Well Red hosted Megan Smalley for a book signing to promote her new book "Give Grace." The mother, local business owner and author wrote this book to help others find joy even in life’s most difficult moments.
“It’s just about overcoming hard stuff and finding grace for yourself and grace for others,” Smalley said. “I mean, life is hard. We’re not all going to do it perfectly. We’re all going mess up, and finding a way to find joy in the middle of the hard stuff is something I have become really passionate about.”
In the book, Smalley tells of her own journey of finding joy in the midst of her and her husband’s four-year struggle with infertility. The couple endured a failed round of In Vitro Fertilization. The process came at a great financial and emotional cost, leaving them in even more grief.
“I talk about this in the book, grieving intangible losses,” Smalley said. “I was never pregnant, but grieving the loss of a dream and desire and thinking it may not happen for us. I kind of had to get to that point before I was ready to even think about doing it again.”
Smalley also owns local gift and lifestyle business Scarlet and Gold. Inspired by their story, the company started the “Give Grace Campaign” to raise money for the couple to do another round of IVF a little over two years later. It was this gift and a successful IVF that helped them create their now family of five.
“We are not promised an easy life,” Smalley said. “We are promised hard stuff and we’ve got to figure out how to face this head-on and not run away and find beauty in it. We now have three beautiful boys, and I just look at them and they are such a reminder that God’s plan is best.”
Smalley expressed that her goal was not to make an infertility-specific book but to speak to struggles in life universally.
“My goal was to tell my story in a way that, even if this isn’t your story, you can still see yourself," Smalley said. "You can insert whatever hard thing you’re walking through and it’s still relatable."
Readers at the book signing indicated that the book serves its intended purpose.
“Learning how to give grace to myself more and giving grace to friends and learning to walk through trials with the mindset of grace is really powerful,” said reader and colleague Hope Nichols. “I think it’s really encouraging to just see where she’s been and apply that to my own life too.”
The book encourages readers to relate their struggles in life to those of the author.
“It helps you work out your own struggles and to journal them,” said reader Kelly Shuman. “It’s almost kind of a mix between a devotional and inspirational book. I kind of want to write it in pencil and go back in 5 years, read it again and be like, ‘Oh that was so silly,’ and then do it again.”
This Christian Living book was officially released on March 16 and is now making it into the hands of readers.
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