A guest post from N. Y. Dunlap
For most of my life, I had no idea what church hurt truly was. I’d heard the phrase, but it had never touched me personally. I hadn’t endured it. I didn’t know the ache of walking into a sanctuary full of hope and walking out wounded.
Before writing Praise Through the Pain, I spent eight years as a social worker in Southern California. In Extended Foster Care (EFC), we supported youth until age twenty-one, helping them navigate college, vocational training, and recovery from unimaginable trauma—including sex trafficking. I saw resilience, sorrow, and tiny miracles, but also the fragility of trust.
When the Brave Authors anthology called for stories about church hurt, I hesitated—until I remembered a foster youth who spoke of her grandfather as a pastor of a “good church,” though her words hinted otherwise. I prayed silently for her and felt God nudging me to explore the subject. Then I turned to music, searching YouTube for “church hurt songs,” and found Hannah Kerr’s Church Hurt. The raw testimonies in the comments—of believers surviving judgment, rejection, and spiritual manipulation—stayed with me.
And the seed of the story grew: Alexis, a praise dancer, off-duty paramedic, and devoted aunt to her nonverbal nephew, hurt by the church she once loved. Elijah, the son of a megachurch pastor, searching for the woman who saved him, only to find she refuses to return to any sanctuary.
Their journey is tender, messy, and sometimes humorous, but deeply grounded in the truth: we were never meant to heal alone. God uses community, compassion, and love to reconnect what fear tries to sever.
Though I haven’t endured church hurt myself, I’ve seen what God can rebuild. Praise Through the Pain is my offering, my hope, and my prayer—for anyone who longs for God but fears people, anyone needing time to trust community again, and anyone who simply loves a tender, faith-filled romance.
Elijah and Alexis are waiting. I hope you grab their story on Kindle Unlimited, as well as the remainder of this amazing anthology. May we all continue to praise Him—even through the pain.
About N. Y.
N. Y. Dunlap is an emerging Christian romance novelist who loves to string together words in a creative, poignant way. God called, and she listened. You can expect to read romantic stories that abide by faith, hope, and love.
Nicole graduated with a Master’s in Educational Counseling from Azusa Pacific University, where the motto, “God first,” encouraged her to work with inner-city youth and their families. Nicole lives in Sunny California with her husband and three children.
