Is where we introduce listeners to people who have found their way out of the dark shadows of life and back to light and those who lead others on their journey from darkness to light.
STEP INTO THE LIGHT
Airs Tuesday Mornings at 8:00 AM MDT
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Patti’s Blogs; Patti’s Porch & The Over Fifty Writer; Podcast Step Into the Light
Meet seasoned authors, learn about new books and find inspiration to help you along your journey. No matter how far you’ve come or where you are going, I’d be honored to travel with you. If you like what you see, please subscribe to avoid missing updates.
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As an Army wife and CARE team leader, Erin witnessed first-hand the heartbreak that can come from sending a soldier to war. Although her husband is now retired, she remains passionate about supporting military families and hopes her stories touch her readers and create in them an understanding of military life. Join us as Erin talks about the battle she has fought with autoimmune disease, her passion for military families, her love for writing, and what she learned from a social media hiatus.
IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR SHERRY SHINDELAR TO THE OVER 50 WRITER. SHERRY SHARES A CHILDHOOD MEMORY THAT HELPED HER GAIN PERSPECTIVE ON PERFECTION.
PERFECTION
by
Sherry Shindelar
A few weeks ago, I was really frustrated with my writing. I was entering a contest, and I wanted to get everything just right. I wanted my chapter to be perfect, and anything short of that didn’t seem good enough. Then, I saw a box of crayons, and the Lord reminded me of a lesson I’d started to learn long ago.
When I was in 1st grade, I used to take my red crayon and draw a big red X across my workbook page if I had a single incorrect answer. If didn’t matter if there were 20 questions, and I got 19 out of 20 right. If I missed one answer, the whole page was wrong. I concentrated on where I’d fallen short instead of on where I’d succeeded. I wanted perfection.
It used to drive my teacher crazy, and it took a lot of scolding on her part, before I got it through my head: I didn’t need to throw out everything that was good because of one mistake.
I’ve since grown up and put away my crayons. But sometimes I still focus on the spot and forget to appreciate all that’s right, whether it’s in the beauty of a day or in my writing.
I think each of us can get so caught up in the step we missed or where we fell short that we stop climbing. We miss the mountaintop because we trip on a pebble. And too often we forget that we don’t run alone.
The Lord doesn’t expect us to get everything perfect. But He has called us to keep on running, to keep on climbing, and to keep our eyes on the finish line. Perseverance. Determination. Not perfection.
Originally from Tennessee and the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia, Sherry Shindelar loves to take her readers into the past. She is an avid student of the American Civil War, and her current novel in progress, Shenandoah’s Daughter, is set in the Shenandoah Valley during 1863 – 1864. When she is not busy writing, Sherry is a college English professor working to pass on her love of writing and literature to the next generation. Sherry won the 2020 ACFW First Impressions Award for Historical Romance and is a semi-finalist in the 2021 ACFW Genesis Contest in the Historical Romance category. In addition, she has won two MN State Art Grants and a RWA scholarship. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband.