Out of the Dark is Mandisa’s second book. Each chapter was song’s titles and contained some of her lyrics. In this book, she opens up about her life and she started with the meaning behind her top song, “Overcomer”. It was written about a challenge her best friend was facing. Her best friend, hairstylist, and former background singer, Kisha was battling stage three breast cancer for over a year and a half. Kisha found out while she was about pregnant. She was having to do a less harmful form of chemotherapy. Mandisa shared how they prayed for her and the unborn child to be protected in the womb. Her and her songwriters were almost done with the album and they needed just one more song. They wrote “Overcomer” to be a fight anthem and they never imagined how the audience would connect and relate to the song. This song is a reminder to listeners to stay in the fight until the very end even when you are down and overwhelmed. Her friend was able to attend the album release party and they raised $25,000 to help with her medical bills. She shared how she expressed hope and how they were all believing that she would be healed. She ended up going home to be with Jesus.
Mandisa admitted to how she had a lot of hopeless thoughts and she explained how she had faith. She couldn’t understand as to why God took her home from her husband and she had two kids to raise. She explained how she was struggling with being an overcomer and each performance of this song caused her deep emotional pain. She was angry at God and upset. She opened up about her how she kept her grief in a box. This opened the door to her past trauma, shame over her weight, and being eliminated from American Idol from still haunting her. She revealed how she went into a depression and turned back to letting food comfort her. She shared with readers her dark thoughts during this time and how she thought about taking pills to end it all. In the book, she will share with readers how she was able to come out of the pit and how others were there for her along the way even when at first, she didn’t see it.
I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who is dealing with depression and they feel alone and not worthy. I immensely enjoyed reading Mandisa’s journey through dealing with sadness and hanging on and not giving up on her life. I had no idea she was batting depression and you couldn’t tell it. This book will benefit anyone is struggling with depression, food addiction, past trauma, and provide readers with hope. I met her a few years ago at a concert and she was personally one of the nicest people I have ever met. She has the joy of the Lord and has such a beautiful smile that is contagious. I read her first book years ago. This one also covered some of the past stories she shared about working at Lifeway and touched on her American Idol journey. I felt like in this book, she went into more details about her life. It was heartbreaking to read again about Simon’s comments and some of her trauma she faced as a child. I also liked how she talked directly to single people and included her experiences and how she encouraged them and reminded them that God can fulfill their longing with His love.
"I received this book free from the publisher, K-Love Books for my honest review.”
If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/Out-Dark-Journey-Through-Shadows/dp/1954201001
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