Today we spoke with Cynthia Ruchti. Cynthia is an award winning author and speaker with 33 years of radio programming experience. Her most recent book is Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices. We talked to Cynthia about our pain, the pain of others, and how Christ comforts us all.

1) Was there a particular hurt in your own life, caused by someone else that became the catalyst for this book?

The primary catalyst for Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices was the pain I saw in others’ eyes, heard in their voices, recognized in their stories when I listened carefully to those struggling to breathe through the fallout ash of someone else’s unwise, unkind, or vile choices. The people whose actions make the headlines draw an excess of attention. But the highest prices are often paid by the innocent who are left to pick up the pieces.

Have I ever known that suffocating feeling, fighting hard to breathe? More than once. ...