Skip to main content

Behind the Shades

Behind the Shades: Hope Beyond the Darkness



Behind the Shades: Hope Beyond the Darkness by Sheila Raye Charles
http://shop.voxdeipublishing.com/collections/frontpage/products/behind-the-shades

This new book, Behind the Shades, is the story of the famous singer Ray Charles’ daughter, Sheila Charles, and her tumultuous life getting caught up in drugs leading to her imprisonment.  Trying to win her father’s love, Sheila constantly yearned for her father’s attention amidst his busy career.  Through a combination of bad choices, having basically no father to care for her, Sheila tells of her time in prison and the way her and her mother looked at the enigmatic figure Ray for comfort.  Part of the book is Sheila’s inclusion of a manuscript her mother, Sandra Betts, had written about her time with Ray. 

The book points out the way that faith, including Sheila’s blossoming faith encouraged in prison through church can ignite a person’s calling.  From very early on, Sheila’s voice catapulted her onto the road of sure stardom.  Yet, through the ups and downs of life, including getting caught up in drugs, Sheila was not able to realize her singing career until she got out of prison.  With a sober mind and body alongside a restored relationship with her daughter, Sheila is on the right track to using her vocal talent to glorify God.  The book also describes how life in the prison was a battle of truth over lies.  There were many times where there was a sharp reaction to those who regularly attended worship and those who didn’t Sheila was not a person to segregate her life and cut off contact from those who didn’t attend worship.  She wanted others in prison to see the light that she had seen.  What struck me was how her thoughts on how meth messed people up to such an extent that they were given over to evil.  Sheila would also minister to these women by praying over them, casting out the evil spirit, and calling on the name of Jesus.  This type of spiritual warfare is not something I’ve seen but only have heard about.

The story of a life strangled by the sin of a father and the sinful choices of a daughter was evident throughout this book.  There were many times in the book that I found that Sheila divulged information concerning the devious deeds of her life that were unnecessary or unhelpful to the story.  Yet, I wonder if this kind of writing was a cathartic experience Sheila as she sought to be free from her past guilt and condemnation.  I hope that this book encourages other people who have no father or who wish they had a more present one to see that things can change with faith.  This was a hard book to read but one that needed to be written.  If you have an idealistic view of Ray Charles before reading this book, this book will take your view and smash it to pieces. 


Thanks to Cross Focused Reviews and Vox Dei Press for the review copy of this book in exchange for review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rise of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman

  The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman Navigating the culture that we take up residence in, with its laser focus on sexual identity, tolerance, and an individualism that raises its head at every corner, Christians need a robust account of how we got to this point in our Western culture without retreating to our churches nor morphing with the latest trends.   Carl Trueman, professor of religion and theology at Grove City College, brings his keen historical research to bear on this issue in his new book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.   Part historical survey and philosophical analysis, Dr. Trueman traces the trajectories of key thinkers such as Rousseau, Freud, and Marx, while also incorporating the insights of Charles Taylor and Phillip Rieff to form a cogent argument as to how we got to this point in our history, both in our expressive individualism and sexual freedom outlooks.   The book is surprisingly insightful and yet demands from the reader the pa
Post a Comment
Read more

The Conditioned Mind

The Conditioned Mind: Overcoming the Crippling Effects of Sin and Guilt by Michael J. Mannia Counselor and author Michael J. Mannia knows firsthand how the spiraling of sin and guilt can eat away at life.  His new book, The Conditioned Mind, is a look into how believers can overcome the effects of sin and guilt and live in the freedom that we have in Christ.  Through a careful look into the patterns that we develop and the mindsets that we get ingrained in, Michael is able to offer ways through guilt that bring freedom and healing.  I think this is not only a timely but a book that aims toward bringing real healing to its readers. In the first chapter Michael looks at two needs that we have: our need for love and our need for security.  Love isn’t something optional for the human race, but something it needs at its core.  “Additionally, we need to reciprocate love.  We need to feel loved as much as we need to love others (8).”  Love is a two-way street that inv
Post a Comment
Read more

Passover and Jesus

The Messiah in the Passover , Edited by Darrell Bock and Mitch Glaser Why should Christians celebrate and remember the Passover?   This is a striking question that needs to be understood as well as the historical and theological context of the Passover.   However obscure we sometimes view the Old Testament, there is some significant reasons why we should reach back and study the Passover.   Mitch Glaser in the Introduction states, “When Christians celebrate the Passover, they grow in their understanding of the Old Testament, affirm the Jewishness of the Gospel, deepen our understanding of the Lord’s Supper, and build community with fellow Christians…” (20).   This book is answer to why celebrate the Passover but even more importantly an answer to what the Passover is and what it signifies to us today.   The various contributors of this book, Messiah in the Passover, bring a wealth of ministry experience in relating the Jewishness of both Jesus and the Old Testament to
Post a Comment
Read more