Letters to Myself from the End of the World

If you could talk to your younger self, what would you tell her? If you could equip her for the challenges she would face today, with the Church plagued by scandal and the culture on the verge of collapse, what would you say?

In Letters to Myself from the End of the World, Emily Stimpson Chapman answers those questions, weaving Catholic theology, biblical wisdom, and her own life experience into forty-five “letters” to her twenty-five-year-old self.

Both personal and practical, Chapman’s letters reflect upon sin and grace, the Church’s sacraments and saints, scandals and injustice, social media and prayer, suffering, adoption, motherhood, and much more. Written in real time, during the summer and fall of 2020, while pandemics and riots filled the news and as Chapman and her husband prepared to adopt a second child, Letters to Myself from the End of the World is a faithful guide for pursuing holiness and spiritual maturity in a world broken by sin. It’s also a testimony to the power of grace to heal our hearts, renew our minds, and transform our lives.

 

Emily Stimpson Chapman is an award-winning Catholic author of over a half-dozen books, including Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body, co-authored with Scott Hahn; The Catholic Table: Finding Joy Where Food and Faith Meet; These Beautiful Bones: An Everyday Theology of the Body; and The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide for the Single Years. She also is the editor of the high school faith formation series Formed in Christ and the author of numerous studies for the women’s ministry Endow. Chapman lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, Chris, and their three young children.

 

“In this beautiful, thoughtful book, Emily Chapman has spoken with candor and grace to the woman I was, the woman I am now, and the woman I hope to be. She sees the wounds that women bear and she points to the only One who can heal them. An invitation to a personal love story that culminates in holiness, these letters are a book of wisdom. This is the guidebook we need for holy womanhood, an essential volume that I look forward to sharing with my four daughters.”

Elizabeth Foss,

Author and Founder, Take Up and Read

 

“Inspiring, encouraging, and uplifting. These letters are filled with Emily Stimpson Chapman’s typical humor and down-to-earth style, and yet they are brimming with wisdom too. Emily shares from the heart about the ups and downs of life, marriage, motherhood, faith, and friendship in ways that speak to all of us, wherever we find ourselves struggling, and let us know we are not alone, we are made for more, and we are called to do great things.”

Danielle Bean, author of Whisper: Finding God in the Everyday

 

“With each letter contained in Letters to Myself from the End of the World you will get a glimpse of the sacredness of another person’s heart. This is what I experienced as I was reading Emily’s letters to herself. Emily shares her heart with the reader and it is a heart full of hope, wisdom, humor, sadness, honesty, questions, healing, and faith. There is a simplicity and authenticity in Emily’s letters that is disarming. For twenty years she has wrestled with substantive issues— suffering, disappointment, mercy, dreams, relationships, and faith. Emily has grappled with these things and come out on the other side. Her letters on what she has learned are inspired, graced. I look forward to her next installment, twenty years from now, to see what else God has taught her.”

Fr. Dave Pivonka, T.O.R., President of Franciscan University of Steubenville

 

“I love the format of Emily Stimpson Chapman’s book Letters to Myself from the End of the World—such a creative way to share her lived wisdom. She invites us on her journey, and her reflections guide us to reflect on how grace has and will guide us in the future. Highly recommended!”

Kimberly Hahn, author, Chosen and Cherished: Biblical Wisdom for Your Marriage

 

“Emily’s letters provide a healthy dose of both realism and comfort, and I found myself nodding along, laughing, and tearing up as she vulnerably and beautifully offered encouragement. Emily’s candor and wit gave me hope and issued challenge after challenge, and I’m grateful for her words and know that others will be too.”

Katie Prejean McGrady

Author and Host of The Katie McGrady Show on Sirius XM

 

“This is the book that we all need to read at the end of a year that exposed many of our fault lines. You will soak it up like dry earth receiving a spring shower.”

Adele Collins

Blogger, Simple Life Musings

 

“As I process the events of 2020, Emily Chapman gracefully puts to words the scattered emotions I often felt but could not articulate myself. Her heartfelt and vulnerable letters felt like getting a hug from a friend after a long day—or in this case, a long year.”

Emily Fossier

Blogger, Little Fossi Way

 

“Every person should own this book—man or woman, young or old. I not only felt like these letters were written for me but also saw the faces of so many friends and family that would benefit from Emily’s vulnerability, wisdom, orthodoxy, and hope. She does an incredible job of sharing the lessons she’s learned, guiding the reader through her own experiences of suffering and joy, on the way to meeting Christ over and over again. It’s the book that should be on every shelf or coffee table and in every gift bag and travel bag. You’ll want to read it more than once! I can’t wait to gift this book to my friends and family.”

Rachel Bulman, Catholic Speaker and Author

 

“This is not just a book, it’s a work of art—one I will be recommending to Catholic women of every age for many years to come.”

Emily Wilson Hussem, Founder of Emily Wilson Ministries