Writing in the hard spaces: Three Christian writers reflect on writing about suffering.

​Writers always have a reason for why they start writing. Sometimes it’s the development of a childhood hobby. Sometimes it’s writing the book they wish they had. Sometimes, it’s a response to heartache and suffering. A response that not only offers healing and space to process personal grief, but often becomes a gift to others traveling a similar journey. I took some time last month to interview three such authors who write about faith in times of suffering. 

Melissa Heiland began writing almost 20 years ago in response to a need she saw in the pregnancy ministry she was involved with. “Each book,” she says, “has been in response to a need in ministry.” As a result she has written devotionals for pregnant mums, new mums and survivors of sexual abuse. She’s also written a children's book called You are Wonderful, which is a retelling of Psalm 139 for children.
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I asked Melissa why she believes it’s important to share stories of suffering. She said it’s because doing so offers hope. “We all suffer,” Melissa explained, “and when we do, we often feel alone and hopeless. As we share our stories, and how the Lord has brought us through the suffering, we give others hope. We let them know they are not alone, that their feelings are valid and God sees and hears them.” 
As the founder and executive director of Beautiful Feet International (a ministry that starts pregnancy ministries around the world), she draws great encouragement from 2 Corinthians 1:4-7. “It is a tremendous blessing to know that God uses my suffering not only to mold me into who He wants me to be, but to comfort others as well. It is wonderful to know that suffering does have a purpose.” It is this comfort and hope she passes onto others through her writing. 

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Lynda Wake is an Australian author whose personal journey with grief led her to write two devotionals about heartbreak and bereavement. She says it “wasn't until the illness and passing of our teenage daughter, Bethany, in 2011,” that she began to write for an audience beyond herself. Her devotional Heartbreakingly Beautiful came out of the journals her family kept through Bethany’s year-long battle with brain cancer. Following this, Lynda spent the next ten years searching Scripture, looking for “inspiration from others who were somehow able to flourish and go from strength to strength with faith in Christ after devastating loss." The result of this "deeply transformative experience" was the new devotional 52-week devotional journal Waiting Well With Jesus: strength for the journey through heartbreak to hope.  
When asked why she believes stories of suffering can offer hope to others, Lynda said it's because “stories of suffering, grounded in biblical truth, help to boost Christ-centred hope to any person who longs to heal and see God's redemptive plans unfold in their lives.” And this isn’t just something she knows from her own experience. She’s heard from readers too, about the impact of her devotional, including one woman who claimed Waiting well with Jesus "saved her life." Lynda recounts, “This dear woman had recently experienced betrayal and abandonment, leaving her to raise four children on her own. In her despair, she planned to 'walk into the ocean and never return.' But as she was leaving the house, she remembered the book her friend had given her and felt compelled to bring it with her. It was sitting on the beach with the black sea in view that God spoke his words of hope to this precious mother, giving her courage to keep pursuing Jesus, be open to receive his healing, and go on living with renewed purpose.” ​

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Patti Richter is a freelance journalist whose desire is to help others tell their faith stories. One of those people is Luann Mire, and their co-authored, award-winning book, Signs of His Presence: Experiencing God’s Comfort in Times of Suffering shares the story of Luann’s family’s many losses due to injustice.  
Patti’s motivation to work on projects like this come out of her belief that “any notion that the Christian life is blessed with ease is a false one. Sorrow is a normal part of life.” Patti draws encouragement from the examples of suffering in the Bible and the assurance in Romans 5:3-4, that “suffering produces endurance, which results in hope.” 
Patti recently wrote an article titled, 'When Our Faith in God Goes Missing' for her long-time faith column in a Texan community newspaper. The article went to print in the weeks following the Texas Hill Country flood that took so many lives. While the audience for this article was not specifically Christian, Patti admits, “writing on a hard topic is a greater challenge with a mixed readership regarding faith.” She drew on her faith to gently encourage readers with the psalms of David. These songs of lament “include hard questions and complaints to God." Patti believes when writing about suffering and heartache, “we must show readers that we share the same God, who is able to guide each one of us through any dark valleys. And remind readers that his goodness and his mercy will follow us all the days of our lives (Ps. 23:6)."

Wrestling with faith in the heartbreaking realities of life can be challenging work, but the hope that can grow in these difficult times continues to provide the motivation for writers committed to standing beside those who are suffering.  

For more information about Melissa, Lynda and Patti, check out their website links below:
Melissa: Beautiful Feet International  
Lynda: www.be-blessings.com 
Patti: www.BlueRibbonNews.com

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