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Life upended by trauma. Overwhelming uncertainty. Faith unraveling. What do you do when your God image and self-image crumble? How do you risk again?
Nothing shapes our beliefs, actions, and behaviors more than our image of God and the image we have of ourselves. In Wild Ride, Sherill Hostetter leads readers through her journey of transformation. When accepting a call to serve in West Africa involves intense suffering, Sherill questions what she signed up for. As her sense of control and certainty in life crumbles, she is left with doubts, fears, questions, and laments. Readers accompany Sherill through her broken childhood in living with a mentally ill mother, her struggle to be good enough, her trauma in overseas missions, her wrestling to make sense of it all in light of her faith, and her courage to risk again. In these pages, you'll be invited to consider the landscape of your own life and engage with your own inner questions of who you are and who your God is in the suffering and uncertainties of life.
Sherill L. Hostetter is a retired HR/membercare director, spiritual director, coach, and consultant. After living in Nigeria, Swaziland, and Pennsylvania, she and her husband returned to live in Virginia, where they attended college.
“Wild Ride tells the honest story of someone who has not only survived but learned to thrive through dysfunction, brokenness, and disillusionment in ministry. As we witness Sherill finding freedom, we find ourselves hungry for our own! . . . I wholeheartedly recommend Wild Ride to readers, as few true stories offer such vulnerability and insight.”
—Stephen W. Smith, author of The Lazarus Life
“Once I began this memoir, I couldn’t put it down. That the raw, unrelenting succession of traumatic crises ultimately gives rise to an uplifting story is a wonder to behold. It’s a story that starkly names suffering—both one’s own and what one encounters in others. But above all, it’s a story of transformation as the author gains agency, voice—and a widening embrace of the mystery of God.”
—Sara Wenger Shenk, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, emerita
“How does one reclaim hope in desperate and incredibly painful circumstances? Feeling that God has left her stranded, Sherill sets out on a journey of deep searching—of finding herself and God. The reader is irresistibly drawn in by the crushing honesty and sheer courage of this wife and mother who comes to terms with her own vulnerabilities—entering into the beauty of mystery and uncertainty.”
—Lee Snyder, Bluffton University, emerita
“There’s no better place to mine out core values and transformative lessons than from within the crucible of our own stories. . . . In her memoir, Sherill has drawn water from her deep wells and offered it to us as a gift that will quench our thirst. Your journey through this book will not only be a wild ride but a profoundly meaningful journey.”
—Noah Kaye, Integer Network
“Wild Ride is compelling! Hold on tight as you experience the cross-cultural drama and the courage it takes to risk time and again. Sherill doesn’t tell us what to think or feel but invites readers to consider where their own story intersects with their image of God. This book is both gripping and meaningful.”
—Kaylene Derksen, Soul Care Institute
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