The writer's life is filled with despair. I don't know why that is, but I really don't know many writers who aren't dealing with something that is so sucky in nature, I can't think of a better term. A lot of the depth of emotion must come from somewhere I suppose.

The thing I noticed is that everyone's life from the outside appears to be something it's not. Why do Christians perpetuate that myth? Yes, we have eternal life, yes, we have hope and Someone to bear our cross. But we also have hard lives. We have horrible diseases in loved ones like cancer and Alzheimers, people we love who wrestle addictions, abusive marriages.

I hope if I do one thing in life, I help my fellow Christians tell the truth. A long time ago, a friend of mine came to me to confide she wanted a divorce. I bought the party line, and gave her such horrible support lines that she would choose divorce for her kids, blah blah blah. I never had mercy on my friend, nor her husband. When I found out the truth of what was going on in their marriage, I was humbled to my core -- I also gave up marriage counseling for those of you interested in my services. : )

But I learned that though a line of Scripture can be like pure gold. It can also be like a knife through the heart of someone hurting. The truth is, we don't know everything. The Bible does not entitle us to be all-seeing and all-knowing, that's God's job. So I hope, friends, that when you hear a friend suffering, you are there to be a shoulder to cry on -- and if you are a writer, think about how someday God has used that very moment so that you might carry His word out to another. Kristin