When I was quite young, I received my first children’s mystery novel. Instantly, I was captivated by how it could transport me to another place and time. I became an avid reader.
The following Christmas, I received a small diary. I believe my mother saw a need in me to externally process, a place to pour out my feelings and ideas—probably because I was talking non-stop! That’s when I first fell in love with writing. Suddenly, I had a place to record my secret thoughts. Then, turning the little key inside the lock, I would tuck the book away from prying eyes.
By the time I was in my early twenties, I had begun keeping a journal. That opened upa whole new level in my relationship with my Heavenly Father. The pages of my journal became a place where I could pour out my joys and my sorrows, as well as my disappointments and longings. It was a sacred space where I could be completely honest with God. I have continued journaling ever since. Those thousands of journal entries would become my training ground for the books I would one day write.
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I wrote my first book, Ribbon of Redemption: True Stories Offering Hope and Healing because as a registered nurse in a life-affirming pregnancy center I was shocked to discover the devastation of abortion on effect abortion had had on so many. For over a decade, I encountered many who were agonizing over a devastating loss—a loss they never expected to experience. I wanted to have something to place in those precious people’s hands that would offer them HOPE.
Interviewing those brave men and women affected me deeply. To write their stories, I needed to experience their heartache and pain. It was pure joy, however, to learn of the tremendous healing they had experienced. As they found safe places to process their pain, and to allow Jesus Christ to minister to their woundedness, they each discovered a measure of freedom and peace that was beyond anything they had believed possible.
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My new manuscript-in-process, Call of the Water: Stories, Journalings, and Whisperings, is very close to my heart. I intend to dedicate this book to my husband, who died suddenly on April 13th, 2018. Charlie Farrell was by far my biggest fan and my strongest encourager. He believed in my ability to write stories, and he also urged me time and again to publish some of my journal entries. He felt people would benefit from hearing about both my struggles and my triumphs. To invite others into my private world with the God I adore. This book is my response to his wishes.
I’m also excited to debut three of my favorite women in the Bible. We don’t even know their names, yet the encounters they experienced with Jesus will rock-your-world. I have been fascinated with these women for the past eight years: the Samaritan woman, the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s garment, and the woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears and anointed them with precious oil. I can’t wait to share their stories with you and how Jesus transformed their lives. My greatest desire is to see your belief in God’s amazing power to heal and to restore the shattered pieces of our lives.