Behind The Mask

Have you ever built a version of yourself just to be accepted?

Pastor Dwayne Shy, Sr. did. They called him DeShy: confident, magnetic, always the life of the room. Nobody knew he was terrified underneath, using alcohol and marijuana to keep the mask on and the real man hidden.

Behind the Mask is his unflinching testimony, growing up the black sheep in a New Bern, North Carolina housing project, bullied into silence, chasing acceptance through people-pleasing, and building a persona at Shaw University that nearly cost him his life.

Then God stopped the leak.

This book does not stay in the pain. It walks with you through the slow, honest work of healing: releasing the exhausting cycle of people-pleasing, discovering who God actually created you to be, and learning to love that person. With Scripture woven through every chapter and practical steps for everyday life, Pastor Shy shows what it looks like to trade a lifetime of performing for real, lasting peace, the same peace that now anchors his marriage, his family, and Chosen Ministries Christian Center, where he pastors those the world left aside and broken.

If you have ever built a mask just to be loved, this book was written for you.

Your validation was never meant to come from people. It is time to take the mask off.