Eleanor Shepherd Interview
Posted by Jayne on Oct 1, 2012 in Blog | 0 commentsShaped by Serving
A lifetime of serving has shaped award winning Canadian Christian writer, Eleanor Shepherd, and her message.
Welcome, Eleanor. Thank you for joining us today. How would you describe yourself?
I am a Canadian Christian who has been involved in various kinds of ministry for more than thirty years. ?Although my faith journey began as a child, it started to define my life in my mid-twenties.? With my husband, I served in ministry in The Salvation Army in Canada and France for many years.? We are now both involved in a Christian non-profit organization that works to improve medical care in the developing world.? I also work as a chaplain at a Seniors? Residence and with Salvation Army congregations in Quebec to help in the development of the spiritual life of the congregations.
My husband and I are the parents of two adult children and one grandchild.
Thank you for sharing your wedding photo, Eleanor. A special day and the beginning of so many adventures together. Over the years, as you?ve served the Lord in many different capacities, you also made time to write.?
I have written since I was in public school.? I had a teacher who believed in me and told me to keep on writing.? My father had had several books published, and my older brother wrote articles for magazines, so both were an inspiration to me.
The only time I quit writing was when I was in university.? I took a creative writing course and the professor told me that I could not write.? For that reason, I wrote nothing for about ten years.? Then I took a journalism course by correspondence and received a lot of positive feedback. ?I submitted some of the things that I wrote for that course to one of our denominational publications and they asked me for more.
What do you write about?
I write about some of things that I am learning on my spiritual journey.?I have written many articles about faith.? One of them was about a young man who came to faith from a? Muslim background.? He was part of a College and Careers Bible study that my husband, Glen and I led.
My first book. which I co-authored with my husband, was a Bible study called?Why Families???In it, we dealt with the importance of marriage and family. ?The study was geared to the College and Careers group that did the original pilot study of the material.
The second book in which I was a contributing author was?Hot Apple Cider.?My article, called Living Outside Your Comfort Zones, shared my son John?s story. ?John is 40. ?He broke his neck in a car accident ten years ago.
In 2010 my own book?More Questions than Answers, Sharing Faith by Listening?was published by Wifp and Stock Publishers in Eugene,OR.? This book received was the winner in the Christian Leadership category at The Word Guild Awards in 2011.
Eleanor, you have had quite a writing ?journey. How has your writing impacted you personally?
Writing provides a place where I can clarify for myself and others those things which I believe.? It helps me to think through what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.?It helps me ?sort through some of the challenges that have come my way, so that I can fit my life experiences into my changing and growing worldview.
Writing has given my confidence. I have learned that it is important for me to use this gift that the Lord has entrusted to me and that He will see that it is of benefit to others.? At the same time, writing has also made me realize how limited I am.? When I read what others have written and I am so powerfully moved by their words I realize that I still have a long way to go to become the effective communicator that I long to be.
Writing has given me a tool to encourage others. ?It is is not always in the pieces that are published.? Often it is?the more personal things that I have written or shared in my speaking that ?encourage others in their faith. Knowing God is somehow using me for His purposes builds my own faith.
We are all one-of-a-kind, and there is no one else who can write what we write. What is the God-given uniqueness that you bring to your writing??
I reflect a lot about faith and try to express some of these reflections in my writing.
I am convinced that the most transformative power in the world in the unconditional love of God for us.? I try to find ways to express this in my writing.? The experiences of life have taught me I cannot convince someone to believe, but the Holy Spirit of Jesus is able to open minds and hearts to the reality of faith.? What I want to do in my writing is open doors so that people can discover there is no reason to fear truth and to be open to the Spirit. ?To do that I need to be authentic in sharing my own understanding, and at the same time respectful of others whose experience is entirely different than mine.
Thank you, Eleanor.
To learn more about Eleanor Shepherd and her work, check out?emshepherd.blogspot.ca
Interviews with Eleanor on 100 Huntley Street:?youtube.com/watch?v=zjSkTG9AjlI
and Full Circle:?www2.crossroads.ca/fullcircle/player?vidID=22060
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