When chronic back pain forced longtime teacher Melissa McLaughlin into an early retirement she neither wanted nor expected, she feared she had lost the very thing that defined her.
After nearly three decades in the classroom, she suddenly found herself unable to sit, stand or drive without debilitating pain. The shift left her questioning her identity, her purpose and even how to pray.
“I felt like I lost my voice,” Melissa said. “I had cried out to God for healing and I didn’t understand why he would take away the gifts he had given me.”
Her journey back to purpose began not with a plan, but with a whisper. Unable to return to teaching and unsure what came next, Melissa turned to the scriptures she had loved since childhood.
She grew up in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania as the middle child in a close Christian family. She cared for a younger brother with significant disabilities, which helped shape her heart for teaching. But at 50, the familiar rhythms of her life fell away.
“I was in debilitating pain,” she said. “Simple daily tasks were overwhelming. I felt like everything I knew about myself had been stripped away.”
Losing her identity to find a new career
Her surgeon told her she was no longer a candidate for another procedure to reduce the pain. That news forced her to accept an early retirement she never imagined.
The physical pain was intense, but the emotional loss cut even deeper. Melissa realized how much of her identity had been wrapped up in her work.
“I loved teaching and I felt like my skills and talents were being used well,” she said. “But, I had placed too much of who I was in what I was doing.”
In the quiet of those difficult days, Melissa found herself returning to the Bible, not out of discipline, but desperation. She began reading scripture slowly, letting the words settle into the places where pain and confusion had taken root.
When she couldn’t form her own prayers, Melissa borrowed the words of the psalms and prophets, echoing them back to God in her own voice.
“I would take a short scripture and then respond with what came from my heart,” she said. “God’s word alone has power, but reflecting it back made my prayers richer and more meaningful.”
Sharing a new way to pray
As Melissa collected verses that brought comfort, she began rewriting them as prayers. The practice became a lifeline. It also became the topic for her first book, written for anyone walking through what she calls “a dark night of the soul.”
“I thought maybe someone else needed to hear how God met me in that place,” she said.
The book, “In Dark of Night When Words Fail Voice of Jesus Pray for Me” grew out of her own struggle to pray when pain and disappointment left her empty. It marked the beginning of a new chapter.
Around the same time, a friend encouraged her to start a Christian blog. Melissa had no experience with websites or online writing, but she took one small step at a time. She learned new tools, attended writers conferences and slowly built a space where she could share weekly devotionals.
“I felt like I was stumbling and bumbling through it,” she said. “But, I kept walking through the doors God opened.”
Seeing Jesus in every book of the Bible
Those steps eventually led to her second book, which is a whole Bible devotional designed to help readers see Jesus woven through every book of scripture. The idea grew from her desire to help her own children read the Bible from beginning to end, something she had done as a teenager.
“I wanted to give people a doable way to understand the big picture of the Bible,” she said.
The project took five years. Melissa read one chapter at a time, meditating on each passage and asking God what mattered most. She collected verses, narrowed them down and wrote prayers to accompany each one. The result is a 66-day devotional that offers a sweeping view of scripture without overwhelming readers.
“It deepened my relationship with the Lord,” she said. “Every time God invites me to write about him, he does a new work in me.”
Teaching in a new way
Melissa writes primarily for adults, but her years in the classroom still shape her approach. She explains scripture with the same clarity and gentleness she once used with young readers.
Today, her devotionals often begin with something that happened in her own life, then connect that moment to a biblical truth.
“God can use all the things in our lives to bring beauty or to help someone else,” she explained. “Sometimes, the very things that hurt us become the things he uses for good.”
Melissa also writes about the importance of thanksgiving, especially in seasons of hardship. Gratitude, she believes, softens the heart and strengthens faith.
“When we take time to thank the Lord, even for simple things, it prepares our hearts for greater faith in what he’s going to do,” she said.
Although writing has not replaced her teaching income, Melissa sees her work as an offering. She and her husband live on their retirement, which frees her to write without pressure.
“It’s really an offering to the Lord,” she said.
A new chapter after 50
Looking back, Melissa wishes she had asked God earlier where he wanted her to be. She followed the logical path, applying for jobs and accepting the positions which were offered. It wasn’t until teaching was taken from her that she realized God might have had other plans for her all along.
“I never imagined I’d be writing books or devotionals,” she explained. “But, God will do more than we can ask or imagine.”
For people over 50 who feel stuck or uncertain about their next chapter, Melissa offers gentle encouragement.
“Find joy in the journey,” she said. “God may close a door, but he will open another. It may not be the path you planned, but it may lead to blessings that last for eternity.”
Today Melissa continues to publish weekly devotionals at on her website, where readers can also request prayer or reach out with questions. She sees her writing not as a replacement for teaching, but as a continuation of it, reshaped by pain, yet rooted in purpose.
“God was peeling back the layers to reveal my true identity,” she said. “I’m a child of God. That’s who I am. And he’s still using my life, just in a new way.”
For more information
People can connect with Melissa on these platforms.
- Website = melissamclaughlin.org, where they can also sign up for her weekly devotional email
- Facebook = www.facebook.com/melissa.mclaughlin.79069
- X = www.x.com/MMcLaughlinsong
Melissa’s books, “In Dark of Night When Words Fail Voice of Jesus Pray for Me” and “The Whole Bible Devotional: Seeing Jesus in Every Book of the Bible” are available on Amazon and in other bookstores.
If you buy one of Melissa’s books from a link above, Forward From 50 may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
