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Marissa Mayer – Higher Ground Contributor


NextImg:Cheryl Chumley’s new novel tackles trauma, redemption, God’s unwavering grace

Despite spending her entire professional career in journalism, The Washington Times Opinion Editor and host of “Bold and Blunt” podcast Cheryl Chumley always knew she was going to write a fiction novel someday. What she didn’t expect was that an impromptu conversation with another Christian about trauma, poor decisions and second chances would be what inspired her first novel.

She recently sat down with The Washington Times’ Higher Ground to discuss her book, “Chloe: Book One of Chole’s People A Novel,” and how it tackles the lack of empathy she sees in the church for those who have struggled to make good decisions in life as a result of their difficult backgrounds.

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“If you’re raised in a sort of a terrible home life, your choice, your way of looking at the world, is going to be very different from somebody who’s raised with God, with family values, traditional values, and so forth,” Ms. Chumley noted. “And so, the reason I wanted to write ’Chloe’ was to address what I think in the church is a failing to understand those who have really dark pasts or who are walking in what seems to many in the church to be a willful lifestyle of rebellion against God. And I wanted to sort of bring that to the forefront to help people in the church, those who believe, have more compassion reaching out to those who don’t.”

This powerful redemption story depicts the broken childhood of Chloe Richards, who was born into horrible conditions. Due to her upbringing, she has no idea how to identify and obtain the grace, love and acceptance of God. As she journeys through life, she faces many difficulties because of her past before God is finally able to reach her in some mysterious ways and provide a life free from shame, guilt, and regret. 

“I don’t think that your upbringing necessarily means that that’s how you’re doomed in your life and so forth. But I do think that some people have choices that are thrust upon them because their worldview is different,” she said. “I want [my readers] to feel compassion for those who have difficult lives right now… And then I want them to feel maybe a little bit motivated to ask God, ‘What can I do to help? What can I personally do to help somebody in my circle overcome and come to Christ, come to church?’”

The Washington Times opinion editor, commentary writer and host of the “Bold and Blunt” podcast said she does not believe that the church is intentionally uncompassionate. On the contrary, she believes that conflicting circumstances and worldviews simply make it more difficult to understand the perspectives of those who have experienced trauma, which is what we need in order to reach these people with a message of truth, hope and love.

“This isn’t to be judgmental because it’s through no fault of their own, really, right? If you’re raised with God and you’re raised to see the world through a biblical value, then you don’t really have the deeper understanding of what makes people in the dark really tick,” she said. “And so I think it starts with us in the church, understanding and having compassion without feeling as if we need to turn these people into complete victims and then being able to reach out to them with a little bit more effectiveness to help bring them to Christ.”

“And honestly, it really could just as easily be any of us. It’s only through the grace of God that we are not facing that situation right now,” she continued. “So, I think just starting with that viewpoint sort of gives you this air of humility first, where you recognize how God has saved you from that fate. But also, maybe makes you more open and softer to God’s prompting to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, how to effectively reach out to people like that.”

Chloe: Book One of Chole’s People A Novel” is now available where books are sold. 

Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.