Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Duggar Vuolo

Growing up is difficult enough without having any extra pressures to contend with, but for those who are raised in the limelight, under the scrutiny of millions of viewers, it’s unimaginably worse. For Jinger Duggar Vuolo, the author of Becoming Free Indeed (Thomas Nelson), growing up on the hit TLC reality TV shows 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On brought insurmountable challenges. The fact that she was merely one child in a household that ran into the double digits, it’s understandable when she draws comparisons between her life and The Truman Show.

Growing Up in the Spotlight Under Fundamentalism

From the first chapter of Becoming Free Indeed, we are presented with Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s take on growing up in this very Fundamentalist family with cameras all around, following their every move. She states that five of her siblings took their first breaths on camera, which shows that no moment was off the table. We are further told how Internet forums soon became established and followed her family with their own theories and critique, and that one particular website called “Free Jinger” popped up, insinuating that she wasn’t free.

However, from the get-go, it’s clear this book isn’t one of those deep, disturbing celebrity memoirs that will give away dark secrets, even though many readers were expecting her to say something about the controversies surrounding the Duggar family. There isn’t any particular resentment found in her words and I couldn’t detect specific anger directed at anyone in this book. Yes, names are mentioned, but not in a derogatory manner, which once again shows that Jinger has reached a level of peace within herself. 

Rather, this is a memoir about how Jinger Duggar Vuolo re-evaluated her faith after being indoctrinated by fear and condemnation to ultimately find the true meanings in the Word of God.

Grappling With Faith Because of Fear

Jinger Duggar Vuolo is incredibly honest in her memoir about how she was taught false messages through fear and how it deeply affected her faith. In one chapter, she goes on to say that she feared even writing down her innermost desires in her personal diary or making any salacious confessions as a teenage girl. 

“If there’s one word — one emotion — that best describes my younger self, it’s fear.”

This fear became worse as she grew up and started to grapple with her faith due to the teachings she didn’t connect with. This grappling with her faith is primarily due to false messages or untrue connotations that were presented by men in power to keep their flock “in line”. As a result, her guilt and shame began to chew her up and she wondered whether she was even a Christian at all. Thus, her fear continued to grow …

Unlike others who may have been in a similar position as Jinger, however, she didn’t “deconstruct” her faith and turn away from God. Rather, she disentangled herself from what she was taught and searched for the truth in scripture, which brought her even closer to God.

Finding a Way Through the Darkness

Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s Becoming Free Indeed is a well-written book that showcases how difficult yet rewarding it can be to overcome hurdles in one’s life, especially when that hurdle is a manmade indoctrinated belief presented by false prophets. Instead of turning her back on her religion, she overcame her fears and strengthened her faith and became the best version of herself. Best of all, it shows! She is no longer ruled by fear, and while she does seem to have some regrets, she has found peace in her decisions. Becoming Free Indeed is an excellent book to read for those who also find themselves in a crisis of faith but aren’t searching for a way out but rather a way through the darkness.