I crammed a four-year seminary degree into eight and one-half years. I intentionally paced myself through seminary so that my marriage would stay strong and my kids emotionally healthy. I finally graduated in May 2006. I had a mild heart attack the night after graduation. Fortunately, there was no damage to my heart and I am healthy now. I just need to work out more and eat less. About that same time my wife Ann started feeling poorly and lost her appetite. After seeing numerous doctors and undergoing various tests, Ann had diagnostic surgery to find out exactly what was wrong. The surgery revealed that her spleen was full of cancer. After a few weeks of uncertainty, we learned that she had angiosarcoma. This is an extremely rare and aggressive cancer. It is incurable. I began sending out email updates to inform family and friends about Ann’s situation and to request prayer. As time went on, my purposes for writing the emails grew. I figured that if God was allowing us to go through this valley, then I should share what we were learning, so that others might grow in their faith through the testing of ours. Dozens and dozens of readers regularly responded, indicating how my email had encouraged them in their own difficult situations. Many suggested that I keep and compile the emails into a book. During the second year after Ann’s death, I started packaging those emails and additional reflections into what became Honest Wrestling. I wept with every page that I wrote.

K. Howard Joslin earned a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2006, having received the Merrill Unger Award in the Old Testament.

Howard is also Certified Management Accountant (CMA).