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The Hope of Heaven
Singing Through Fire shares with readers how your life took an unexpected turn when you developed a chronic illness, leading you to cross paths with a youth pastor facing terminal cancer, and falling in love even though you knew your time together was limited. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Singing Through Fire was important for me to write because I knew God was calling me to share my story to encourage other sufferers. Walking through illness and loss was never the path I would have chosen, but it became a place where God’s presence and grace shone most clearly. Writing the book was an act of obedience, a way to testify to His goodness even in seasons of deep suffering. My hope was simply to be faithful with the story He entrusted me with.
What is one piece of advice someone gave you that changed your perspective on God and faith?
One of the most life-changing truths someone shared with me was that our present suffering, as heavy as it feels, is not the end of the story. Scripture reminds us that the eternal glory awaiting us far outweighs the pain we endure now. That perspective shifted my focus from asking “why me?” to lifting my eyes toward the hope of Heaven. It doesn’t erase the grief, but it gives it meaning and frames it in light of eternity.
What was the most challenging part of writing your memoir, and what was the most rewarding?
The hardest part was returning to memories that were still raw with grief and pain. Writing about them meant reliving them, and at times I wondered if my heart could handle it. But the most rewarding part was seeing how God had been present through it all, and how He wove beauty and love even into suffering. Putting it on paper gave me perspective, gratitude, and a way to honor the people and moments that shaped my story.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
I hope readers come away with the assurance that even in the darkest seasons, God has not abandoned them. Life may not unfold as we expect, and suffering may come in ways that feel unbearable, but God is still faithful. If my story encourages someone to hold on to hope and to trust His heart, even when His plan feels hidden, then the book will have done its work.
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Enter Matthew Silverman: a witty, wise, and impossibly joyful youth pastor and professor facing terminal cancer. What begins with a few random encounters soon ignites an extraordinary, God-written love story that neither of them saw coming.
As their unlikely romance unfolds between medical crises, late-night laughter, and unexpected musical performances, Matthew’s unshakable faith challenges everything Lara thinks she knows about God’s goodness—and what it means to walk with Christlike faith, resilience, and joy in the face of overwhelming grief and suffering.
But with time against them, one question looms louder than the rest: What if this gift is only for a moment?
Surprisingly funny and spiritually rich, Singing Through Fire is a modern-day “Job meets Lucille Ball.” It explores what it means to suffer, love, and even laugh and make music while your life is burning down around you. It eloquently gives voice to the aching questions many sufferers quietly carry—then takes readers inside the breathtaking story of two people who found miraculous love and defiant joy amid heartbreaking loss.
It reveals how God can use even our deepest pain to write the most beautiful love stories—even on the cusp of eternity.
Hopefully Ever After
In The Widow Chose Red?, you share the highs and lows of your marriage and professional life, your unshakable faith, and your husband’s heartbreaking journey with ALS. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was important to write this book for a few reasons: To heighten the awareness of ALS, which is still considered a rare disease. Too many people still don’t know about it. Proceeds from the book are benefiting the LiveLikeLou Foundation.
To have a written record of my life with John as something tangible for my boys to refer to.
To provide inspiration for others who may find themselves facing unimaginable circumstances and give them some support, insights, and strategies for dealing with those curveballs life throws at us. To remind people that we, as believers, we have all been gifted with a supernatural superpower in the form of the Holy Spirit, which is there to comfort and fortify us when we can’t go on..
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The hardest parts to write about were the day we got the diagnosis, the Christmas we told his family, the day we told our boys, and the day John died. Even though it has been 14 years since John died, the mind is magical and mystical in how it can take us back to that moment in time, complete with emotion and physical presence. It’s never a fun process to go back to those moments of pain, suffering, sorrow and loss, and that is why sometimes, it is best to give yourself some time to process.
What advice would you give someone who is considering sharing their own memoir with readers?
Go for it! It’s your story, and someone will benefit from your sharing it. Get clear on your message. That being said, it is a process that can be lonely, confusing, and tiring, so get some support.
There are so many tech tools available (and I’m not talking AI), like transcription, voice recording, etc, that will make the process of getting it on paper so much easier. If you need to interview someone else to get a perspective…write up a list of questions and submit ahead of your conversation…give yourself a goal for writing…a number of words a day…a chapter a month…published by this date. Otherwise, it can go on forever, and don’t discount the editing process…it’s HUGE!!
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your experience?
Even when your “happily ever after” doesn’t go the way you wanted…you can have a “hopefully ever after” that is beyond your imagination.
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“She stood at his service wearing red. Not in defiance, not in denial – but in love. Because grief is not just sorrow; it is the bold echo of a love that never fades. And red is not just a color – it is the flame of the Holy Spirit and the fire that refuses to be extinguished.”
When Rachel Kerr Schneider lost her husband, the world expected her to mourn in black – to withdraw, to disappear into sorrow. But she made a different choice. She wore red. Not because she wasn’t grieving, but because love – real love – is too vibrant, too deep, too enduring to be cloaked in darkness. And because red, the color of fire, is the color of the Holy Spirit – the every-present force that carried her through the valley of grief and into a future she never imagined.
This is not just a memoir about loss – it is a story of resilience, faith, and the bold, sometimes unexpected ways we learn to live again. For anyone who has ever faced heartbreak and wondered if joy was still possible, The Widow Chose Red is a testament to the truth that even in sorrow, life still shines – and the Spirit still burns.
The Widow Chose Red?: My Journey with Jesus, John, and ALS
The Widow Chose Red? is a deeply personal memoir chronicling the life of Rachel Kerr Schneider, from her whirlwind romance with John Schneider through decades of marriage, parenting, and professional shifts, culminating in John’s heartbreaking battle with ALS. Told through a lens of faith and fierce devotion, the book walks readers through the joys of new beginnings, the messiness of real relationships, and the crushing weight of terminal illness, all while clinging to the hope and grace found in God.
The writing is conversational, often funny, and incredibly raw. Rachel doesn’t hide behind platitudes. She’s honest when things are hard, she laughs when they’re absurd, and she leans into her faith with a kind of vulnerability that feels both courageous and familiar. The structure, split into sections of life stages, reflects how grief and growth aren’t linear. I loved how she wove in reflections after each major chunk of the story. It gave me space to breathe and think alongside her.
There were times when I felt gutted by the emotional weight of it all. Watching John’s health decline through Rachel’s eyes was both beautiful and brutal. Her love for him doesn’t flinch. It holds steady through every stage of ALS, even when things got messy and uncertain. But this isn’t just a moving book; it’s a book about showing up. It’s about surviving with grace when life doesn’t let you plan ahead. I admired how Rachel let us see the struggle to stay spiritually grounded when everything feels unfair. And somehow, even in the grief, she writes with humor.
The Widow Chose Red? is a love letter to John, to her sons, and to the God who walked through every minute of it with her. If you’ve ever cared for someone who’s sick, if you’ve wondered where God is in your pain, or if you just want to feel less alone in your own tough season, you’ll find something in Rachel’s story. I’d recommend it to caregivers, to women figuring out who they are after loss, and to anyone trying to make peace with the messiness of life. You don’t need to be religious to connect with her heart.
Pages: 224 | ISBN : 978-1966561101
Willing to Acknowledge the Pain
Angry Daughter: A Journey from Hatred to Love shares your path of healing and forgiveness through the use of healing prayer. This seems like a very personal story for you. How hard was it to put this story out in the world for people to read?
I never had actually planned to write this story, but the first chapter just popped out one day quite unexpectedly, so I suppose God had other plans. Because part of my story includes the sudden loss of my mom, getting it on paper wasn’t so much hard as it was cathartic for my grieving. I was a little nervous about it being a memoir, mainly because I didn’t want to bring any grief or pain or shame to family. But the responses have been overwhelmingly positive, and I’m grateful that my vulnerability is helping others.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The biggest idea was that there truly is profound freedom in real forgiveness. It radically, unexpectedly, changed everything about my life. Another important idea is that victims of childhood abuse don’t often discuss the mothers who stood by, and this has to be part of the discussion in order for full healing to start. The gravity of fleeting time is also a major idea because we never know if we will have another opportunity to forgive someone. And a final idea is that a traumatic, abusive childhood does not have to define someone’s life and that when we are willing to acknowledge the pain of what happened, then we can start to heal from it.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
I wish I would have learned a long time ago that my value and my worth are well-established in God, regardless of how people treated me or spoke to me. I wasted decades looking for acceptance and validation when God already gave these to me.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?
When we choose to recognize that the failures of our parents weren’t intentional as much as they were learned by their own brokenness, it creates space for grace, mercy, and a better understanding of why.
Get your copy of Nanci’s FREE gift, this daily spiritual warfare prayer download here.
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Well into her mid-forties, Nanci Lamborn was a critical, angry Christian who carried a consuming hatred of her mom. Frustration, annoyance, and offended contempt were constant companions at every family gathering, and these emotions robbed Nanci of her inner peace for decades. With no concept of the freedom available, she surrendered to heart healing prayer and experienced profound transformation.
From navigating the messy relationship with her dramatic, difficult mom, to surviving traumatic abuse, and finally assuming the role as a caregiver before her mom’s tragic death, Nanci’s story blends gritty, uncomfortable truth with beautiful and tender healing.
Now as an ordained minister of inner healing, Nanci walks with hurting people to introduce them to the supernatural power of forgiveness, repentance, and release of the painful past to Jesus. Angry Daughter is Nanci’s very personal journey down that same path to peace.
Part personal growth, part hilarious memoir, and part self-help, Angry Daughter thematically weaves its way through resentment and grief, to fear and shame, and from trauma to destiny. Nanci paves a clear pathway for those ready to begin their own journey of releasing Mom to the Lord in prayer.
LITERARY TITAN 