In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis writes, "[Pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul."
For some, pain constitutes one of the strongest objections to the Christian faith. Yet, Dorathea Fortener, author and mother of Vandalia resident Jill Simoneas, contends that suffering actually validates the existence of God. How? By teaching wounded souls that they can't live life without relying on someone greater than themselves. Fortener conveys this profound stance through the emotive narrative of A Life of Promise: Surviving Adversity Through Faith, a new book published through Tate Publishing.
A Life of Promise tells the true story of Jenny, a woman beset by a multiplicity of troubles. While her name is a pseudonym, all of Jenny's troubles are real and, for many, all-too-familiar. She loses her brother and parents by the time she is the age of 24. She is abused by an alcoholic spouse and is eventually divorced. She has an ADHD-autistic son and a chemically dependent, suicidal daughter who has a baby girl at the age of 15. She loses five jobs. She is faced with the daunting responsibility of caring for a handicapped mother-in-law. She is even driven to the very threshold of death itself. These are just a few of the troubles that come together to form the perfect storm in Jenny's life.
"This is a story about a Christian woman and her life, which was full of more adversity than the average person has experienced," Fortener said.
And, just what sustains Jenny?
In Matthew 4:4, Jesus declared, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Likewise, Jenny lives by the Word. According to Fortener, the pseudonymous protagonist of her book overcomes her various hardships by continually referring back to the truths of Scripture.
"Through all these times, the Scriptures that she had memorized as a little girl are called back to her mind," Fortener said. "That is what pulls her through when she feels despondent. She would go back to her basic scriptural memory and pull out things and that would see her through."
In John 15:5, Jesus refuted the notion of the completely autonomous person, stating, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
A Life of Promise reiterates this theme. Fortener stated that the trials experienced by Jenny also acted a channels for instilling virtues that would otherwise be stifled by an illusory sense of autonomy.
"It was a spiritual growth time for her," Fortener said. "Having been a pretty independent person all her life, she was humbled and the Lord basically taught her that she can do nothing by herself. She doesn't have all the answers. She can't take care of everybody and solve everybody's problems."
Another message echoed in A Life of Promise is Jesus' admonition concerning judging others. In Matthew 7:1, Jesus commanded, "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
According to Fortener, this mandate is driven home in the life of Jenny through her many troubled experiences.
"She also learned about not being judgmental," Fortener said. "She had had a problem with being judgmental, not verbally, but in her heart. She learned that that's not the way to be. She learned to love unconditionally. She always lived her life with expectations of what people should and shouldn't do."
And, of course, A Life of Promise highlights the power of God to, in the words of Isaiah 61:3, give the hurting "beauty for ashes."
"She (Jenny) learned the power that God has to heal broken hearts," Fortener said. "Not only her heart, but the hearts of her children. Her children are all now wonderful Christian adults. Eventually, her husband even went into treatment for alcoholism and was restored. So, what looked like ashes back then has turned into a beautiful testimony for the Lord."
Suffering is certainly not a foreign concept for humanity, as is evidenced by the recent quake in Haiti and the average American's pain stemming from the ongoing economic crisis. According to Fortener, the latter of these two plights was a reality that Jenny experienced firsthand.
"She (Jenny) lost five jobs, none of which were her fault," Fortener said. "One was due to downsizing. Another one was due to a grant not being renewed. So, there were many reasons that she lost those jobs. She lost those jobs while al these other things were going on in her life. I think that, in today's economy, this book would be very helpful because people are losing their jobs and some are turning to alcohol and drugs. If they can see that that's just a life of devastation and avoid it, this book may help them keep from going to the depths of despair that alcohol and drug addicts go to."
Fortener underscored the universality of her central character's experiences.
"This could be anybody's mother or sister," Fortener said. "I think that the power of the book is that it shows that, no matter how destitute a person's life gets, like Jenny, they can get through all of it with God as their rock."
According to Fortener, she initially dismissed the idea of publishing Jenny's story because of the daunting challenges faced by modern authors. However, this would change with the decision to step out in faith and take a risk.
Fortener said, "I kind of put together a composite of events that she had experienced. My prayer and share partner said, 'You ought to write this in the form of a book and get it published.' I was kind of like, 'Well, nobody knows me. I know that authors get rejected quite frequently.' But, I finally thought, 'Oh well, I'll submit it and just see what happens.' So, I did and Tate Publishing accepted it."
According to Fortener, the decision to publish the book through Tate was motivated by the company's unabashed commitment to promulgating the Gospel.
"I explored different publishers and went with Tate because they're a Christian publisher and this is all about a very devout Christian person," Fortener said. "I wanted to make sure that the emphasis was not so much on her life, but on the power of God in a person's life and the importance of having a deep, personal relationship with the Lord. Nobody can go it by themselves. They need somebody to help them. When you feel all alone, rejected, and abandoned, as Jenny did many times, the only person you can cling to is the Lord."
Fortener is a retired registered dietitian and former health care executive. She graduated from Ohio University and earned a master's degree at Central Michigan University. Fortener worked as a research dietitian for NASA, developing space foods. She is married with seven children and 23 grandchildren.
Fortener currently has another book in the works. Tenatively entitled God Speaks... Do We Listen?, this book will feature inspired pieces of Fortener's Christian poetry. Like its predecessor, this book will be published through Tate Publishing.
Articulating the hopes she has for those who read A Life of Promise, Fortener said, "I'm hoping that, if they have faith, their faith will be strengthened. If they doubt that Christ is alive and that God has any impact on their lives, I am hoping that their doubt will be put to rest. If they have no belief at all, I'm hoping that the book will bring them to a point where they will at least pray and, someday, find Christ."
A Life of Promise is currently available at some retail bookstores and online at Amazon.com. To learn more about the book, visit www.tatepublishing.com.
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