SILENCED no longer

Non-Fiction story of a woman who lived with the silencing abuse of an alcoholic spouse while raising two children. This is a story of how she triumphed against all odds and grew to escape the hopelessness often associated within an alcoholic home that threatened to silence her very existence as a mother and her own personhood. This is a roller coaster of life experiences that culminate with her being set free to use her voice to sing opera and ultimately to be a pioneer female minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She has devoted much of her life to helping others in similar situations become SILENCED no longer!

This is the story of a remarkable woman who reinvented her life after living with an alcoholic husband. Because of his control over her, she was silenced for more then twenty years. Learn how she gradually came out from under his control. You will read of the messenger in her life who started her on the path of singing opera again, launching a career that included appearances on radio, television, cruise ships, and as a soloist with symphonies. Finally, with what she had wanted most—her sanity—she heard her call from God to be one of His chosen prophets. Learn of the amazing story of how she entered seminary, and how she came to be is credited, along with another clergy woman, for serving in ministry longer than any other female clergy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. These two remarkable women are role models for hundreds who have followed them. This is not a holier-than-thou religious story. This is the bare bones truth of a life lived in helplessness and hopelessness. Donna describes the incomprehensible demoralization she, along with her spouse, fell into after years of living with alcoholism. She is not proud of this story, but she believes its truth must be told in order that others living under similar circumstances can realize that life is redeemable. Along with sharing her story, she offers tools to help any person living with an alcoholic. One chapter is devoted completely to her children and how alcohol has affected them. Donna has served both as a parish pastor and as a staff chaplain in hospitals. She has spent hundreds of hours counseling people living with a range of problems, particularly alcoholism. Her first published book, Magnolia Ridge, was a historical civil war novel. She is currently working on two other books, The Female Seminarian and The Preacher Wore a Skirt. From a woman silenced, to an opera singer, to a prophet of God, Donna invites you to join her on her journey into health. She writes in hopes her story will aid your life in some small way.