Author Marta Perry & Her Grandmother Mattie

My guest today is a longtime friend Author Marta Perry. She is a prolific writer and a good one too. Here's Marta:

"One of the strongest women I ever knew was my grandmother, Mattie Dovenbarger, but I didn’t realize that until long after her death. I was only eight when Grandma Mattie died. I remember being taken to see her during her last days, at the home of my aunt, and hearing my mother and aunt assure me that Grandma was slipping away into the arms of Jesus. Since she’d often spoken of Him, it seemed to me that she must be happy.

When I thought of her afterwards, I remembered most of all her patience and serenity. Grandma could sit for hours rocking a cranky child and play endless games with a sick one. I never saw her upset or angry, never heard her speak a harsh word. I knew, without asking, that when she sat with her Bible in her lap, eyes closed, she was praying, possibly for me.

Many years later, when I started researching my family history, I realized what an extraordinary woman she had been. Born in Ohio in 1869 to English and Pennsylvania Dutch parents, she married at twenty to William Dovenbarger and took up the life of a busy farm wife. Over the next eighteen years she had seven children, one of whom, Elizabeth Lucinda, died at age eleven in one of the flu epidemics which took so many lives. She saw two of her sons go off to Europe in World War I, praying them through until their safe return. She was only forty when her husband died, leaving her with three children still at home to support at a time when there was no government safety net. She worked hard, raised her children to lives of faith, and never seemed to lose her serene spirit or her confidence that God would show her the way.

Reflecting on my grandmother’s life led me to the desire to write about a character like her...a strong woman of faith who could endure all life’s difficulties and retain a sense of serenity and wisdom. That character is Miz Callie in my new series from Love Inspired, The Bodine Family. The central strength around which her large extended family revolves, Miz Callie was a joy to write. She came alive on the page for me, as I hope she will for readers. In the first book, TWICE IN A LIFETIME, available now from Steeple Hill Books, Miz Callie’s longing to resolve a family secret sends her granddaughter on a quest for the truth, as well as bringing her to a love she didn’t think she’d ever experience. Miz Callie, of course, knew better. Filled with Miz Callie’s love for her family, her devotion to God, and her love of the natural wonders of the Carolina coast, the subsequent books will follow the adventures of the rest of the Bodine clan as they come home to love.

And finally for Sentimental September: My mother left me some beautiful advice in a note I found folded into her Bible after her death. It reads, "Reach out to other people for Jesus, and you'll receive more than you can imagine." My mother and grandmother showed that in their lives. I hope I can do the same."--Marta

Marta has a new venture coming up soon. She has written her first Amish series: The Pleasant Valley Amish Series from Berkley Books, and the first book, LEAH'S CHOICE, debuts this November. I wrote an endorsement for Leah's Choice --Even if you're not a fan of Amish books, this one is captivating with tender and true emotion. Don't miss it! For more info, drop by her website.