Surprised by Grace by Elizabeth Sherrill

Sherrill, who has written the life stories of people like Corrie ten Boom and David Wilkerson, has finally written her own. She has woven together a narrative that includes her personal life with the events of her writing career.

She did not grow up in a happy home. Fortunately, she had an older friend who listened to her and understood her, especially during those years of conflicts with her parents. She writes about meeting John on the Queen Elizabeth in 1947 and their deciding to marry after knowing each other for six weeks. They lived in Paris for a time.

Back in the States in 1951, John was hired by Len LeSourd (Catherine Marshall's husband) to write for a new publication, Guideposts. John made it clear he was agnostic. That didn't bother LeSourd, confident that the belief would come. Elizabeth began writing for the magazine later and both of them have been doing so ever since.

The Sherrills decided they needed to try out churches but had a bad experience. After six years at Guideposts they decided to try an Episcopal church. There they found a home.

John had taken a leap of faith but for Elizabeth it was more of a crawl. She comments that writing for a Christian journal made their journey to faith harder. She did struggle with depression for years beginning in her twenties when she was married with two little boys and a third on the way.

Included in the book are spiritual insights Sherrill has gleaned from experiences and observations. She also shares stories from some of the interviews they have done. There are suggestions for discussion at the end of the book.

Food for thought: On identity, “On the way to heaven we become ourselves.”

I am taking part in a blog tour of this book and you can read other reviews here.

Elizabeth Sherrill is the author behind the classic bestsellers The Hiding Place about Corrie ten Boom, The Cross and the Switchblade about David Wilkerson, and God's Smuggler about Brother Andrew. She is also a long time contributor to Guideposts and the best-selling devotional, Daily Guideposts. Find out more about her at http://www.elizabethsherrill.com.

Guideposts, 183 pages.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Litfuse for the purpose of an independent and honest review.