Author and commentator Carrie Sheffield has long been a bold voice in the political news space. But she's now opening up in a much more personal way in her new memoir "Motorhome Prophecies," a candid journey exploring abuse, trauma — and spiritual healing. Sheffield says it's a book that comes at a time when culture is desperately reeling, citing alarming suicide statistics showing nearly 50,000 people took their own lives in 2022, alone.

"I wrote the memoir because I just felt ... we're at this time right now in America with record depression and suicide rates," she said. "We have the highest suicide rate since 1941, and we have the highest depression rate ever." Sheffield said she's no stranger to dealing with mental health struggles as a result of what she described as a tumultuous and chaotic upbringing. "I was born into a family where I've been struggling with these issues for decades now, and, to me, it seemed like God wanted me to be able to share the tools that I've been able to develop," she said, noting how her experience turning to God changed everything.

The book was an opportunity for Sheffield to deal with the difficult moments from her past she had tried to ignore or push to the side. As she worked on the project, she realized the common nature of her story — and saw how it could help others struggling to persist through their own challenging pasts. As a child, she said she, her parents, and her seven siblings faced fluctuating periods of stability and instability. "Sometimes, we were in a third-world existence, and then sometimes we were in a first-world existence," she said. "So it's hard to pinpoint any average day, because we did have houses. We were living in normal houses, like normal people, but then we would be back on the road in the motor home."

As can be imagined, 12 people living in a motor home was quite difficult. Other times, though, the housing situation was even less accommodating. Despite the inconsistency, she said there were some common and expected practices. Each morning, Sheffield said the family would pray — but not in the way one might think. "We would wake up and we would be told by my dad how evil we were, how wonderful he was, how he had a prophetic call to save America," she said, claiming her dad was later excommunicated from the Mormon church. Years later, Sheffield spent 12 years as an agnostic after experiencing such spiritual chaos. It's a time in her life she calls her "walk in darkness."

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