Jeff Gerke, A Man Who Loves His Wife

My guest today is Jeff Gerke, author, editor, publisher, and man who loves his wife. Here's Jeff:

"My wife has been my biggest support through all the crazy things I've done during our marriage. She worked full-time as a teacher so I could go to seminary full-time and graduate more quickly. Then when I announced I thought God was leading me not into ministry but to write fiction, she was my first fan.

When I moved her hither and yon across the country--we've now lived in all four time zones in the Continental U.S.--she was there beside me. She was there when I lost the occasional job and when my novels failed to achieve sales success.

And when I launched my own small Christian publishing company, she was not only cheering me on but helping me do it. She took more of the load of raising our children when I was writing my fiction craft book for Writers Digest.

At every step of our journey, she has been my strongest supporter. And all of this is without mentioning the 26 hours of labor she went through to deliver our first child. Or the grief we went through when we suffered a miscarriage. Or the shock we endured upon learning that our son was autistic.

She has suffered physically, as well. She endured a painful injection in her knee so she could walk the Great Wall of China--and the steps of Zhengzhou--to adopt our little girl in 2009. She's got near-herniated discs in her neck and cysts on her thyroid. She's lost both her parents to cancer and has had to move away from all her family and old friends.

And yet she still gets up every morning and fights the good fight. She cares for our toddler and does homework with our son and attends our oldest daughter's marching band competitions in the cold and rain. She cooks, cleans, shops--loves, cares, and perseveres.

She's a strong woman, a heroine in her own right, and I don't know where I'd be without her."--Jeff Gerke

Jeff has also just had his first book by Writers Digest published

Author, Editor & Publisher Jeff Gerke Honors His Wife

Today's guest is Author-Editor-Publisher Jeff Gerke, the third of the three brave men who have blogged during MEGA May in honor of their wives. Here's Jeff:


"This weekend I watched Shrek: Forever After with my son. It's got a terrific message about staying with your spouse and family, that you need to notice and rejoice when you have the life everyone wants. It was a good reminder for me--because I really do have the ideal life: wonderful wife who loves me, three beautiful children, nice home in a great neighborhood. I even have the pleasure of working in the Christian publishing industry. Robin has been my strongest supporter in my writing and publishing career. Back before I was published, I was so angst-ridden over a novel I was writing that I tried to take the floppy disk (yes, it was that long ago) it was stored on and throw it out into the rain. Robin physically wrested it from me. That day I agreed to write the book, but I was doing it for her, not for me and not even for God. In fact, I had come to believe that if I wanted to do it then it must not be God's will. But as soon as I sat down to write the book for her, I found a overwhelming peace and I realized God was pleased with me writing it. When I couldn't hear God's voice, Robin voiced it to me for Him. Years later, after I'd had numerous books published, I felt God was leading me to launch my own small publishing company.

Once more, Robin was my biggest supporter. We received a small inheritance when my grandfather died. We needed that money to go toward the international adoption we were at that time pursuing (we now have our Sophie from China!), but Robin made me use ~40% of the inheritance to help get my company off the ground.

Marcher Lord Press (www.marcherlordpress.com) is in its second year now and going strong. We publish the best in Christian science fiction and fantasy, so give us a look.

Robin would much rather stay at home to be with our Sophie, but she keeps her part-time job at the school where our son attends, in order to obtain insurance for her and the family. Happily, summer is almost upon us!

May I never have to lose what I have in order to realize what I've got. I want to make Robin feel cherished now."--Author, Editor and Publisher Jeff Gerke

Thanks, Jeff. I'm so happy you and your wife make such a great team. My own dh has always been behind me 110% and he's about to start his own business and I'm rallying and working with him. If any of you would like more information about Jeff's publishing house, drop by my website http://www.LynCote.net and click Christian Book Publishers.
Thanks for sharing and make sure you tell your wife to drop by!