Cindi McMenamin - When Women Walk Alone: Finding Strength and Hope Through the Seasons of Life

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photo James Thew / Shutterstock

Some of the names have been changed to protect the anonymity and privacy of the women who shared their stories in this book.

WHEN WOMEN WALK ALONE

Copyright 2002, 2012 by Cindi McMenamin

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-4822-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4823-4 (eBook)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the edition as follows:

McMenamin, Cindi, 1965-

When Women Walk Alone / Cindi McMenamin

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-0743-9

1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. SolitudeReligious aspectsChristianity.

3. LonelinessReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV4527 .M433 2002

248.8'43dc 21

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

For womeneverywherewho feel they walk alone

My heartfelt thanks to the women who have read this book, brought it to their churches and started study groups with it, and purchased it for the women in their familyor in some cases, every woman they know! This revised and updated version would not be possible if you hadnt picked up this book, gleaned from it, and passed it on. Thank you for caring about women who walk alone.

I n the Spring of 2001, I lay face-down on the floor of my study and prayed, God, I cant write this book. I have no idea how to touch the hearts of hurting women. I need You to help me.

I was convinced it was the book God wanted me to write. After all, the title came to me so clearly as I rode a train from Southern to Central California just months earlier and prayed for direction for my second book. Who do I write for next, God? What is the burden on Your heart?

His answer was one I heard only in the deep recesses of my heart: When women walk alone.

Yet several months later, as I faced a deadline to finish the book, I cried out to God for help. And in that moment of brokenness I realized I didnt have what it took to write for that kind of burden on Gods heart. Yes, Ive experienced what I feel is lonelinessas a woman, as a wife, as a mother. But I have not walked through the depths of despair that many women have walkedthe loss of a husband through death or divorce, the devastating loss of a child, the dark void of depression, the agony of aloneness that comes from an illness or disability or dashed dreams or never having married. I have not faced what some desperate hearts will have experienced as they pick up this book. God help me, I prayed. You know who will read this and what it is they will need to read to experience healing and hope. Bring me the women with encouragement to share. Bring me the stories that will change lives.

Three months later, I turned in the manuscript for the book that has now sold more than 100,000 copies. Thousands of women have shared with me through letters, emails, and in person how their lives were transformed through the stories in this book of women who grew through their griefstories that testify of the truly incredible ways God can work in peoples lives.

From single women out on the mission field

to widows dealing with the loss of their husbands of 30 years or more.

From wives in loveless marriages

to women who wonder if theyll ever be married.

From those who feel theyve fallen too far for Gods grace

to those in ministry who feel alone and misunderstood.

From career women who feel alone at the top

to stay-at-home moms struggling with a sense of purpose.

Ive heard from them all. Ive heard their stories of hope as they discovered, through the pages of this book, that there is a reason for their aloneness, and there is One who is strengthening them through it.

One particularly memorable story is that of a woman named Angelique, whom I met while speaking at a womens retreat. Angelique, a single mother of a then nine-year-old, was in her one-bedroom apartment ready to take her life when she heard a knock on her door. When she opened it, there stood two women from her church. They handed her this book and said, We thought of you this evening while we were in a group study on this book. We wanted you to have this. And wed love for you to join us next week.

As they left, Angelique opened the book and by the time she got to the end of the first chapter, she was on her knees at the edge of her bed, tears flowing down her face.

It never ever occurred to me that there might be a reason for the pain Ive had in my life, she told me at the retreat. When I realized God wanted to draw me closer to Him through my aloneness, it changed my life and made me want to live again.

Instead of taking her life that night, Angelique gave it to Jesus. And the next week she showed up at the small group study at her church and shared her story of giving lifeand Jesusa chance. The women in her study pitched in financially to give Angelique a scholarship to attend the upcoming womens retreat, and that made it possible for her to share with me how the book had changed her life.

There may be other Angeliques out there who have yet to discover there is a reason and a purpose behind their pain. And if youre one of them, I invite you to discover one of the most amazing and life-changing truths there isthe God of the Universe wants to develop an intimate relationship with you. And if He has to lead you out to a desert of aloneness to do it, thats what Hell do, so He can show you who He is and all that He can accomplish in your life.

The power in this book is not my own. Its a power that comes from the truth of who God is and the power of His Wordwhich can cut to the core of our hearts and transform lives. Youll read about women of the Bible and women of today who encountered God and His truth in their season of aloneness, and came through it changed. Changed, strengthened, and hopeful again.

May you become another one of the real-life stories of a woman changed by her encounter with God in the desert of aloneness. And may you, too, discover more intimately the One who has been waiting to get alone with you.

Walking alongside you,

Cindi McMenamin

Southern California

2012

W ouldnt it be nice to never again have to feel alone? Imagine, instead, someone beside you whenever you needed to sense your worth as a woman, a shoulder available whenever you needed to cry, strong arms holding you up as you pursued your dream. Think of what it would be like to always sense the strength and wisdom of another who has gone before you in the seasons of life and can help you through the ones that seem to overwhelm you.