Author Kristen McNulty didn't figure on writing what she did. But with her upcoming Walking Through A Fallen World, it seemed that God had something else in mind. While experiencing her own pain and suffering, God called her to author something on the same topic, while leading her through both experiences. Here, Kristen shares more on this journey and the inspiration for it all.

Matt: How did the whole idea for Walking Through A Fallen World come about?

Kristen: Well it's always been a dream of mine to write a book, but this was not the book that I dreamed of writing. To write about something, you need to have experience on the topic and I would love to be inexperienced on this topic. Unfortunately in life things don't always go according to plan and sometimes we face some pretty rough circumstances. Walking Through A Fallen World was birthed out of the trials that I've faced in my life and the questions that were raised in the process. I knew that I wasn't the only one out there wondering why things go wrong in life and where our faith fits into the bad times, so I thought it would be interesting to capture part of the journey.

Obviously, we all have our share of hard times or trials. So what made you decide that yours were worth sharing about?

Well, when I first started writing the book the idea was not to focus on specifically what I had gone through in life, but rather to talk about the lessons I learned in the process and the questions that were raised without going into too much detail. Because after all, what I've faced in life is no worse than what many other people go through. I didn't want it to be all about me and therefore I was hesitant to use personal examples. But then shortly after finishing my first draft of the manuscript I faced a major illness and through that experience, I had the opportunity to first hand apply what I had just written about and in a way I became my own focus group. I realized that not talking about how I learned these things would be like ignoring the elephant in the room, so I went back and changed some stuff, added others, and part of my story came out naturally in the process.

It seems that the nature of all of this is no less than Divine in nature. Would you agree? And if so, how?

I would certainly agree with that statement! As I mentioned previously, it's always been a dream of mine to write a book, but I never thought I would complete one before I graduated from university. But the seed was planted for Walking Through A Fallen World and two summers ago I got a three month break from school, which was very unusual -- I'm completing my degree by correspondence and usually the classes go right through the year.

As I was thinking and praying about what to do for the summer, an overwhelming feeling came over me that I was supposed to write now, not later. So I got started. Only God could have known that only months later I would need the words of the book to help me in my own life and only God could have lined up the publishing contract the way it happened. It's truly amazing- not only does God plant the dreams deep down inside of our hearts, but He also opens the doors for them to come into being at the perfect time!

Now, you don't touch on every possible subject that you could have in this book. Can you tell us why you decided to write on the topics - or chapters - as you did?

Well when I sat down to start writing the book, I knew that I wanted to cover three things: the purpose behind trials, the process of being changed by what we face, and finally the promises that God gives to us during those times. In other words, where our faith fits in the midst of it. Once that shell was laid out, I jotted down possible topics to look at in the various chapters and then went back and re-evaluated the list I had come up with. For each topic I asked myself, "How necessary is this?" and "If I was facing something horrible right now would I really want to be reading this?"

Suddenly that list of topics to write about became much shorter. Because I could have written a 80,000 word book on the subject, but who really wants to read something that long first of all? And secondly, do more words really do anyone a favor? There are only so many ways you can say the same thing and when someone is hurting it seems like the more you talk the less you really have to say. We will never completely understand why some things happen no matter how much we write, think, or talk about it. And I think that's where faith fits into the picture.

Is it hard to write about this subject without sounding preachy or cliche? Because being in a moment where you're hurting, sometimes you don't want to hear the standard "God has a purpose" or something along those lines...

Yes very much so because all too often "God has a purpose" is all we hear when we are hurting and after hearing it for a while, it's very tempting not to use that statement as a catch-all solution to every problem. But I guess it's a good thing that I was experiencing pain while I was re-writing many parts of the book because I knew for myself "God has a purpose" wasn't satisfying my experience. I wanted answers beyond that and although not every question I had was answered, I believe that I've been left with a better understanding of the less-perfect side of life and I hope that that understanding is passed onto those who read the book.

You mentioned other types of writing that you wanted to do rather than this book? Are those eventually going to come to fruition? What were those ideas?

When I first started writing, most of what I wrote was fiction and I do have an idea for a novel that I've been kicking around for a while. But a big part of my interest lies in writing non-fiction, specifically about faith and how it practically fits into (and changes) our lives. One topic that I would really like to write a book on is using your God-given gifts. It seems there are a lot of books on finding your gifts, but I'd love to write one on how we can practically use what God has given us when we're not one of those called to full-time ministry. If it was up to me, I'd start writing that book today, but I have a lot of other things on the go, so it'll have to wait until I'm able to free up a bit of time.

Finally, what is the main message you are wanting to get across with Walking and is there any ideas for follow-up materials?

The main message that I hope to get across is that even though we are walking through a fallen world, God hasn't left us to navigate the twists and turns on our own. If we allow Him to, He will come alongside of us in this journey and help us to get through the bad times and He will rejoice with us during the good times. But it all comes down to our own decisions: Are we going to allow Him to move in our lives even when it hurts? Are we going to trust Him even when we don't understand? Or do we nail shut the door as soon as the calm waters turn to waves?

The answers to those questions really makes all the difference on how well we get through the things that we do face. Because when it all comes down to it, although we are living in the by-product of a fallen world, Jesus still offers us abundant life in the everyday. The same man who calmed storms, walked on water, raised the dead, healed the sick, and comforted the grieving- lives today and when we allow Him to reign in our lives through every season, He changes us. And suddenly we start to see our lives through His eyes and then even that painful trial begins to look a whole lot differently.

As far as follow-up materials, I plan on making available some free materials for the book on my website (www.kristenmcnulty.com). Right now the plan is a discussion guide and links to resources mentioned in the book. In the future there may be more depending on what kind of feedback pours in and what the readers are looking for.