Lessons from My Ordinary Life

Loretta's purpose in writing her life experiences is to (1) show how God has been faithful and given her strength, (2) to help other women in their walk with God, (3) to help her seven granddaughters learn to find strength in God's faithfulness.

This book is divided into seven sections, each a different period of her life. In each section, she shares Bible verses that have helped her.

"From My Youth"

Loretta was raised in church, her mother was a Christian, but her father was an alcoholic. She gave her heart to God at the tender age of eight years old yet did not realize what it meant to be a Christian, a follower of Christ, until her teens.

"My Children/Grandchildren"

Mother of three and her lessons raising them: She desires to help other mothers.

Grandmother of eleven and great-grandmother of four: Her desire is to invest in them and to encourage women by what she has learned.

"As a Young Mother"

She shares her struggles with low self-esteem and God's promise to turn her from an ugly duckling into a grace-filled swan.

"Adult Children"

When her children were small, she remembers thinking how difficult it was to have three children under the age of five. She was wrong. It was much more difficult to have adult children that she could not kiss their "owies" away. She shares some of the ways she learned to interact with her adult children.

"Beginnings or Endings"

Her grief journey through divorce after a thirty-three-year marriage, how God walked those dark days with her: She wishes to share what she learned with other women who are walking through the valley of divorce.

"Africa"

Loretta shows how God can take an ordinary life and do extraordinary things, like a mission trip halfway around the world to help widows and orphans.

"Moving Forward with a Push"

She shares how God showered his love on her during nine years of living alone and gave her a soul mate. Together they have six children, twenty-one grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

She finishes up by sharing Romans 12:1 (NIV): "Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life--and place it before God as an offering." You will be amazed how God can take an ordinary life and make it extraordinary.