food and shelter they need. They also know sooner or later they will get caught. It’s just a way of life for them.
Brenda and her family start showing love and that they care. It takes a while, but then they start to trust again.
Good book that I recommend.
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Thanks to WaterBrookMultnomah for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255
1 comment:
This book sounds AMAZING! Thanks for the review. I will have to read this one!!!! Blessings, Connie Sue
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