Charleston, SC, June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Palmetto Publishing has released Just Stand, a Christian living memoir by first-time author Melody Collins. Written while Collins receives hospice care for terminal illness, the book documents one woman's spiritual journey through diagnosis, fear, and the fight to keep standing when life collapses around her.
Collins, a mother of four and grandmother of seven, had recently entered retirement when she received diagnoses of severe heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes. Her memoir, also referred to as Just Stand, recounts the season that followed in unflinching detail. She writes not as a theologian or trained author but as a woman recording her testimony in real time. The book traces how she moved from self-reliance and quiet pride to a place of surrender, exploring what it means to accept help, lean into community, and trust God when prayers seem to go unanswered. Each chapter draws from lived experience rather than theory.
At the center of the narrative is a tension familiar to many people of faith: how to prepare for the worst while still believing for the best. Collins confronts the silence she encountered in prayer, the loss of the independence she had built over a lifetime, and the pride that she says nearly cost her everything. The stakes are not abstract. She writes from inside the storm, not from the other side of it. Her account raises a question that drives the book forward: what remains of faith when every circumstance tests it to the breaking point?
Just Stand is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
About the Author: Melody Collins is a mother of four and grandmother of seven whose life experience and unwavering faith form the foundation of her writing. Though not a professional writer by trade, Collins brings something no credential can replicate: an authentic, real-time account of navigating terminal illness with grace, courage, and deep spiritual conviction. Her debut book, Just Stand, is a testimony born from the most challenging season of her life.
After being diagnosed with a terminal illness and entering hospice care, Collins felt a profound calling to document her journey. Rather than retreat inward, she chose to write openly about the lessons she was learning about faith, humility, and perseverance. Just Stand is the result of that calling, a work of spiritual encouragement crafted not from a place of theory but from the raw, lived reality of someone walking through deep suffering while holding fast to her relationship with God.
Media Contact: publicity@palmettopublishing.com
Leah Joseph Palmetto Publishing katarina@palmettopublishing.com