About the Book

Book: There is Hope

Author: Carla Huelsmann

Genre: Journal, devotional, memoir

Release Date: August, 2018

52 life lessons for those struggling with major illness will inspire hope and encourage those suffering to take back control of their lives.

Carla Huelsmann dealt with the daily impact of seizures since age two. Her life-long battle with epilepsy impacted all parts of her life, family, career, self-confidence, and independence until corrective brain surgery ended the seizures. Free from the debilitating seizures and their accompanying residues of doubt and fear, Carla Huelsmann lives independently and shares her story to help others along their own journeys.

Part journal, part devotional, and part memoir, this is a book of hope, faith, and inspiration. The book addresses the fears, challenges, and questions about the future those going through a major illness, debilitating injury, or life crisis may have. Designed as a traveling companion for those facing challenging circumstances, each one-page entry is accompanied by blank space for the reader to journal his or her own thoughts and prayers.

My goal is to give hope, help, healing, and resources. I want to walk alongside others and assure them they are not alone; there is hope. -Carla Huelsmann

Click HERE to get your copy!

About the Author

Carla Huelsmann earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Eastern Illinois University, subsequently taught grades five through eight, and now works for the US Department of Veterans Affairs in St. Louis, MO. The alumnus of a fiction-writing course at Southern Illinois University, and the CLASS Seminar with Marita and Florence Littauer, she is also the author of articles on her experiences, and is available to speak.

More from Carla

I want to inspire and equip others struggling with epilepsy or other major illnesses to take back control of their lives. Eighteen years after corrective surgery, I live a seizure-free life that I feel in control of. And, I want to share my story and lessons learned with others facing serious challenges. My goal is to give hope, help and healing and resources of helpful information in one book. I want to walk alongside them and assure them that they are not alone and there is hope!

I’ve dealt with seizures, epilepsy and their daily impact since the age of two. It has impacted my family, career, self-confidence, independence and much more. Through it all, family, friends and faith have provided bedrock sources of strength. In addition, timely interventions by doctors, new contacts, new techniques and self-discipline came at opportune times through perseverance.

Now free from the tunnel of doubt, fear and debilitating seizures, I’ve gathered up my collection of personal journals and thoughts in order to help others along their journey. “There Is Hope: Bloom Where You are Planted” is a devotional for someone going through major illness, major injury, or life crisis.

My Review

After reading “There is Hope”, I have conflicting feelings about it. I was looking forward to reading it because of its focus on major illness, and because it is a devotional. However, I think that labeling it a “devotional book” on the front cover is a misnomer; had it been marketed as a memoir, readers would have a better idea of the content. Had I not been expecting devotional material, I think that I would have appreciated this book more. There is a Scripture verse at the end of each brief chapter, but in several cases the connection is not immediately discernible. I liked the setup of this book, with a “Your Turn” journal page after each chapter, but I did think that the prompt for each of these could have been a bit more thought-provoking and stimulating, and the majority of them did not have inherent spiritual application. If “There is Hope” were to be categorized as an inspirational memoir, I would consider it much more suitable.

With that being said, approaching this book as an inspiring account of the author’s struggle with epilepsy makes for an interesting and encouraging reading experience. The entries, usually half a page or slightly longer, are bite-sized and can be read in a minute or two, which affords readers plenty of stopping places to reflect and consider the journal prompts without feeling as though they are pulling themselves out of the story. I will say that there are grammatical errors, and the chronology is rather discombobulated regarding dates and the number of years that are said to have passed, which is not seemingly related to this being a reprint edition. Nevertheless, Huelsmann’s experiences with epilepsy are educational as well as inspirational, and I applaud her for not glossing over the hard days and for encouraging others not to give up or fall into despair. She writes, “Anytime I gave into [sic] my worries, fears like fiery darts peppered my emotions. Instead, I learned to hold fast to my victory through Christ who gave me victory.” With Jesus, there is always hope!

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.