Writing about your hardships and heartaches

 

You’ve had your share of heartaches. Maybe it seems you’ve had more than your share.

 

I know the feeling.

 

In the midst of our sufferings, we rarely find any good. After all, we thought those things might kill us, or at least leave us permanently scarred.

 

But later—ah, later—can we take another look?

 

C. S. Lewis observed that “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. . . .”

 

Think about it:

 

What did your hardships prepare you for?

 

(And don’t for a moment think that you

are not extraordinary!)

 

Stand back and mull over—analyze—

the pain and sorrow you’ve experienced.

 

Is it possible they served a good purpose?

 

You’ll find added inspiration from Frederick Buechner in his Wishful Thinking:

 

“The grace of God means something like:

‘Here is your life.

You might never have been, but you are,

because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you.

 

Here is the world.

Beautiful and terrible things will happen.

Don’t be afraid.

I am with you.’”

 

In your memoir, tell readers how God brought beauty from ashes, joy from mourning, and praise in place of despair (see Isaiah 61:3).

 

Write those stories as an act of worship.

God will use your experiences, your words,

and your message to bring hope to others.

Believe it!