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For Terese Luikens, a picture-perfect childhood it was not. Frequent moves. An emotionally absent mother and an alcoholic father. Suicide.

The sixth of seven children, Terese grew up in an unstable and chaotic household—invisible to her mom yet cherished by her alcoholic dad, who took his own life when Terese was thirteen years old.

This heartfelt memoir documents the chain reaction of a tumultuous family history. From her stormy childhood to the far-reaching effects of her father’s suicide, Terese shares her inspiring journey to escape the shame of her past, find healing and love, learn to trust, and discover faith in a real and personal God.

Terese Luikens

Meet the Author

Writer Terese Luikens contributes articles for Mother Earth News, The Secret Place, Decision Magazine, The Upper Room, Hearts at Home, and the Epoch Times and publishes her own blog, Why Bother? A schoolteacher and a yoga instructor, Terese lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, with her husband and enjoys being mother to three grown sons and grandmother to her much-loved grandchildren.

Latest Blog Posts

Why Bother Reading the Bible?

This picture goes with my post Why bother taking hopeful actions.
Grandma and Mom influenced my passion for reading. Neither of them read books, but both of them read the newspaper. Grandma spread the newspaper pages out on either the dining room or kitchen table. Then, she’d scoot her chair in close, and lean forward. She said that the newspaper kept her informed of the “crooks…

Why Bother Nurturing a Mustard Seed?

selective focus photography of woman holding yellow petaled flowers
Faith is a mystery. We experience it, and yet do not fully understand the experience of our faith. Faith transcends our senses. We cannot taste, touch, see, smell or hear faith, yet we know that our encounters with faith alter our lives in wonderful ways.  Planting a Seed At one point, when Jesus walked this…

Why Bother Knowing the One to Whom We Belong?

man on top o a mountain
Belonging gives us the sense of membership, security, and a common bond, while estrangement gives us the sense of disconnectedness, lostness and loneliness. We are all created with the capacity to know when we belong which means we also know how it feels to not belong.         Tick Tock the Game is Locked Since we often…

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Communication
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Mental Health
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Faith