Life’s Disappointments And Annoyances - Catherine Marshall

1914–83

If you’re not familiar with Catherine Marshall’s books, perhaps you’re familiar with the 1990s television series Christy, based on her book of the same name. Catherine’s mother, Leonora, was the inspiration for the novel. Like the title character, she taught in Appalachia in the early 1900s. Christy was just one of more than twenty-five books the author wrote during her lifetime.

Catherine, the daughter of a pastor, grew up in Tennessee and later West Virginia. She attended Agnes State College to study history during the years of the Great Depression and learned to rely on faith that her tuition needs would be met even though times were tough financially. After graduation in 1936, she married a minister, Peter Marshall. The couple moved to Washington, DC, where Peter eventually became chaplain of the United States Senate.

Struggles came when Catherine contracted tuberculosis and battled for three years with the disease, depression, and recovery, all while trying to raise her young son, Peter John. In 1949, her husband died suddenly of a heart attack, and Catherine found herself a single mother with a nine-year-old son. To provide for him, she turned to writing.

Her first book was a biography of her husband, A Man Called Peter, published two years after his death. In 1955, it was made into a movie. Catherine continued to write books of fiction, instruction, and inspiration. Ten years after Peter’s death, she married Leonard LeSourd, longtime editor of Guideposts. Together they founded a Christian publishing company, Chosen Books.

Catherine faced many disappointments after her first husband’s death, but her faith brought her through, and she was able to provide support to other strugglers. In Christy, one of the characters gives this advice: “My father always told us . . . that if we will let God, He can use even our disappointments, even our annoyances to bring us a blessing. There’s a practical way to start the process too: by thanking Him for whatever happens, no matter how disagreeable it seems.”

Can you think back on a time when a setback or annoyance eventually brought you a blessing? The next time you face a disappointment, can you trust that God can use it to bring more blessings?

Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:20