Love, Devotion, Hell and other moments while growing up

Love Devotion Hellis a biography, the life story of its author Christina Andersen but it is far from a typical autobiography. Usually an autobiography will trace the growth and ultimate success of the person writing it. Sure there were struggles along the way but every challenge was met and defeated making room for the author’s ultimate triumph. Well okay there is indeed a large dose of that in Love Devotion Hellbut the challenges started at conception and quickly spun out of control.

The life of author Christina Andersen began as it does for every other human being, when one sperm united with one egg, only that was not supposed to happen. So the story goes, the only reason it did happen was because of the introduction of a foam designed to terminate pregnancy. What happened in this case, however, was that the foam actually pushed the lazy sperm into the egg thereby creating the zygote that ultimately became Christina.

When she was ultimately born she arrived with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. In the opinion of her mother Christina Andersen died at birth and what arrived that fateful day was the devil’s child. As you can plainly see the life of Christina Andersen got off to a very weird and difficult start and then it got worse.

Christina had multiple step fathers during her life. One step dad would tickle her with one hand while inserting one or more fingers on his other hand into her vagina. All of this would take place in front of an uncaring mom.

Another step dad would climb into bed with her at night and fondle her. One night he tried to climb on top of her and she began to kick him fiercely. She successful repelled his attack but was so sore from her powerful kicking that she could not go to school.

It also seems that mom was a pretty devoted party girl and her parties would sometimes turn into literal orgies where it sometimes happened that Christina would be invited to join in. Then one day when she was 13 years old she was riding with her mom through the Tejon Pass (Gorman, CA) when their car broke down. The mechanic said he could fix the car but mom did not have sufficient money so she offered up Christina as a payment alternative. Fortunately for Christina the mechanic declined the offer.

Helping Christina to survive through all of this was her steadily growing faith in God. She became acquainted with the concept of God as a very young child attending a local Lutheran church. As the horror story that was her life continued to unfold she delved ever deeper into the mystery of God to find salvation and some internal peace.

Mom, on the other hand went down the road of Witchcraft. She began burning candles and chanting in an effort to get men and money. She also began to use a Ouija board. At one point mom got arrested and her children were put into foster care.

Finally, Christina arrives at high school where she develops a crush on a football player. This did at least begin to bring a little joy into her troubled world. Eventually Christina finds some harmony in her life. Over time her marriage succeeds and then fails but she does ultimately arrive at a better place.

Do please understand that while Christina makes many allegations within the pages of her book it is utterly impossible to fact check all of them. In one extreme let’s assume that each allegation is false. Okay if that is true what in the world would inspire that? Clearly there were things in her young life especially that brought forth thoughts of matters deeply disturbing.

On the other hand, perhaps each allegation is absolutely true. In that case that she has survived and even ultimately thrived is nothing less than a true miracle. Either way the book Love Devotion Hellis a gripping and fascinating read. But it is not for the timid.

You can get your copy from Barnes and Noble right now here.

Top photo of the Tejon Pass near Gorman, CA from Wikipedia