About The Author
Flori Paquette
A bittersweet childhood and tumultuous teen years left me with buried confusion that, despite a happy marriage and several delightful children, still stirred beneath the surface. As a young Christian, I believed I could live a good life for my family and please God. I was sincere but naive.
After a long journey, I found myself trying to make sense of life after many years of our family being trapped, brainwashed, and abused in a religious cult. My heart was shattered as the reality of the profound damage we were enduring began to sink in.
Little Cotton Heart started as down feathers damp with the tears I cried, clinging to my pillow as I struggled to merge into a cohesive self after years of mind-boggling mental, emotional, and spiritual trauma.
My heart desires to share my story with others, hoping that through my experience, they can feel a sense of camaraderie and know they are not alone in their struggles with mental illness. I want to encourage those who yearn to heal from the blows of their past.
My message is that there is healing if you do not give up the pursuit of the joy and peace God offers. Keep the faith—you are not alone.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 ESV)
Enticed by the words of a tyrannical pastor, and ignoring the inner warnings of the Spirit, Flori and her family became increasingly bound up in the abusive Tamarisk Fellowship. This is the gripping story of how the truth finally dawned and her family broke free. It will make you cringe, weep, hold your breath, laugh, and appreciate as never before the precious freedom Jesus gives.
Dana Sudborough, Epic Bible College Adjunct Professor
Author's Book Published
Under the Tamarisk Tree
Under the Tamarisk Tree began when I was a young married mother, seeking to follow the Christian faith. It was in my heart to do more than just go to church on Sunday and Bible Study Thursday night—I wanted to live dedicated to Jesus and filled with His Holy Spirit.
I tell the heartrending story of how me and my fledgling family were gradually taken in by an imposter Christian pastor. We were brainwashed by his mishandling of the Bible, into believing we had to obey him if we were sincere about our desire to live for Jesus.
You will read about what I went through mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as I was broken down to the point of allowing my children to suffer tremendous abuse, while supposedly raising them the way God wanted.
My book ends when the Lord Jesus finally sets us free from the wolf in sheep’s clothing so we could begin our journey to healing.
Little Cotton Heart
Little Cotton Heart is a glimpse of my journey as I picked through the pieces of my mind and heart after years in the clutches of a tyrannical Christian imposter. I was just a baby Christian when I came under his influence. I was a lost lamb after I found freedom.
In these pages you will accompany me as I pass through the devastation into a place of healing. God kept his word. He gave me beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning.
I put this book together so that others who have had to taste the realities of abuse and mental illness can find that they are not alone and there is hope in laying troubles at the feet of Jesus and asking him for healing.
Under the Tamarisk Tree
This book is a great way for people to find out how you can accidentally get caught up in a cult without knowing it ... excellent. A must read!
Under the Tamarisk Tree
Very interesting and incredibly well written. Well worth the read.
Under the Tamarisk Tree
The real and raw emotions that are captured throughout the book are incredible. I love that as you read each poem/short story you travel with the author as she navigates herself through a clearly emotionally traumatic period until she reaches the light at the end of the tunnel.
Little Cotton Heart
Tender and open, really beautiful and heartening ng. This is a treasure that will survive many purges of my bookshelf. Buy it. Reads it. Treasure it.
Little Cotton Heart
My friend recommended this book to me. She said this book is something unbelievably happening today! I have learned a lot from this book! Therefore, I am giving this book a 5-star!