Sunlight Burning at Midnight

A Memoir

Terminal. Abort. Try again. In a cold ultrasound room, a physician speaks these words to a young wife and mother. Twenty weeks pregnant, Jessica shoulders them alone, while her husband, Jason, is home caring for their first child. Their dreams for a perfect family, preparing to move into their perfect dream home, now lay in shattered pieces.

Yet despite their unborn baby’s terminal diagnosis, Jessica and Jason make a brave choice. They ask God for healing . . . and they wait. But we don’t always get to choose what healing will look like. Or when our trials will end. Only a few short years later, Jason collapses in the backyard, and Jess, now a mother of three, is called to trust God through another unexpected crisis. Another doctor, pronouncing another terminal diagnosis. This time, her husband’s life hangs in the balance.

In her poignant memoir, Sunlight Burning at Midnight, Jessica describes with raw honesty the tumultuous days that follow, as she clings stubbornly to God with the last ragged shreds of her faith. Somehow, right in the middle of the mess that is now her life, and even in the wake of devastating loss, God proves faithful, redeeming her tragedies in the unlikeliest of ways.

Her miraculous journey through love and loss, and then to love again, inspired a national audience during a featured appearance on NBC’s Today Show. It’s a story of hope, of healing redefined, and of a faith that rose from the ashes to become something as beautiful and unexpected as sunlight burning at midnight.

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Author Bio

Jessica Ronne (MA in English, Grand Valley State University; BA in Secondary Education, Calvin College) recently completed her master’s degree; it only took her nine years. She’s married to her best friend, Ryan, who puts up with a lot from her, as do her children who have the unfortunate reality of growing up with the most introverted mother in the world—proof that God does indeed have a sense of humor. Favorites and hobbies include pizza, wine, and goat cheese. Once upon a time she taught school. Now she writes random, irrelevant, humorous, chaotic, and hopefully inspiring musings on life including love, faith, widowhood, remarriage, adoption, handicapped parenting, eight kids, and simple living, all in the hills of Tennessee.