Anne LeGare

Through the Storm, A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World

by:  Lynne Spears with Lorilee Craker

First, my own confession: I read this book because I’m a blogger for Thomas Nelson.  It was a quick read, and filled the time nicely as we drove to our holiday campground. I wouldn’t classify it as a Christian book.

I was prepared to read the book with a jaundiced eye toward the entire Spears family, mainly because I considered Britney to be a bad example for my daughters. To tell the truth, I was a bit shocked to see Lynne Spears’ story marketed by a major Christian publishing house. After all in 2003, Britney kissed Madonna in a media event I’d like to forget. `Nuf said concerning her morality. Britney’s association with Madonna alone was enough to keep me away from her and her family.

Since the Thomas Nelson folks were kind enough to give me a free book, I did my homework before I cracked its spine. I watched Lynne Spears’ interviews and tried to understand her motive for writing the book. What I took away was that she wrote it for her children, and someone talked her into publishing it.

That changed my outlook, as I have often wanted to write my life philosophy and story for my children. I have also spent sleepless nights worrying about decisions my adult children have made. So I started reading with the hope that I’d find a kindred spirit in Britney’s mom.

Lynne Spears began her tale by telling the reader that the book is not:

· parenting advice

· a guide for stage moms

· a juicy tell-all

· a source for dirt on her kids

She also said she is not trying to persuade people to think well of her or to change their minds about her. Since I had no opinion about her whatsoever, I was ready to be open to what she had to say.

She then laid out what she wanted the book to accomplish. Her biggest reason for writing the book was tied to the loss of her sister Sandra, who died recently. Specifically, Lynne said: “I took a good look at myself and realized that if God were to take me, I wanted my children to know what my thoughts were about the most important elements of this life.”

After I read that statement, I was excited to read the book, because in its pages, a woman who loves God was going to instruct her children. I just knew the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ would be laid out simply and the plan of salvation clearly so her children wouldn’t miss it.

That wasn’t the case. Somehow she or her writing assistant missed the great opportunity to share the good news with her children and many readers. Instead, it got lost in a bunch of spiritual mush.

Lynne laid out the grace, mercy, and compassion of God throughout the book with such phrases as “God’s abiding strength and comfort,” or “God held me in his strong hands,” or “God had opened door after door” (concerning Britney’s career). But she never addressed the holiness of God. As I was reading, I was thinking “Can she honestly think that a HOLY God would answer her prayers that “Baby One More Time” would “somehow notch the Top Forty?”‘ (Sample Lyrics: “Oh Baby Baby the reason I breathe is you. Now boy you got me blinded.”)

Lynne’s love for her children shone through the book, and I can understand her devotion to them and their careers. But devotion becomes reckless when their spiritual lives are at risk. In her chapters concerning Britney’s rise to fame, she said: “day after day, week after week, year after year, during that era, Britney would be wearing out the floor with her dance steps and tearing off the roof of our house with the latest hit by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, or Madonna. She was, in a word, unstoppable.”

During that same time Lynne referred to, I was raising a daughter who was Britney’s age. She wasn’t allowed to listen to any of the artists mentioned, let alone sing their music. We didn’t allow the lyrics, or the scantily clad women who delivered them into our homes via television, radio, or CD. Was Lynne out to lunch on this?

Later in the book, Lynne said she wanted to make Britney’s dreams come true. She said “What I didn’t know then was exactly what her dream was: to become a pop star like Madonna or Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. She never said this out loud though.”

Pardon Me? I thought Britney was unstoppable in this regard. And so the book flops from Lynne’s feigned innocence concerning her children’s friends, managers, and motives to her regret for having been bamboozled by the same. She seems to want her readers to believe she was a victim of her circumstances with no control over how things turned out, while at the same time a practicing Christian. Her narrative wavered between “I am a strong advocate for my children” and “I’m just a simple southern school teacher” who was blindsided by bad people.

She alluded to her husband rededicating his life to God (not Christ), but never mentioned that he had any tangible faith in the first place. She even said she knew early on that he was a “bad boy,” but she hoped it was a phase he’d pass through. Similarly, she acknowledged that their marriage started on their own terms, without the blessing of her parents. Instead of giving this act a name such as “rebellion” against her parents, she sugarcoated it by saying “in my era people married young” and that they spoke their vows “on our own terms” (read – we eloped and broke my parents’ hearts).

What was her “era?” That was my “era” too, and I remember it as one of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, rebellion, and feminism. People weren’t necessarily marrying young, they lived together! When I acted out against my parents, I was in rebellion. Were we living in a parallel universe?

Toward the end of the book, Lynne talked about her faith in less lukewarm terms, with hope-filled sentiments for each of her children. In a little message to her son Bryan, she said all things are possible through “Christ our Lord.” She mentioned the word “Jesus” one time when she quoted a line from the movie “Juno.”

I could discern, however, that Lynne has grown in her faith, and I have to give her credit for making it through the crucible of pain. She’s suffered some horrendous tragedies, and came out praising God. Here’s a list of the difficult things she’s endured, and explained throughout the book:

· Married young to an alcoholic

· Father killed in a freak accident

· First baby, Bryan, almost died twice

· While transporting her seriously injured brother, Lynne was run off the road and her car struck and killed a 12-year-old boy.

· Her mother had a bad reaction to a surgery, leading to mini-strokes and eventually a drowning death.

· Her sister, who was her best friend, supporter, and confidant, died of cancer recently.

· She and her husband declared bankruptcy.

· She divorced her husband.

· Britney has been rebellious since at least age 18 and has had some terrible fallout for her bad decisions.

· Jamie Lynn’s recent out-of-wedlock pregnancy caused another media storm.

What I took away from the book was that the Spears family is a lot like many other families in the United States – broken. It is a cautionary tale about getting what you wish for and not being able to get what you used to have back. It made me want to do an even better job of guarding my children’s hearts and minds from the world.

In a vague reference to salvation, she said: “God takes our failures and exchanges them for release and rescue. It’s called redemption.”

Hmm. How about this: We are all wretched sinners with no hope of saving ourselves. God sent His son, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to become sin on our behalf. As God’s perfect sacrifice for us, Jesus died a terrible death on a cross, was buried, and rose again in glory to be seated at the right hand of the Father, so that if we repent and put our trust in Him, we will be saved.

That’s called redemption, and we all need it — famous and obscure.