MARYSVILLE — Marysville’s Kathy Goodhew began writing as a way of recovering from her own wounds, but she stuck with it out of a desire to help ease the suffering of others.

“A Vision Beyond Abuse” is Goodhew’s first book, and it details the decades of abuse that she endured in not just one but two relationships. She began writing the autobiography in November of 2009, and on Feb. 4 at 3:30 p.m., she’ll be signing copies of it at Marysville Chiropractic, located at 1617 Grove St.

“It took an unexpected event, in this case the death of my brother, for me to reevaluate my own broken past,” said Goodhew, a soft-spoken middle-aged woman with a halo of blond hair. “I began writing for my own healing, but I kept getting this silent nudge that I needed to do more.”

As a devoutly religious person, Goodhew attributed that silent nudge to a higher power and is grateful for its influence in her life. Not only did Goodhew credit God with giving her the strength to survive the physical and emotional abuse to which her partners subjected her, but she also expects to rely upon God’s guidance as her book continues to circulate.

“I decided to try it before I could change my mind,” Goodhew said of publishing her autobiography. “Only my husband knew that I’d submitted it. To protect their privacy, I didn’t use certain people’s actual names, but they didn’t know I was writing a book so I don’t know what will happen. I just have to trust in the Lord.”

Michael Goodhew is Kathy’s current husband, the man she met at a “Parents Without Partners” meeting after she had escaped from her previous two relationships. While Kathy emphasized the importance of her faith in the Lord in her recovery, she also found someone whom she could trust in Michael, a widower who had lost his former wife to breast cancer.

“There was no pressure,” Kathy Goodhew said. “Everything we did at first, we did as part of groups.”

That sense of safety was a welcome change-of-pace from Goodhew’s previous relationships. After leaving her first husband, she found herself in another relationship that put her through even more pain.

“I walked into it much too soon and wound up far deeper than I could comprehend,” Goodhew said.

Although Goodhew offers no advice in her book, she hopes that it can provide some comfort to those coping with similar experiences.

“Sometimes, living through abuse is like living in a fog,” Goodhew said. “I didn’t know what I should be doing, so I leaned on God to carry me through. My own healing turned into God’s purpose and I don’t know where it’s taking me, but it’s a new frontier and I’m looking forward to it.”

For more information on “A Vision Beyond Abuse,” you may log onto www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore or e-mail Goodhew at kathy-goodhew@comcast.net.