Inspired by two poets, George MacDonald and Betty K. Aberlin, Judith gives us her version of daily reflections in poetry. Within these short but courageous poems, she shares her journey in faith and doubt, disappointments and success, fears, frustrations and the unfolding of her life in a small, rural town in the Southwest. Some days, she shows off her light-hearted acceptance of small-town life. Other times, she explores emotions and truths that rarely surface from the depths of one's soul. Like the rest of us, Judith's days change with the seasons, sometimes with the rising sun of a new dawn; the poems reflect this cycle. It is this repetitive, daily poetic meditation that offers a fuller understanding of Judith, her joys as well as struggles, and her particular way of daring to witness. While her poems come from her rural lifestyle, the lessons are universal. Judith invites readers to enter their own daily reflections on each blank page that accompanies her prayer poems. She hopes her words might provide a gentle push and encouragement to all of us traveling this path called Life.

This is the inspiring memoir of a woman raised within the cultural confines of a Midwestern Catholic upbringing in the 1940s and '50s, and her life's journey as her consciousness awakens. Her path takes her through the expectations of the church, a painful marriage with an undiagnosed bipolar husband, and her food addiction. Desperately looking for guidance and answers to her innermost questions, she encounters a series of "gurus"-bringing her unexpected but valuable lessons that she integrates along the way. And at the age of sixty-three, she begins to reinvent herself-and a beautiful, gratifying life of her own begins to unfold. Interwoven throughout her story are poems that deeply express her feelings in a way that the reader won't forget. This true story of a woman who learns to come to terms with herself, thereby opening the door to real freedom, will benefit readers of all ages.