Meet Terri Webster

We recently connected with Terri Webster and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Terri, really appreciate your meeting with us today to talk about some particularly personal topics. It means a lot because so many in the community are going through circumstances where your insights and experience and lessons might help, so thank you so much in advance for sharing. The first question we have is about divorce and how you overcame divorce and didn’t allow the trauma of divorce to derail your vision for your life and career.

I was 28 years old when I went through a divorce. I’d married my high school sweetheart at 19, and we lived in Germany for 3 years. He was in the Army. We had our son over there.

A year after we returned to the states i accepted Jesus as my Savior and my life flipflopped from drinking, and smoking pot, to a life filled with Jesus. We bought a house in small town Georgia and started going to church at a small Calvary Chapel. Several months later my husband also got saved.

A year later our daughter was born. We were very involved with church and little league baseball. I played piano at church and my best friend sang. Our kids played together, and our husbands coached little league.

When my daughter was 15 months old and my son was 6, my husband left. He and my best friend had been having an affair. A year later we got divorced.

The shock and devastation were sickening. Through much hardship, losing my house to foreclosure, and dealing with the betrayal and my ex-husband’s emotional and verbal abuse, I turned to God in a way I hadn’t before. His word became my lifeline.

This is when my writing began. I spilled ink out on page after page of spiral notebooks, everything I felt and thought to God. My journals were my therapy and He heard.

One morning I was reading Isaiah 54 to complete homework for a Bible study I was in, and came to verses 4-6. I had a toe-curling, falling-in-love with Jesus in that moment. He became my Husband and I accepted His proposal. This was in the Fall of 1990, and less than three years later I was in Hawaii with my children attending a 3-month missions training course with Youth with a Mission.

Overcoming the pain and deep wounds of the circumstances surrounding my divorce was only possible through my relationship with Almighty God in Christ and His word. I was able to find purpose and make sense of it all through 2 Corinthians 1:3-5. The comfort I received from God through my tribulation could now be used to comfort others with the same comfort I received.

My ex-husband continued his narcissistic outrages. Life continued to be extremely hard, but the Lord placed me and my kids in a wonderful church family, and His goodness was evident to me along the difficult paths. My faith grew to heights I never knew existed.

My writing became more public when a co-worker invited me to join a new writers group, EMACW (East Metro Atlanta Christian Writers). This was late 1998 or early 1999.

I’m 65 now. I will never forget those years as a single mom and how the Lord met me in my feeble cries for help.

Along the way I met many women and single moms who suffered abuse at different levels, and was able to be used by God because of all I’d been through.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

In the beginning of my public writing, I focused mostly on non-fiction for single moms. I assumed that was my big niche. During that time, I met my current husband, and we married in 2007. He has always been my biggest supporter, whether it’s writing or when I started a ministry for single moms in 2010, called Spring Ministries, Inc. We operated for a number of years until we closed in 2016 due to lack of funding. This was a very difficult time, as I felt I’d failed God.

That same year, I attended a writers’ conference where an agent encouraged me to expand my reach. She said to “drop my nets in deeper water.’ She also told me that my single-mom journey would come out naturally in my writing.

I left that conference with a fresh vision and began to pray for direction.

About a year later, my husband and I were leaving our favorite vacation spot on St. George Island, Florida. I grumbled in my thoughts about a novel I’d purchased and read while at the beach. I was tired of paying for books that sounded good, but would always have disappointing storylines with ungodly characters. As I thought about the book I’d bought and didn’t finish, I heard in my heart these words. “If you’re so dissatisfied, then write your own novel.”

This surprised me because I’d never considered writing fiction. I have a vivid imagination and always have. I became excited and began my first novel right away. Writing fiction became my new obsession as I could make a story unfold any way I wanted to, and create an ending that brought hope and restoration, giving God the glory. I was fired up.

In September 2021, I published my first novel, “Journey to the Forgotten Coast: One woman’s passage through grief and domestic violence to hope and healing.” I thought I was done until some of my readers insisted that they wanted to know what happened next to the characters.

In 2022, I published the sequel, “Island of Refuge.” I thought was done but God confirmed a third book to wrap up what turned into a trilogy with, “Seaside Rescue,” in 2023.

I’m now working on Dawn’s Light, to hopefully publish this summer. It’s about a woman who endured trauma in college, only to years later marry an abusive man. It’s based on true events, but written as fiction with names and events that have been changed. The woman is now a survivor, who became an herbalist and functional practitioner, helping people regain their health and wellness without pharmaceuticals. We are long-distance friends and never have met in person. Her name is Dawn.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

It took years for me to admit I was a writer. I never thought I was good enough, which had been a running theme throughout life in general.

One of the qualities that God has had to impress the most on me is that it’s not about me. It’s about Him. His story is my story. When compare myself to others, then I’m making it all about me.

Any skills that I have as a writer, I had to learn from other writers I admire. I had to invest in honing the craft by attending conferences, and reading everything God put in my hands to study. Practicing and letting others read my stuff without fear or rejection. Critique and input from others is something I rely on today and embrace it to help me become a better writer.

The most impactful thing in my journey above all else, is seeking God. Cultivating a relationship with Him has to be priority. It’s not because I’m such a godly or strong Christian. It’s because I need Him desperately in every aspect of my life.

Anyone who feels they’re called to be a writer for Jesus, I would encourage them to get to it. Write! Cover it in prayer and seek out learning opportunities. Attend workshops and conferences. To those who are called to write for Him, no one else can write it from your perspective. It’s like a fingerprint. No two people have the same fingerprint.

For anyone reading this who may be knew to becoming a Christian, set aside time alone with Him every day. Even if it’s only ten minutes. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” i can’t promise a lot in life, but I CAN promise you that He will answer your call and show you great and mighty things. So when you call on Him regularly, buckle up because the ride is wild!

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

“The Circle Maker.” I don’t just believe that with God all things are possible, I know that with Him all things are possible.
Until I read The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson. His book has challenged my faith to become more childlike. Its’ about praying circles around your dreams and fears.

Batterson writes, “You’re never too old to go after the dreams God has put in your heart. And for the record, you’re never too young either. Age is never a valid excuse.”

He’s a pastor in Washington, D.C., who has circled and prayed around many places. Like, a crack house because he envisioned a coffee shop as an outreach and God worked it out and they did it. Or praying around a theater because he believed God wanted them to have it for his church. Many other stories and miracles that ignited me to pray in similar ways about a place, people, land, etc. One more nugget is when he says, “When imagination is sacrificed on the altar of logic, God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @terrijwebster
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/terri.j.webster

Image Credits

Hannah Linder Designs