I am a freelance author and a women’s speaker. As a women’s speaker, I have spoken for Stonecroft Ministries throughout northern California, and have led silent retreats for women in my church. As an author, I have had stories published in Guideposts and Mysterious Ways magazines, and in the book Life Changing Miracles. I also host a blog, Christianquietude.wordpress.com.
My debut novel, The Riven Tree, is an allegorical picture book for trauma victims. The authority and credentials I bring to this book are my life-story: Growing up in a small tourist town on the shores of Lake Michigan, my childhood home was by all definitions “Christian.” Yet in the privacy of our home, my father was unpredictable and violent. This created deep-seated fears that affected how I viewed God, and how I believed God viewed me.
Trauma from growing up in that home altered my growth. The decisions I made about how to stay safe as a child created dysfunction in my adult life as a wife and mother.
Some years ago, while attending a silent retreat, I asked God questions about life that I had never before verbalized. His answer came to me through a vision that changed my life. Wanting to share this vision, I wrote The Riven Tree in order to bring hope and healing to other trauma victims.
I have been an interpreter for the Deaf, a stay-at-home mom, and a high school teacher. I hold a degree in Biblical and Theological Studies. My adult years were spent in the San Francisco Bay Area until recently when my husband and I retired to Idaho in order to embrace a slower and gentler pace of life.
Illustrator Bio
Deborah Knott Walker has a degree in both Art and English Literature from San Francisco State University. For twenty-five years, she taught AP Art, AP Art History, and AP English. The illustrations she has created for The Riven Tree are a reflection of her love and passion for all things in nature.