The Book Is Coming. Let's Name and Break Abuse Addiction.

"I Am Not Lot’s Wife: Understanding and Breaking the Cycle of Abuse Addiction”

A powerful book unveiling the hidden addiction no one talks about — abuse addiction — and the journey to freedom.

________________________________________

About the Book

My name is Melissa, and I’ve been working on a book I never imagined writing — but now know I must. What began as a journey of personal healing has led to a life-changing revelation from God that I believe could help many others.

Some of us aren’t just in toxic relationships —

We’re addicted to them.

"I Am Not Lot’s Wife" is a book about abuse addiction — a term never heard of, yet so many silently live. This book gives language to an unspoken addiction to dysfunctional, harmful love. It’s not just a trauma bond. It’s not just confusion. It’s abuse addiction.

But this book isn’t about naming a victim or a villain. It’s not to defame, blame or shame. It’s about seeing the bigger picture — moving beyond finger-pointing to embrace grace, extend forgiveness, take ownership where we can, and begin breaking the cycle that’s had a hold on us. It’s about reclaiming our power to participate in healing and transformation.

This book offers insight and hope for those asking:

• Why did I stay so long?

• Why do I still feel stuck, even after leaving?

• Why do healthy relationships feel foreign — or even unsafe?

With vulnerability, clarity, and compassion, this book weaves together personal experience, psychological clarity, and biblical truth to unpack the unseen cycle of abuse addiction — and walks readers through:

• What abuse really looks like — and why we couldn’t always see it

• The addictive cycle many find themselves stuck in

• How to walk through the process of admission, detox, rehabilitation, and recovery

• How to live in God’s freedom without looking back

We often hear the call to leave — but still feel the pull to stay.

This book offers a different choice. One rooted in truth, grace, and the loving rescue of a God who wants more for us.

________________________________________

Who It’s For and Why This Book Matters

This book is for anyone who has ever:

• Felt stuck in painful or destructive relationships

• Left abuse but still felt emotionally or spiritually bound

• Developed survival strategies that now feel more like chains

• Longed for healing but didn’t know where to start

It’s for those currently in — or recovering from — abusive relationships of all kinds: romantic, familial, platonic, professional, institutional, or spiritual. And it’s for those who love them: the friends, pastors, counselors, and supporters trying to understand what they’ve never experienced.

Given that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the U.S. will experience abuse in their lifetime, this message speaks to more people than we realize. Whether you carry the weight of personal experience or love someone who does, this book is for anyone whose life has been touched—directly or indirectly—by the devastating impact of abuse.

Whether you’re a woman or a man, a believer or a skeptic, a survivor or someone who simply cares — this book offers language for the unspoken and a lifeline for those ready to walk forward.

________________________________________

Why I’m Asking for Help

This book isn’t just a message. It’s a mission. One I didn’t want — but one I’m committed to, because God asked me to write it.

And now, I’m asking you to help me finish it.

Although this book is being written with everything I’ve got — spiritually, emotionally, and mentally — the cost of publication and distribution is real.

As a single mother walking through a season of financial testing and deep dependence on God’s provision, I’m humbly asking for help.

The past year and a half of unemployment hasn’t been easy (certainly not by lack of effort to find full time employment, but that’s a whole other story). Though I’ve received a few short-term contracts to cover basic needs, much of this journey has been a faith walk. We’ve made sacrifices. There were days we didn’t know how the bills would get paid — but God always made a way.

I’m choosing now to candidly share not just the fruit of this book, but the hard and humbling season it was birthed in — a season marked by hardship, financial struggle, and deep reliance on God’s provision. In sharing this part of the story, I’m inviting friends, family, and anyone who believes in this message to help carry it the rest of the way — not by buying a product or funding a business, but by supporting a friend on a mission that matters.

This isn’t just a book. It’s a lifeline. A rescue mission for hearts that don’t yet know they need rescuing.

Together, we can help people name the addiction they didn’t know they had — and find the freedom they didn’t know was possible.

________________________________________

Where Your Support Goes

To bring this book to life with excellence and integrity, your support will help cover the following costs to finish and publish the book:

Estimated Publishing Budget Breakdown

• Professional Editing: $500–$3,000

This includes developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading to ensure the manuscript is clear, powerful, and professionally refined.

• ISBN & Publishing Costs: $1,500

These fees cover hybrid publishing setup, ISBN registration, interior layout, and print-ready formatting.

• Copyright Filing with Legal Assistance: $250–$1,000

This secures the rights to the work through official U.S. copyright registration, with help from a lawyer to ensure proper filing and protection.

• Marketing & Website Development: $1,500

Covers the design and launch of an author website, email list setup, and initial marketing efforts to help the message reach those who need it most.

• Book Cover Design & Branding: $0

Praise God! The powerful and thought-provoking cover design and branding have already been generously donated. To my dear friends at Rio Slum Studio —thank you for walking alongside me and for transforming the heart of this book into a visual that speaks as powerfully as the message within!

If we exceed our goal, any additional support will help offset living costs during this final writing season, support pre-launch expenses, and allow us to continue sharing this message with the communities who need it most.

This isn’t a business fundraiser. This is a personal fundraiser created to help finish a book being written during a time of spiritual calling and financial testing. It’s a personal invitation — to support a friend and a message that matters.

________________________________________

Join the Mission

While I won’t be offering gifts at this time, I see every donation as a seed — not a purchase, but an offering of belief in what this message can do. I will keep you updated as the book progresses — and I will honor your support as part of this unfolding story. Please follow and share this campaign, as well as the book’s Instagram (instagram.com/abuse_addiction) and Facebook (facebook.com/abuseaddiction) accounts, to stay connected.

This book is called I Am Not Lot’s Wife for a reason. It’s a declaration. A line in the sand.

In Genesis 19, Lot’s wife did what many of us have done: she learned how to survive dysfunction. But survival is not the same as freedom. We’re on a mission to open eyes, awaken hearts, and show that there is another way to live — that we don’t have to be overtaken by what we’ve unknowingly been addicted to and been through.

Your support is a seed I believe God will water — both in your life and in the lives this message will reach.

Thank you for giving. Thank you for praying. Thank you for sharing.

________________________________________

Help Share the Message. Be Part of the Rescue.

Every donation will help bring this book — and this truth — to someone still trapped in silence.

Let’s bring freedom to the captives — one story at a time.

Thank you for walking with me. Your support doesn’t just help finish a book — it helps lift someone who’s been walking by faith through a very real storm.

Donate Now