Coming Clean

Christianity Today Book Award Winner; ECPA Award Finalist

Boldly honest, powerfully told, deeply moving - this is a story about finding yourself. Seth Haines' memoir holds up a mirror to all of our stories to show the peace that is possible when we release our addictions and receive the healing presence of God.

Seth Haines was in the hospital with his wife, planning funeral songs for their not-yet two-year-old, when he made a very conscious decision: this was the last day he wanted to feel. That evening, he asked his sister to smuggle in a bottle of gin and gave in to addiction.

But whether or not you've ever had a drop to drink in your life, this book is for all who have sought ways to stop their pain. Like Seth, we're all seeking balms for the anxiety of what sometimes seems to be an absent, unresponsive God - whether it's through people-pleasing, social media likes, shopping, the internet, food, career highs, or even good works and elite theology. Too often we attempt to escape our anxiety through addiction - any old addiction. But it often leaves us feeling even more empty than before.

In Coming Clean, Seth Haines writes a raw account of his first 90 days of sobriety, illuminating how to face the pain we'd rather avoid, and even more importantly, how an abiding God meets us in that pain. Seth shows us that true wholeness is found in facing our pain and anxieties with the tenacity and tenderness of Jesus, and only through Christ's passion can we truly come clean.