Inaugural Post: Writing in Hope

Around this time last year, I was at an eye appointment, chatting with my eye doctor as we wrapped up the exam.  The conversation turned to my recent college graduation, and I shared my plan to become a writer.  His wife was a writer and had recently published a book about their son’s journey with autism.  He suggested I write about my struggles with physical disabilities and how I’ve overcome them to lead an abundant life as a writer, horseback rider, and student.

Sure, it wasn’t the first time I’d had the idea.  Friends had suggested it.  In high school, I’d vaguely entertained the concept of a fiction about a teen like me – The Crazy Life of a 14-Year-Old Genius.  But always something had come up – school activities, new writing projects, new health developments – or I just didn’t feel “ready”.

This time, though, the idea stuck.  Not only did it seem more possible – I was done with school and had my life spread before me – it seemed important.  Something he said caught my attention and took root:

People need hope.

We need stories of suffering turned to singing, ashes to beauty, struggle to victory.  We might not share the same suffering, and the victory may not look the way we expected.  But we all suffer and face the question of how to endure and find meaning in it – how to find the face and hand of God in it.

We who live by faith need reminders of Who we have faith in and why we have that faith – what He can do and, most importantly, that He is still willing to do it.

So I am writing my story, in the prayer that it will offer encouragement and point to the ultimate Source of hope – Jesus Christ.

This blog is dedicated to tracing the progress of that story.  In it, I will share life lessons and incidents that reflect God’s presence in the everyday and the difficult, as well as share a little about the coming-together of my memoir.

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

–Romans 5:5-8 (NIV)

How do you find meaning in suffering?