The Promise of Hope: How the Book Came to Be

[MUSIC PLAYING] Hi. I’m Edward Grinnan, editor in chief of Guideposts and author of the new book “The Promise of Hope– How True Stories of Hope and Inspiration Saved My Life, and How They Can Transform Yours.” I started out to write a book about the experiences I’ve had as an editor for Guideposts, some of the incredible people that I’ve met and their unbelievable stories of hope and inspiration. And I wanted to talk a little bit about how those stories helped shape my own life and my own faith journey. 

But the more I got into the book, the more I realized that I, too, had a Guideposts story, one that I had never told the audience. It actually started when I was talking about the book with my wife, Julie, and our golden retriever, Millie Joe. I told Julie that I’d be writing this book about these stories and these incredible people I’ve met, and how they’ve affected me. And Julie said, well, you’re gonna tell your own story, aren’t you? You’ve never told that one. 

And I took a deep breath and I thought, that’s gonna be difficult, because there was a whole part of my life before I got to Guideposts which was a lot different than the life I lead today. And I was reluctant to talk about it because it was in the past, it was painful, and I really didn’t want to go back there and look at it. 

But Julie was persistent, and she said, why write a book about other people’s stories alone when you can tell your story, and you can help people by telling it? So I took Millie out for a walk, and I thought about it. And the more I thought about it, the more she was right. I had to tell my own story. And the thing she said to me that really, really moved me was, Edward, I married you because of your story. 

So that’s what I’ve done. And in addition to the stories that we tell, we also– I’ve tried to identify the nine crucial steps to personal change, because every story in Guideposts is about change, honesty, willingness, imagination, commitment, faith, forgiveness, acceptance, resilience, and love. 

In telling my own story and the other stories in this book, I hope to help you see what your own story is, and what your change and faith journey is. These stories had an unbelievable impact on my life. In fact, I can honestly say that Guideposts and these stories that I tell saved my life. I know that these stories are going to inspire you in your life and help you in your journey the way they helped me. 

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You can order my book by going to guideposts.org/promiseofhope. 

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