Betty Ringeisen

Why I Started Writing:

As a kid, I devoured Nancy Drew books faster than a canister of Pringles. The suspense pulled me in, and Nancy's courage made me want to create stories that mattered. I dreamed of being a writer—until 4th grade language arts.

My teacher was infamous for being tough. One day, she called me to her desk, red pen ready, and ripped apart my essay while the whole class watched. By the time I walked back to my seat, my dream of writing had died.

Years later, after I married, I started writing annual Christmas letters to family and friends. To my surprise, people found them hilarious and kept asking if I was a writer. I laughed off the idea until a close friend said, "Betty, you have a gift. You should use it to encourage others." Her words made me wonder if maybe my 4th grade teacher had been wrong.

I went back to college to dust off my writing skills, eventually earning a Master's degree and the ability to write long papers with ease. But God kept whispering the same thing: Write a book. Through a series of divine nudges, I met my writing coach, Deb DeArmond, who walked with me as I wrote my first book, Waiting for Jedidiah: How to Experience God's Healing in the Midst of Miscarriage.

The Nancy Drew wanna-be finally held her first book in her hands.

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

As a child and young adult: Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon), Virginia Lee Burton, Lewis Carroll, Louisa May Alcott, Carolyn Keene, Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, and C.S. Lewis.

As an adult: Agnes Sanford, Leanne Payne, Bob Hamp, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, John Eldredge, Dallas Willard, and my coach Deb DeArmond.

Books I Have Written:

Waiting for Jedidiah: How to Experience God’s Healing in the Midst of Miscarriage

What I'm Working On Now:

Disrupted: How Jesus Transforms Our Thoughts About Sexual Abuse — a book about breaking shame, reclaiming identity, and experiencing healing through Jesus.