Writing a True Story of Depression and Hope

Like everyone else, I was heartbroken to hear about the death of Robin Williams. I remember first falling in love with him when he played Mork on Mork and Mindy. I remember playing with the other kids in 5th grade saying, “Na-Nu Na-Nu.” Hearing of his death was hard enough, but to find out he died by suicide made my heart ache.

For many years I didn’t understand the pain of depression

…and then I had an opportunity to write an amazing story of a seventeen-year-old girl.

Kristen Anderson thought she had the picture-perfect life until strokes of gray dimmed her outlook: three friends and her grandmother died within two years. Still reeling from these losses, she was raped by a friend she thought she could trust. She soon spiraled into a seemingly bottomless depression.

One January night, the seventeen-year-old decided she no longer wanted to deal with the emotional pain that smothered her. She lay down on a set of cold railroad tracks and waited for a freight train to send her to heaven…and peace.

[Finish reading this post on InspiredByLifeAndFiction.com]

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with depression—consider getting a copy of Life, In Spite of Me.

Also, here is a prayer for you:

Dear Lord, be with my friend today. I thank you that you have known my friend from the moment you created her in her mother’s womb. I thank you, Lord, that you go before her. I thank you that—even if she cannot feel it—you will never leave her or forsake her. I pray that you will hear the cries of her heart, even when she cannot utter a prayer. I pray you will lift her out of the pit of destruction and set her feet on solid rock. Lord, be her shield and give her courage. Heal the broken places of her heart like only you can.

(Based on the verses Psalms 139, Deut. 31:8, Psalm 34:17, Psalm 40:1-3, Psalm 3:3)

With every book, I choose to write it because a story has captured my heart. With this book it’s amazing to see how lives have been changed. It’s my prayer that God will use Robin William’s passing to help others reach out and find the help and hope they need.

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