This book is about a woman who grew up in a dysfunctional home. It's about hope, faith, trust, learning how to love, and surviving in spite of difficult circumstances.How does one overcome thinking dark thoughts? How does one overcome the grip of fears you can't name? It's the story of a child, at the age of 12 in a little church in Gary, Indiana, hearing for the first time that God loved her, cared about her, and who wanted to be invited into sharing her earthly experience. When I invited Christ to live out his life through me, He did. It was a stirring in me, that never left. This inner sense didn't condemn, didn't judge, didn't hurt or cause pain. Even in dire circumstances when I felt abandoned, and no one seemed to care, I sensed this presence. I needed to be reminded over and over again that scriptures says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Is. 55:8 This was a tough concept for me. I liked being in control. I liked thinking that I knew what was best...until the day came when I realized I didn't have all wisdom. All I have is today. I can't change yesterday, and I certainly can't anticipate tomorrow, but I want today is be all it can be, and I can't do it without God. My life long verse is found in Proverbs 3:5 & 6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't count on your own understanding (of the circumstances) but in all your thinking acknowledge Him and He will direct you path."I tried numerous times to discount the reality of a living God. It seemed that every time I tried to shut God out of my life or to just ignore God, something would happen to me that let me know that I might try to abandon God, but He would never abandon me.I have taken advantage over the years of authors who have helped me tremendously. Men and women who like me had a yearning for something higher. Authors like, Brennan Manning, Scott Peck, Joyce Meyers, Dr. Joel Hunter, Dr. Dan Taylor, Barbara Brown Taylor, Greg Boyd, and Parker Palmer to name but a few. The scriptures have been my greatest resource . The truths found therein live forever. The Bible states in Philippians 4:8. "Whatever things are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think on these things". The authors named above helped me to think on these things.I have found that without Christ living within me it is impossible to achieve a way to think and behave, that takes others into consideration. How can I love others if I haven't learned to love myself.I believe that from the stories in this book, you'll see that no matter how hard life can be there is someone who cares, and that someone is the one who created you and me and gave you and me life.Dear Reader, I recommend that you take God at His word, and you'll never be disappointed, but you will be surprised!
About the Author: My name is Joan Correll. I was born on April Fool's Day in 1931 in Gary, Indiana where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I graduated from Lew Wallace High School in 1949, and then left for Northwestern College (now University of Northwestern) in St. Paul, Minnesota where I met my husband Tom. In 1953 we left for the Canadian Arctic with our 6 mo. old daughter to live and work among the Inuit for what would become nine unforgettable years, (and the subject of my next book, Tummikka: My Footprints in the Snow). During those years, four more children were added to the family. Later, Tom and I spent time working in Sweden, Singapore and California & Canada. I opened a restaurant in Stone Lake, Wisconsin in 1982, and a yarn store in Cable, Wisconsin at age 73. For six years I was employed by Mission: Moving Mountains - a Disciple & Development Agency who worked at that time primarily in Africa. I had the privilege of helping to train and enable professional men and women to obey their call to Go to the Uttermost Part of the World. Music was always an important part of my life. It defined me during my college years, as a missionary. I traveled extensively as a guest speaker and soloist, and had the privilege of participating in many great choirs. The stories contained in my book span 85 years, gleaned from my journals, as a wife, mother, missionary, banker, entrepreneur, teacher, counselor and friend. Unlike many memoirs, these are not the accounts of one woman's impact on the world, rather, His Handprints on My Heart are the remarkable stories of God's loving intervention in the life of one of his children. It was the discovery of a God who promises and who keep His promises. What I have learned in this earthly walk I want to share. Someday my epitaph will looking something like this 1931-?. That dash in the middle represents everything that transpired between my birth and my death. That dash represents all the time I spent on earth. Only those who love me will know what that dash is worth. It won't matter how much I possess at the end. What does matter is how I lived and loved. Since childhood I carried with me this phrase...Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last.