Through Suffering to Grace

Wrestling with God

 

“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. 

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“Sometimes life throws rocks at us,” Elaine Scott, reviewer and author of A Walk Away from Anger and Dreams No One Can Steal states. “Valerie Hart takes us on a life-affirming journey as she bravely encounters one obstacle after another to face them head on.”

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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. 

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“In order to keep myself together, to be a sturdy pillar for him, I resolutely refused to admit to anything other than that he would fully recover – that I would have my brilliant, humorous, affectionate, life loving, supportive husband back just as he was,” the author writes. “In order to get through the next day, the next hour, I had to cast out all doubt.”

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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. 

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Reviewer Paula Shaffer, author of The Absent Mother, Memoir of a Foster Child, describes Valerie Hart’s story as “a journey of redemption”  where Valerie “emerges on the other side with sheer grace” to  find fulfillment and purpose. “Told without pity or preachiness, her soul-searching story is one of weakness turned into strength, of doubt turned into self-assurance, from hopelessness to life-sustaining faith."

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“I want to share my own story so that others might identify with it. Hopefully, knowing that what I’ve struggled with has become a source of blessing for me will help others look at their own struggles in a new way,” says the author about her reason for launching her book virtually at this time when so many people are struggling with illness, isolation, grief, job loss and family stress. “This may be the perfect time for a book 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,” says the author.

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In her revealing memoir, Wrestling With God, she describes a grueling journey through life- threatening setbacks and personal crises that test her faith and require all her inner strength to emerge whole. 

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Reviewer Elaine Scott says, “Right from page one, we are caught up in the adventures of Valerie Hart’s life;” author Paula Shaffer claims the new release is “an inspirational and glorious read in every sense.

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 The author is willing to speak to women’s study groups, classes, and book clubs. She can be reached at valerieahart@icloud.com

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To inquire about events or special rate book club orders, contact the publisher Windflower Press at 949-285-3831.