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Sooke author gives voice to the voiceless

Writer brings the topic of sexual abuse to the forefront and how her faith helped her
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Marnie Carrier, left, with her daughter Alexsayah and her new book, Pacification: The Lock in our Chains (Octavian Lacatusu/Sooke News Mirror)

With every day life, things move fast – so fast that we lose track of ourselves, our surroundings. There are moments though, when we can pump the brakes and look within ourselves.

In her first book ever, Pacification: The Lock in our Chains, local Sooke writer Alexsayah Carrier explores this notion beyond her own body and mind, reaching out to one of the most important things in her life: her faith.

“It’s an extended hand from God to anybody who reads it, that desires to look at their life and not see it in shambles anymore, but see the bad experiences as an opportunity to be taken to a new level and becoming a better person,” Carrier said, adding the book has a lot of personal experiences, both from herself and her mom and mentor, Marnie Carrier.

“It is our lives, what we’ve been through, what God has brought us out of, and the growing processes that we had to go through and still going through in our lives, collectively and individually,” she said.

In many ways, the book is wanting to become a better person, about applying oneself in the growing processes of life so that one can flourish into something better.

“I can move on from this and don’t have to carry it on my shoulders anymore because I can give it to the Lord,” she said.

At its core, the story revolves around personal tragedy, both for Marnie and Alexsayah, who are survivors of sexual abuse.

“Throughout my life, I’ve pacified people and their behaviour and accepted it, and my voice was gone because of the power struggle that happens with abuse survivors,” Marnie said. “Our authority and voice is taken away, so we really believe we’re walking into our destiny as being a voice for the voiceless.”

Soon enough, it clicked, as she recognized her daughter’s gift and desire to write and to turn pain into inspiration.

“I just said to Alex one day, why don’t you write about pacification?”

The idea was put off for a while, but the thoughts continued to grow and evolve into a book, something Alexsayah thought she’d never do.

“Little did I know that her words would become a seed that would eventually get me into writing a book,” she laughed.

The book also addresses the long and destructive feud many sexual abuse survivors have not only with society, but with themselves, who often feel ashamed or fearful of revealing their story. In their book, the Carriers want to change that by providing an anchor to those feel alone in their struggle for resolution.

“The shame and the secrecy that gets put on these people because there’s not enough of it in our ministries, our prayers and our messages, so we really want to stand in the gap, because there’s no shame in that,” Carrier said. “Our enemy would rather us turn a blind eye to the exchange that needs to happen between the lies we believe about ourselves, and God’s truth.”

At the heart of it, Pacification: The Lock in our Chains is a human story, one that is for everyone of every faith and those of no faith, it’s a of personal growth, of personal tragedy and of personal triumph.

For more info, please go to iamidentified.ca or send an email to contactiai@iamidentified.ca.