YOUNG SUFFERING CLUB

the young suffering club shares real-life, hard-won insights found in the midst of pain. we’re seeking to re-narrate our stories by asking “What if we bravely wore our suffering as a badge of honor? what if suffering connects us to a community, instead of isolating from the world?”

Melissa Niednagel

From accidentally taking a life, to serving a prison term, to losing both parents from the same rare brain cancer, Melissa has walked some incredibly hard roads in recent years. Yet on the other side of everything changing, she has found freedom and hope.

The Smiley Family

The Smileys have walked through every parent's worst fears with courage, grace, and joy. Read their story raising a child with the rarest form of a rare syndrome and glean from all the valuable insights from their journey of suffering and hope.

LISA & ERIC BARLOW

We met Lisa and Eric Barlow while we were all in brain rehab together about a year after Katherine's stroke. The Barlows' story of suffering young is painful but full of grit and grace, just like them. In the years since everything changed, they have gone on to do some truly unbelievable things motivated by a deep sense of God's calling in their lives.

KATHERINE & JAY WOLF

7 years ago, on an ordinary day in April,we became members of the Young Suffering Club. We didn't join willingly, and if we could have revoked our membership, we would have. Yet this club of which no one wants to be a part has many members, maybe even you.