The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright

Last night I read The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright. What a wonderful story of love and commitment; forgiveness and redemption. A beautiful story line entertwines the pain of the past with the challenges of the present; the example of loving and devoted parents with the discovery of some of their deepest, darkest secrets; the loss of death opens the window to knowledge of things that turn the world upside down, if only for a moment. The example of the Wednesday letters will lead many of us to write more letters– to reach out and to communicate with loved ones even during the rough spots.

The message of this book was particularly timely and healing for me personally. It was a story of betrayal and pain; healing and forgiveness; rebirth and change; and in the end it was revealed that things are not always as they appear to be– even that which appears to be rock solid ‘proof’ can turn out to be misperceptions or even ‘planted’ and ‘contrived.’ It is absolutely amazing to realize what humans are capable of doing to each other when human emotions take over. I have spent this past week focusing on love and forgiveness in the wake of one of the most painful and far reaching betrayals of my life. I have spent literally hours learning to love and forgive those who have such malice towards me in their hearts for injustices I have yet to understand or be notified of.

As always, these experiences have also led to some incredibly beautiful and life-changing personal experiences as well and has opened a new chapter of my life. Sometimes when it is too difficult to stand you have no choice but to kneel; it is a humbling, but beautiful experience to have to rely 100% on a higher power and allow Him to carry you until your feet become steady once again. Only going to such incredibly great depths of pain can lead to such heights of progress and joy (that I know will come eventually). As the book winds up and the ‘truth’ comes to light I found the tears flowing, not only for the characters in the book who had finally achieved some resolution after literally YEARS of waste and unnecessary pain, but for myself– for the losses of the past week which are very real, in spite of the gains; for the knowledge that it can take time– even years– for the full truth to come to light and a name to be cleared of false accusations; for the emotional release of realizing that you are not the only one that has ever gone through the experience, and in fact, others have suffered far more. While I realize that the book is fictional, it is written in such a way that it is very real and you know that others have indeed experienced similar circumstances.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever loved, who has ever hurt, and who has ever wondered if the sun would ever shine again.