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Motherhood | Frugality | Journaling | Honors

“My life has always been an open book,” says Cheryl Carson. She began writing when she received her first diary at the age of 12, and she’s been writing ever since, her journals now filling 76 volumes. Several months ago, she began sharing her past journals with her family as part of their morning devotionals. “I want my children to be able to learn from my experiences and to know more about life through the things I learned the hard way,” she says.

When Cheryl was 28, she set a goal of becoming a speaker. In 1980 and 1981 she lectured at BYU Campus Education Week, and in 2005 she was a presenter at BYU-Idaho Education Week. In between, she has spoken to hundreds of audiences at firesides, youth and single adult conferences, and at many venues locally and in 13 states. “I love to speak!” she exclaims. “I love making people laugh and touching and teaching them at the same time.

“But I hate writing books,” she states. “Writing a book, to me, is blood, sweat, and tears. That’s why I have written only on subjects that I feel passionately about or things that I have struggled with myself.

“For example, my book Forgiveness: The Healing Gift We Give Ourselves was the result of my own intense struggle to learn how to forgive. When I was in my deepest pain, I remember thinking, ‘There must be some kinda trick to this! If I ever get it figured out, I’m going to share what I’ve learned with others who might be having a difficult time, as well.’”

After the breakthrough finally came, Cheryl spoke about forgiveness 16 times during the next year as a guest on a local radio talk show. There were so many requests for copies of the material she had shared, that it was compiled into a little 45-page booklet, then later a 90-page book. When a thousand of the little books were gone, she and her husband decided that, since it seemed to have struck a chord, it should be made into a “real” book. She rewrote it, added to it (164 pages now), and made it nondenominational. The book has gone all over the world, selling close to 12,000 copies, “simply by word of mouth, since we’re too cheap to promote it,” she adds with a smile.

Cheryl continues to hear from people who have read Forgiveness. Almost always, the message is the same: “I just want you to know that your book has literally changed my life. . . .” Often there are tears. “I finally have peace in my heart.” Interestingly, a disproportionately high number of people who are incarcerated have written. (But aren’t we all imprisoned when we cannot forgive?) One woman prisoner wrote, “I’m so glad; your experiences set me free!”

Cheryl’s second book, His Law Is Love, brought similar responses: “Your book changed my life. It helped me to see clearly what I never knew I never knew.” And, “If there is a manual on how to love and be more loving, your book is it!”

The Anguish—and Adventure—of Adversity was Cheryl’s third book. “Your book has opened my heart. . . . I still have trials in my life, but now I embrace them and know that the Lord will comfort me, that He loves me, and I am so blessed. Thank you for touching my life.” Another wrote, “I love every word in your book; it is so easy to read. I can relate. . . .”

Cheryl sums up her feelings: “When a reader writes, ‘Thank you for reaching out to others to heal with love,’ or ‘Thank you for sharing your life and your self,’ I am filled with joy and am so grateful to know that other people have been helped. I think then that all the pain I experienced and all the time and effort and energy it took to write has been worth it. That’s when I’m glad my life has been an ‘open book.’”