The Bacteria of Hurt
Book 1: Innocence
By Paula Lett
Whole Woman Ministries and the Broken Beautiful Conference both grew out of the brokenness of my own life. But founding those ministries was easy in comparison to writing The Bacteria of Hurt, Book 1: Innocence. I put pen to paper only because God called me to speak my story. No, I did not want to. It was the last thing I wanted to do. Who wants to hang all of their dirty laundry out for everyone to see? I certainly didn’t. But as I’ve learned, the more you ignore God the louder God gets. I’m sure you know what I mean–those moments when you keep trying to do things your way, but you keep getting smacked in the head with a message that you don’t want to hear. I didn’t want to hear it, but I didn’t have a choice. God had plans for me.
The pages of the first book in The Bacteria of Hurt series tell my coming of age story, exploring the root of my pain and my search for an elusive cure.
Like most girls, I dreamed of a Cinderella wedding and happily ever after life. That dream was shattered when I became infected with the bacteria of hurt. Betrayed by the very people I had trusted, I found myself drowning in a sea of despair. All my life plans derailed, I tried to navigate through a series of events that led me closer and closer to the edge of death.
In Innocence I talk about the complex and perplexing nature of family, the bounds of friendship, the tumult of young love, and the sometimes tragic consequences of survival. My book isn’t just about my struggles, but those of thousands more like me who have slipped through the cracks of compassion. The testimony of the millions proves that the festering secrets of childhood are hard to outgrow. 
It is my prayer that my offering will help you pull back the layers, to take an introspective look at the face in the mirror, and meet the challenge of dealing with the dark truth of reality. I offer you an opportunity to abandon your closet secrets, find purpose in your scars, and use the weapons sent to destroy you to claim your own destiny.
A North Carolina native, Paula brings the suburban South to life, describing the nascent neighborhood that she was born into. Rooted in the growing African American middle class of the 1960s, Paula sings the dreams and speaks the fears of women of every socioeconomic circumstance everywhere. With an understanding that pain does not discriminate between color, creed or community, Paula has identified the pandemic bacteria of hurt that claims the lives of the unsuspecting.