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Journey Back to Ourselves
Don’t Disappoint Daddy shares with readers your story of growing up in a household filled with trauma, abuse, and believing you had to earn God’s love, to discovering a path of healing and the true meaning behind the Gospel and God’s love. Why was this an important book for you to write?
This book was important to write to share out loud that religion often confirms the lie we believe – that God is a bigger version of our unhealed daddy.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
It surprises me that the hardest thing to write about was that God never spoke to me about what I thought must’ve taken tremendous effort for Him to forgive, because I know it will trigger outrage from religious systems. Yet, if I agree with them, we’ll both be wrong.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
Each of us is on a journey back to ourselves—an adventure filled with peril and intrigue.
Our original identity doesn’t come from our parents, environment, or upbringing. Our identity originated in the mind of a good, kind, loving Father.
Unlearning lies we believe about God and ourselves is a crucial and liberating path toward healing an identity crisis.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
I hope readers extend grace to themselves and others as we navigate one of life’s most pressing questions: Who am I?
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Religion said she was a dirty, rotten sinner.
THEY WERE BOTH WRONG.
DON’T DISAPPOINT DADDY is an award-winning, raw and redemptive true story of Elisha Janine’s journey from childhood abuse and secrecy to healing and acceptance in the arms of a loving God. Marked by trauma, teen abortions, and the desperate need to earn love, she lived believing she had to serve God to pay Him back for forgiving her. But what she discovered was life-changing: experiencing the gospel isn’t about changing God’s mind about us—it’s about changing our minds about how we view Him and how we view ourselves.
This book is for every woman who’s ever felt disqualified by her past or afraid that God is disappointed in her. If you’ve been wounded by religion or life itself, Don’t Disappoint Daddy will lead you back to the truth: you are beloved, you are accepted.
What Readers Will Gain from Don’t Disappoint Daddy:
Healing for Deep Hurts
Readers will feel seen in their pain and begin to understand that their past does not disqualify them from love, purpose, or belonging.
Freedom from Shame
The book gently uncovers how shame distorts how we see ourselves and God—and shows how to shed that shame in light of God’s true heart.
A New Lens on God
Many will be surprised and comforted to learn that God isn’t angry, distant, or waiting to punish—but near, gentle, and deeply invested in our healing.
Relatable, Hopeful Storytelling
The story offers real-life validation that the journey from trauma to wholeness is possible, especially for those who’ve believed they’re beyond repair.
Permission to Rest, Not Perform
Readers will discover that God isn’t asking them to earn forgiveness—He’s offering restoration freely, inviting them to live from love, not for it.
A Sense of Belonging
The book invites readers to a deeper understanding of their identity as God’s beloved, not by achieving something, but by simply being who they are.
This is not a story of perfection—but of relentless, redeeming love from God who never counts our sins against us.
Don’t Disappoint Daddy: A Story of Abuse, Abortion and Acceptance in the Beloved
This memoir is a raw and unflinching account of childhood trauma, faith, survival, and eventual healing. It follows Elisha through her early years in a military household, where her father’s tyranny casts long shadows over every corner of life. Woven through beatings, verbal degradation, emotional confusion, and heartbreaking loneliness, the story also reveals slivers of hope through her bond with her mother, her growing relationship with God, and the slow, painful process of understanding her own worth.
Elisha’s writing is sharp, honest, and often devastating in its simplicity. She doesn’t try to dress up pain or smooth over the ugly parts. Her memories come to life with vivid emotional detail, pulling you into the child’s perspective. It’s not just a story, it’s an experience. Her use of humor, especially in moments of horror or confusion, is disarming. At times, I caught myself laughing through tears. The book doesn’t try to follow a clean arc or perfect structure, and that’s part of what makes it feel so real. It’s fragmented the way trauma is, and deeply reflective without being preachy.
I found myself angry. A lot. Angry for the child who was never protected. Angry at a society and a church that turned its head from abuse while preaching virtue. But I also felt proud. Watching her grow through those memories, learning to play piano, lead a choir, explore her voice, and find healing, was incredibly moving. Elisha doesn’t write from a place of self-pity. She writes from a place of survival, of transformation. There’s a quiet power in her words. She’s not begging for sympathy. She’s sharing so no one else feels alone.
This book is not for the faint-hearted. But if you’ve ever struggled with a difficult parent, spiritual confusion, or the long road of self-forgiveness, this memoir will speak to you. I’d recommend it for survivors, for adult children of abusive parents, for anyone working through religious trauma, and especially for those who feel like their story might be too ugly to tell. It’s not. Elisha proves that there is strength in telling the truth.
Pages: 143 | ASIN : B0D276HND1
LITERARY TITAN 