Same Dress, Different Day

A spiritual memoir of addiction and redemption

Same Dress, Different Day (Pacific Press, 2015)
Juliet Van Heerden

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A beautiful but deprived young woman, Juliet Van Heerden writes Same Dress, Different Day with her heart wide open. The journey: excruciating stories of everyday life with an unrepentant addict.

In this book by Pacific Press, Van Heerden describes her life as a committed Seventh-day Adventist wife trying to understand God’s purpose for an unhealthy marriage. The book explores her years of self-examination and guilt, and the cycle of rehabilitation and repeated destructive behaviour with a man she loved.

Same Dress, Different Day is a love story, interspersed with excerpts from the prayer diary in which Van Heerden walks and talks in constant dialogue with the God she can trust. While the long descriptions of horrific, happy and hopeful experiences became a little tedious at times, the writing maintained momentum through it all. Her story ends triumphantly, although not how one might expect. The book exudes joy—far more than Van Heerden herself ever believed possible—and I’m glad I read it.

The story gave me new insights into the issues surrounding addiction. Van Heerden wants others who endure extreme difficulties and the pain of addiction to know that it is possible to come out alive—and to thrive—with God. Her story is shared in the hope that it will inspire others to hold on through what seems insurmountable.