Meeting My Younger Self for Coffee - episode 262
Yes, we talked about what brought Karen to write 8:28 Hope in the Darkness. It was the loss upon loss upon loss and how she forged ahead. Add to that years of experience in supporting others just like her, navigate the tricky waters of grief, and continue on because well, you kind of have to. There are stories and tools within her pages to help us. All of that was talked about. Then Karen shared a writing exercise she did that was packed full of insight and revelation: Meeting My Younger Self for Coffee. Check it out for some serious inspiration. Karen Hacker is our guest this week for Thinking through My Fingers: a Writers Series.
You can find Karen at 8:28 Hope.
She has been on UY before in I’m a Very Good Listener.
I never considered myself a writer.
It’s a God thing.
— Karen Hacker on why she writes
Looking Ahead from Before
Thoughts from Meeting My Younger Self for Coffee, a writing exercise by Karen Hacker
We were both on time because our mom taught us well—being on time shows respect for the person you’re meeting.
She ordered a café mocha, and I ordered a non-fat vanilla latte.
She told me she wanted to find a man who would love her the way Dad loved Mom—with kindness, respect, and fun. I smiled and told her she found him.
She told me she was shy, the youngest in the family, never feeling confident enough to speak because everyone else was older and wiser. I told her she would go on to impact more lives than she could ever imagine. That one day, she would share her story and help people all over the world.
She told me that after she lost her first son, Matthew, and then had a miscarriage a year later, she didn’t think she could ever be happy again. I told her she would never forget Matthew and her other baby, but she would have two more children, Ryan and Avery, and they would all live lives of significance, joy, love, and deep purpose.
She told me she never felt comfortable or confident speaking, writing, or being a leader. I told her she would become the CEO of a company, write a book, co-found a nonprofit, and co-lead a ministry for 30 years with her husband—helping people through grief.
She told me how much she loved her family, how she prayed for them every night, and how she was afraid of losing them. I gently told her that her greatest fear would come true—she would lose her entire family to cancer over a six-year period.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she whispered, “I don’t think I could survive that.”
I reached for her hand and told her that when the unimaginable happens, God carries us through the darkest valleys. That grief would shake her to her core, but with time, faith, and hope she would find her way to peace and be able to experience joy again.
She told me she wanted to make a difference in the world.
I smiled and told her she already has. Because of her life experiences, the loss of her first two babies, and eventually, the loss of her family, she would go on to make an impact greater than she ever dreamed possible. God would use her life for good and for a purpose greater than herself.
She looked at me, processing it all, and for the first time, I saw something new in her eyes—hope.
And with that, we finished our coffee and hugged. She said she hoped to get together again soon and I told her I would love that.
When Rick travels I write. I like to be in my little cocoon.
— Karen Hacker on when she writes
