Naked on God’s Doorstep: A Memoir
by Marion Duckworth
[Multnomah, $13.99]
release date: November 2007
Something about Duckworth’s writing compelled me to keep reading,* although her story made me uncomfortable enough to want to stop. Duckworth relates the story of her tragic, but redeemed life with such beautiful prose, it’s sometimes hard to imagine the horrible circumstances that shaped her into the woman of faith she is today. A mentally ill father. An overbearing mother. A life of poverty. Misunderstanding after misunderstanding about the nature of God. Thankfully for the reader, Duckworth has come full circle in her lifetime and is able to offer resolution to her story and hope for others who identify with it.
Now a speaker, Bible teacher, lay counselor and former missionary, Duckworth has plenty to offer in the way of biblical instruction, which she resorts to toward the end of the book, nearly departing her memoir format. But she ends with a helpful note. The afterword is “how to pray for abandoned people” — something everyone can participate in, regardless if they identify with the author’s history.
*Some of the similes that sparkle in the books’ pages are:
• “Aunt Alma’s laugh was like chunks of delight stored in her belly.” (p. 20)
• “The wallpaper in the living room bore flowers like angry fists on a mud-colored background.” (p. 36)
• “Immediately, God brought a Bible passage to mind that fit me like skin on a grape.” (p. 163)
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