Whatever our choices have been, I’m sure you’ve discovered that there are crooked places, difficult and confusing times, where you might feel that you are totally lost. Until we accept this truth about life, we will stay on a course of repeating our steps, going in circles, and wishing for different outcomes while continuing to drift through the deserts of our lives. There is no destination in this human experience which we can definitively say is along a perfectly straight path. There will be turns; there will be crooked roads, hills and mountains. Let’s face it – life is crooked, people are crooked, and we ourselves have an inner crookedness that demands our own way. As we begin to honestly assess our lives, peeling back the hard exterior that covers our eyes and heart, we have another choice. Do we want to go on this journey alone or with a guide? This text offers a promise that "I will go before thee." God promises that as His children, He will go on this journey with us. There are seemingly harmless misogynists, narcissists, and pathological liars; but they make plans and lay schemes to oppress and destroy people…destroy you…destroy me…simply because of their own insecurities and biases. However, through the wisdom given to us on this journey, we will begin to recognize and discern these hurtful schemes in others and ourselves, and through the power of grace, we can finally escape what was intended for our harm. The bonds of wickedness of these hurting people can be broken. Their schemes will be confused, their plans disappointed, and they will not have any victory in our lives because we will escape the evils designed against us and we will not be put to shame. Remember this – hurt people hurt people. If we are hurting, we too can slip into these hurtful schemes against others and ourselves. I’ve done a lot of global missions and there was an understanding that what you packed, you packed (you carried). The idea of peeling an onion will be like deciding to unpack, pull out and discard all of those things you don’t need for the journey, those things that will slow your progress, those things that you’ve carried around far too long. I know many of you may put the book down after reading just that first sentence because your experiences with peeling onions was not a good one. However, give yourself time to actually go through the truths of this book. Yes, there will be strong pungent mental odors that sting your emotions and cause your eyes to water – you know, real tears, but you can play it off like you do with onions, but it is through this oftentimes painful process of uncovering that discovery and recovery happens. So, please, don’t stop reading! I encourage you to continue on this journey of uncovering the truth, as that is the only way you can experience the delectable life of forgiveness, resiliency, redemption, and restoration. So, let’s dive in…