“It is time to seek God’s face. There is such an urgency to get to know God for who He really is. Seek Him while He may be found. Do not even question what it is that God wants you to do, just do it. Say yes. Saying yes lets God know that you trust Him and that you are willing to walk by faith. Stop trying to figure God out. His thoughts are far from yours, and His ways are not like your ways.”
– an excerpt from the book
ARPress is honored to publish “Married To The Backslider: If My People Which Are Called By My Name Would Humble Themselves” by Deondra Dempsey Reese. This book is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the ARPress website.
Married to the Backslider is a frank, first-person spiritual testimony by Deondra Dempsey Reese that walks readers through the confusion, pain, and eventual restoration that accompany a life torn between old habits and a call to wholehearted devotion to Christ. Written like a spiritual journal and pastoral testimony, the book mixes prayer, prophetic reflection, personal confession, and vivid spiritual imagery (the “puzzle pieces,” the “seat of anointing,” the “ultimate firefighter”) to show what it looks like to confront past wounds, church harm, loneliness, and the lure of temporary “fixes,” and then to move into true surrender.
Deondra Dempsey Reese was born and raised in Cordele, Georgia. At the age of 19, she dedicated her life to Christ, a decision that would shape both her personal journey and professional calling. From a young age, Deondra had a passion for writing and always knew that becoming an author was part of her destiny. Although she had been creating stories since childhood, the courage to publish them came later. In 2009, inspired by the voice of her father, Deondramade the decision to share her message with the world and began ministering through the written word.
The narrative opens with prayer and raw honesty as Reese recounts seasons of loneliness, sexual temptation, and dependence on relationships to fill spiritual voids. She describes how conversion at nineteen began a new life, but how old patterns—seeking approval, craving affection, and leaning on men rather than Christ—kept reasserting themselves. The book does not sanitize those struggles: Reese tells of marrying and divorcing, of feeling “stuck in the mud” spiritually, and of facing church-related harm, including a season of literal sickness she later discerns as spiritual attack tied to a person who called herself a prophet. Those episodes drive home her distrust of some church leaders and the complicated, often wounding reality of spiritual communities, while also setting the stage for a deeper reckoning with God.
Turning points arrive through a series of spiritual encounters and practical decisions: Reese hears a voice that reframes her struggle, she accepts the call to surrender, and she experiences vivid moments of restoration—being put “back in her seat of anointing,” receiving visions of Christ’s wounds with an understanding of their restorative purpose, and committing herself to a spiritual “marriage” with Jesus that replaces broken human attachments. From there she moves toward a renewed calling—“feed my sheep”—and practical recovery, urging readers to lay down baggage, test spirits, cling to prayer, and walk in holiness. The arc moves from confession and crisis into repentance, healing, and an imperative to minister, making the book equal parts testimony and handbook for revival at the personal level.
This book’s power is its honesty and immediacy. Reese refuses to sugarcoat her journey; she exposes the ugly, shameful, and frightening parts of spiritual life—addiction to human approval, the cruelty some leaders inflict, the physical and psychic cost of spiritual warfare—then moves into healing with language that is both vivid and pastoral. Readers who have felt betrayed by church systems, who wrestle with loneliness, or who long for a deeper, “real” union with Christ will find a trustworthy companion in her pages.
The mixture of confessional storytelling, prophetic insight, practical steps (prayer disciplines, testing spirits, laying down baggage), and evocative metaphors (the puzzle pieces, crawling through smoke, the ultimate firefighter) makes this book both a testimony of grace and a manual for someone who wants to be restored and spiritually useful. Ultimately, “Married To The Backslider” invites readers not only to witness one woman’s turnaround, but to participate in their own return to the life of faith.
“Married To The Backslider: If My People Which Are Called By My Name Would Humble Themselves” by Deondra Dempsey Reese is now available for purchase via ARPress Bookstore: