You had to be five years old to be issued a library card at Liverpool Public Library in the lakeside town of Liverpool, New York, where I was raised. I signed up for mine within a week of my fifth birthday, and my enthusiastic interest in books began with Norman Bridewell’s The Witch Next Door. I renewed it to the limit of the librarian’s tolerance, not wanting to give up possession.
I’ve loved reading books ever since, and a child who loved to read turned into a child who loved to write.
The most significant event of my childhood was an invitation by a neighborhood playmate to Vacation Bible School when I was eight. There I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and was saved. I continued attending church with my friend’s family for the next several years while my own family was embroiled in drama and divorce. At the little independent Baptist church, I was discipled and loved.
I’m so glad that when God saves us, He keeps us. I got married after just one year of college -- because I knew everything and because I could. I had three children before I finally finished my undergraduate and graduate business degrees and then was divorced because of sin. Mine.
But what I meant for evil, God used for good. He humbled me and taught me that obedience is better than sacrifice. He led me from works-based discipleship to grace-based discipleship and gave me a deep desire to know Him. I devoured theology books and set my feet on the path of becoming a certifiable nerd.
As I was getting my career in international purchasing management established, I met Gary Armstrong, a newly-single dad of three girls, at First Baptist Church in Franklin, TN. Six weeks later, I moved to the Atlanta area for a new job, and Gary, back in Franklin, initiated a courtship via long-distance phone calls. The distance forced us to focus on discussing our spiritual commitments, parenting philosophy, and life goals. We married seven months later and have been going strong, by the grace of God, for nearly 30 years.
After a few years and relocations with Gary, I gave up my career to be a stay-at-home mom to teenagers. I used my spare time to study and teach God’s word to women, often writing my own studies. My first compensated writing was for a religion column in a city newspaper in Iowa. Through this opportunity, I met the manager of a Christian Television Network station who challenged me to develop a women’s Bible study program. Scriptureology was born, which I wrote, produced, and hosted for nearly four years until another relocation took me out of range for filming at a CTN station.
As retirement nears, our children have children of their own, and we are happily settled on a small hobby farm tending chickens and bees. I’ve melded my passions for writing and discipleship into fiction to edify saints through characters who, like me, want to live the late autumn and winter season of life for the glory of the One who gives abundant life.
