Punished for Purpose: From Out of the Darkness Came a Powerful Healing Light
Lauri Burns
www.theteenproject.com
WingSpan Press
ISBN: 978-1-59594-346-0Pages: 481 

Punished for Purpose is the story of teen advocate Lauri Burns and her struggles with abuse and drug addiction. After surviving a hard life on the streets, prostitution and living from pillar to post with her young daughter, Burns found freedom from her addictions and deliverance from her abusive past. She accepted the grace that was always present in her life. Burns discovered that her life, with all the pain and heartache, had a purpose. 

“If you had only fed the dog, it would have been different (p. 362).” This was the answer Burns’ father offered when she finally confronted him. She had endured physical and emotional abuse under his hand from three-years-old until the age of fourteen when he had her committed to a psychiatric hospital. Her deliverance came not in her father’s words, but in the act of confronting him in the safety of her therapist’s office. Burns ended her free fall into despair that day and began what became a remarkable climb to a successful, fulfilling life.  

The writing in this book is explicit. Burns has survived horrible acts of violence from the brutal beatings by her father to the untold rapes she endured as a young prostitute. Her descriptions of the paranoia she experienced while using cocaine are equally as frightening. This is the part of Burns’ story that is not easy to read. If you are sensitive to other people’s pain you will suffer along with Burns through these stages of her life. You will need to put the book down when the images her writing conjures up become too real. But you will come back to the story. You will come back because the dust jacket tells you who Burns is now—a corporate executive, an inspirational speaker, and a foster mother—so you know there is a happy ending. But you would return to this book even without this knowledge, because Burns lived to write about her life; to share it with those who have walked her path and those who have not. And as you make your way to the portions of Burns’ journey that are built on love and positive action, you will recognize, as she did, that her entire life is a gift. 

What Burns’ accomplishes with her life after she has forgiven her father for the abuse and forgiven herself for the drugs and prostitution is the obvious bright spot in the book; but if she had not lived such a violent and painful life Burns would not have the ability to foster unwanted children. And she would not have been led to advocate for teens who have been emancipated from the foster care system without money or support or even a shot at an education. Through her non-profit organization, The Teen Project, Burns and her supporters are saving teens from the same violent life she survived. 

Punished for Purpose is the story of an incredible woman who is living proof of the power of forgiveness. This book demonstrates that even a life that is broken can be rebuilt. And that every life has a purpose. I highly recommend it. 

Melissa Levine
For Independent Professional Book Reviewers
www.bookreviewers.org
August 9, 2020