Finding Faith in the Tension of Joy and Grief: A Guest Post from Molly Stillman
Paperback $19.99
If I Don't Laugh, I'll Cry: How Death, Debt, and Comedy Led to a Life of Faith, Farming, and Forgetting What I Came into This Room For
If I Don't Laugh, I'll Cry: How Death, Debt, and Comedy Led to a Life of Faith, Farming, and Forgetting What I Came into This Room For
By
Molly Stillman
Foreword by
Kristin Hannah
In Stock Online
Paperback $19.99
From the host of the podcast Can I Laugh on Your Shoulder, this hilarious memoir of grief, loss, faith and hope is emotionally resonant and refreshingly personal.
From the host of the podcast Can I Laugh on Your Shoulder, this hilarious memoir of grief, loss, faith and hope is emotionally resonant and refreshingly personal.
How many times have you found yourself in a situation where you’ve said (whether out loud or internally), “If I don’t laugh right now, I absolutely will cry.” That mantra has served as an invisible string throughout my own life.
Growing up the daughter of two recovering alcoholic Irish-Catholics and a mother who was a Vietnam Veteran, our home had no shortage of laughter and colorful language. In the fall of 1994, my mom became seriously ill with a rare autoimmune disorder from her exposure to Agent Orange while she was in Vietnam. For eight years, she fought her illness until she passed away when I was a senior in high school.
Losing my mother at a tender age and subsequently inheriting a substantial sum of money could have defined my existence in vastly different ways. However, the allure of material indulgence quickly spiraled into financial ruin, leaving me mired in debt and consumed by shame.
Within the depths of despair, I searched for a lifeline. I had witnessed my parents find moments of levity amidst seasons of deep pain and suffering, I thought I’d do the same. I was in search of momentary happiness, but what I really needed was lasting joy.
Laughter alone cannot heal wounds that run deep.
For years, I wore humor like a beautiful new dress overtop a great pair of constrictive shape wear; I was showing it off, looking great to everyone else, yet covering up all the things I didn’t want people to see to the point it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
When the weight of life became too much for me to carry any longer, I found myself walking through the doors of a church, hearing the good news of where, through faith in God, I could find eternal hope and the source of real joy.
At its core, my memoir, ”If I Don’t Laugh, I’ll Cry” is a story of redemption – a journey from brokenness to wholeness, from despair to hope. It is a reminder that even in the darkest of moments, there exists a flicker of divine grace, waiting to illuminate the path forward. It serves as a poignant reminder that faith is not merely a crutch for the weak, but a beacon of strength for the worn and weary.
It’s my story, but it’s your story, too.
That’s the beauty of the human experience, right? If we’re blessed to live long enough, we’ll experience all that life has to offer. The laughter, the tears, the pure joy and the deep grief. We’ll win some and we’ll lose some. There will be love and there will be heartbreak. There will be sickness and health…birth and death. Life is not about the either/or. The beauty and brutality of life is that it is about the both/and. This book will bring you into the tension of feeling both joy and grief and show you that every broken, messed up story has a purpose and it’s possible to gain everything if you’re willing to surrender it all to Jesus. I hope this book makes you laugh, cry and laugh till you cry.