top of page
Valerie'sFrontCover.jpg

“Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.” (Genesis 32:24) 

 

The new memoir, WRESTLING WITH GOD, Through Suffering to Grace by Valerie Ann Hart, is an inspiring story of struggle, self-discovery and transformation that is particularly meaningful for our current times. As social distancing leaves us alone we are all wrestling with something, whether physical, emotional or spiritual.

​

Six months pregnant with her first child, Valerie Hart’s life is shattered when her husband Ron is hit head-on by a truck. Locked in a co-dependent relationship, she must deal with his lengthy recovery, a disrupted professional career path and the stresses of motherhood  alone. 

 

More challenges followed, including job loss, grief, brain surgery, a mysterious chronic illness and the ultimate betrayal that brought on a forced cross country move. 

 

“I want to share my story so that others might see their lives in a new way by knowing that what I’ve struggled with has become a source of blessing,” says the author about her reason writing the book. “This may be the perfect time for a story that acknowledges personal pain, to remind us that we are not alone, and lift up the hope of moving forward, even if we walk with a limp.”

Reviews

The Franciscan Times: 

A Magazine of the Third Order, Society of St. Francis

Early Summer 2020

​

Reviewed by Liz Peacock, TSSF

  It’s a page-turner.

  Valerie’s memoir is gripping, compelling, like a great suspense novel. I couldn’t put it down, couldn’t wait to find out what happens next.

  But that’s not why I love this book.

  It’s brutally honest and self-searching. With great courage, Valerie lays open her deepest fears and struggles, baring her naked soul for the world to see. She displays a profound self-knowledge, sharing her own weaknesses, blindspots, and missteps as easily and honestly as her victories. 

  But that’s not why I love this book.

  It seems to me no accident that this book came out in the middle of the pandemic. I experienced with Valerie crisis after crisis, tragedy after tragedy, loss after loss. I felt with her all the fear, all the brokenness, and all the despair. Her story of pain resonates with the pain I'm feeling right now.

  But that’s not why I love this book.
  I love this book because it’s a book about hope, the kind of hope that :

    • rises out of the deepest despair; 
    • comes from knowing in the depths of her soul that God is 

      present, intimately present, through all of it; and
   •  is drawn from someone who has truly wrestled with God.

  I need that right now. We all do.

bottom of page