Have you ever felt like this?
It was in this Season of Winter that a question presented itself: Who has suffered worse than me? And did they end up all right? The answer seemed obvious. Authors who had been actually, physically imprisoned. Could I read them and find my way into the light? Hope began to flicker.
The Road to Bunyan
I was in career transition at the time — leaving work as a mail room clerk to become an audiobook narrator — and I needed something to record. Dr. John Currid, professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary and one of the pastors at Sovereign Grace PCA in Charlotte, NC, knew of my darkness and despair. He wisely suggested I read John Bunyan.
The Pilgrim's Progress seemed too obvious. By God's Providence I came upon The Riches of Bunyan as Selected from His Works, originally published in 1850 — a collection of writings Bunyan produced during his twelve-year imprisonment. I retyped the source text, correcting errors, shortening sentences, and rearranging chapters. I eventually divided the collection into two volumes: Pilgrim on God and Salvation and Pilgrim on the Path to Eternity. These became the first entries in From Dungeons to Glory.
While doing the editorial work, I contemplated recording the text. The words were powerful. It seemed they would best be read as if John Bunyan himself were saying them aloud.
A note on the recording: I worked with Carol Monda — NYU Tisch teacher, Audie Award-winning narrator, and acting coach — to learn to inhabit Bunyan's dungeon experience. Her teaching was so effective I lost over 80 pounds during the project. Thanks, Carol.
From the Dungeon
The labor was intense. But John Bunyan's words lifted my head.
I journeyed from Winter to Spring. Depression and despair gone. I moved from a dungeon of my own making to the glory of God in Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.
And the series was born.
What about you? Are you lonely, sad, despairing, hopeless? Does depression grip you in its ever-tightening fist?
Friend, God's grace is sufficient for you — yes, even you.
The promises of Scripture are yes and Amen in Christ — and if you are in Christ, they are for you. Even when the darkness is powerful. Even when grace seems just out of reach. From Dungeons to Glory was created for the sufferer.
About the Series
To qualify for the series, a book must have been written by an imprisoned Christian author, or by an author affected by another's imprisonment. Physical imprisonment. Food deprivation. Beatings. Squalor. Death itself. These authors faced all of it — and yet their writings are wondrous, filled with hope and lofty, God-glorifying, soul-encouraging thoughts.
Whatever your Season — Winter, Spring, Summer, or Autumn — the arc of this series follows the arc of the seasons. The arc of Scripture. The life of Christ. Our own union with Him.
