Why I Won't Give Up: "God, the Devil, and Divorce" Memoir Writing

Although I'm a professional writer, and write almost daily, telling this story has been a challenge. I began about twelve years ago, using my journals to write the story linearly, from beginning to end. But for my critique readers, much of it was akin to watching paint dry. God bless 'em for struggling through the entire bloody mess with me. 

After setting it aside for other writings, I have returned to the memoir, determined to make it readable, even compelling. My motivation is to give voice to Christians who have made the difficult decision to divorce after their sincere efforts to fix what was broken in their marriages. Too often, these folks have found judgement and not mercy and support among the Christian community.

When I made the decision to divorce my Christian husband of twenty-five years, I encountered both attitudes. Some Christians believe the Bible is very clear that the only permissible divorce is when adultery has been committed. The reasons I left were much more subtle, but just as devastating to me. The very difficult challenge, one with which I'm struggling mightily, is to show how a marriage can disintegrate through obfuscation and neglect without painting my husband as some kind of monster and me, as a constantly angry wife.

So far I've managed to write about some key incidents that represent these issues, but I've not yet struck the right tone of the work. So it's back to the beginning again. I will eventually get that part right, and then on to my favorite part where God leads me back into the light.