A Lantern for Others in Dark Spaces: Jen Hatmaker on Sharing Her Most Tender Story

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The day has finally arrived—Awake is officially out in the world. In this heartfelt episode, Jen Hatmaker opens up about a story she’s held tightly for years, one she’s finally ready to share. Jen takes us behind the scenes of writing Awake—a memoir told in vivid vignettes and written in real time, as if each scene were recounted the very day it happened. The book unfolds in three parts—The End, The Middle, and The Beginning—mirroring Jen’s own journey of healing and awakening to hard-won truths. She invites us into her path of recovery while honoring the many women who held up lanterns along the way, giving her the courage to keep going. Jen reflects on confronting patriarchy, purity culture, body shame, and the fragile foundation that once defined her marriage. But this book isn’t just about pain. It’s about joy, resilience, and the courage to step into a new beginning. Most of all, it’s about you. Because it was your presence, your listening, and your courage that made Jen brave enough to tell it. Now, it’s yours. Thought-Provoking Quotes: “I was in the pitch black, dark night of the soul. Everything was so shrouded in grief and loss and fear but I could see all these little lanterns from my community going, ‘Keep going. We're here. We're with you.’ I'll never get over that as long as I live.” – Jen Hatmaker “Awake is the lantern I am holding up for women everywhere who need someone else to tell them, ‘Keep going. You're not alone… I still believe some of your best days are ahead of you.’” – Jen Hatmaker “I can trust you, the reader, to take exactly what you need out of each and every moment, memory, everything, and alchemize that into your own life, into your own story.” – Jen Hatmaker “The fits this book gave me, trying to write in real time! Writing an eighth-grade memory took me a third of the book just to get the tense of my verbs right.” – Jen Hatmaker “If I'm gonna tell the story, then let's tell the story. Not the shinier version, not the less humiliating version, not the one that never indicts me. There’s no integrity in that.” – Jen Hatmaker Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker - https://amzn.to/4pduwXb Bumble – https://bumble.com/en-us/ The Interview: Jen Hatmaker’s Life Exploded in Middle Age So She Built a Better One, New York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/magazine/jen-hatmaker-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gU8.lLli.3EiQjqtofz3g&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Jami Kern Lima – https://jamiekernlima.com/ Connect with Jen! Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker Jen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.