The Woman Who Outran the Devil

From a young age, I have loved bookshops. While my reading tastes have changed, my love for books has not. As a boy, I got hold of a tape recorder and filled up a number of tapes with myself, reading aloud my animal books.

A trip to town would be a highlight for me, as my mother would encourage my love of reading and buy me a book.

Unfortunately, I now have to buy my own books and so my trips to the bookstore are often more like window-shopping. I walk around, gazing longingly at the shelves filled with books I’d like to read or might possibly buy to complete some series or another. And then, unless I’m feeling specifically rich and self-indulgent, I walk out without buying anything. Sometimes, however, when my bills are paid—or if there is a bargain on a classic—I just can’t walk past and leave it to its fate. I feel the need to provide it with a good home.

And so the book and I have a “happily ever after” relationship.

This being said, I have been interested to see a new trend in books.

I was recently in an airport bookstore and was struck by the number of biographies. It seems they are everywhere in everincreasing numbers. Maybe I just didn’t notice them before. I didn’t mind stories of Christian greats or missionaries. They were something I read on Sabbath afternoons when Mum and Dad were asleep. I much preferred swashbuckling fantasy or historical fiction (with swashbuckling , battles and soaring themes—fate-of-theworld type stuff).

Yet I have found my own appreciation of biographies increasing in recent years. As a society, we are becoming more aware of people’s stories. For me it started with stories of great historical importance, like Holocaust literature or figures like Nelson Mandela. Yet personal reflection, shared pain and the stories of those who may not change the world but transform themselves are becoming increasingly popular.

In The Woman Who Outran the Devil, Shirley Baskett shares her amazing story of redemption. She takes the reader on a tour through her life, telling of how she went from a keen seeker, to Bible College, onto the streets of Auckland and Sydney, and finally back into a meaningful relationship with God.

After a traumatic childhood—where she felt neglected, with a father who rejected God and a mother who believed but was emotionally disturbed—Baskett abandoned the God she knew as a child, only to rediscover him after many hard years of alcoholism and homosexuality. During this time, she was raped, came close to death and suicide, and came to the point where she had lost all hope. She is now an Assemblies of God minister.

The book’s title, The Woman Who Outran the Devil, concerned me at first. There is no way that anyone can escape the devil’s wiles through their own power. However, this quote in the first chapter gives some insight into the reasoning. “… it dawned with a sly understanding: I had beaten the devil at his own game. From now on I was back in control.”

You see, B a s k e t t t h o u g h t that any time she tried to get back to God, some temptation came up that was better than she could resist. She thought she could acquire the unacquirable by using God to make the devil give her what she wanted. Flawed logic maybe but she built her life on this premise until finally, at the point where she could run no more and the devil had worn her down, she stopped running and found true love.

There are some controversial aspects to this book. I will not enter into the debate in some Christian circles as to whether or not homosexuality is curable or some people are just born with it. That is not the point of this book either. In this case, Baskett’s lesbianism was what she turned to to rebel against societal norms and God.

Her story is more an example of how far God will go to call His children back.

The language is not poetic but simple. The story is driven by the narrative, rather than soaring descriptions or witty observations.

That is not a bad thing. Baskett’s writing style cuts through the fluff of some biographies and gives the reader a clear sense of what’s happening. The book is not patronising, neither does it sermonise.

It is clear, blunt, gritty and functional. It is quite inspiring and disconcerting at the same time. Not for everyone but to anyone who has ever been through trials in their Christian faith, they may relate. Overall, the book is about hope and “the extraordinary story of one woman’s search for real love.”

The Woman Who Outran the Devil
Shirley Baskett
2005,
Monarch Books
187 pages