The Well Woman: Love, Grace & Freedom

— I woke up hot and sweaty in the middle of a sweltering August night. I could not get back to sleep, so I decided to go downstairs to get a drink of water. Halfway down, I heard voices and whispers: first, my mother's; then, a strange man's. Startled, I stopped, sat down in the dark on the worn attic steps, and listened. I couldn't make out everything they said because my mother was crying. I had never heard her cry. I leaned forward, hoping to hear more.

"They're coming to take the kids away tomorrow," she said.

I shivered in spite of the heat.

Questions tumbled through my seven-year-old mind. Who was coming? Was I one of the kids? Why were they taking us? Where were they taking us?

The hushed voices continued, but fear forced me back to bed.

All thoughts of my original purpose for getting out of bed had vanished and been replaced with terror. I tossed and turned for hours before I fell asleep again. I woke up early, my room still dark. I wanted to tell my four sisters and five brothers, who shared the attic with me, what I had heard the previous night. But if I repeated it, it would be true, not some awful nightmare. So, I kept silent.

On that fateful day in 1955, my world changed forever…. Writes Donna

Valeria Teles interviews Donna Rhodes — the author of "How the Woman at the Well Became the Well Woman: A Memoir of an Extraordinary Ordinary Life."

Donna Rhodes is a trained speaker, published author, and a certified Life Coach and Personality Trainer. She has also written for newspapers, magazines, websites, and for story compilation books. She is the author of How The Woman At The Well Became The Well Woman. Donna teaches Bible Studies and is on the Women's Leadership team at her church. Donna received her certification in Biblical Counseling from The American Association of Christian Counselors.Donna received her Life Coach Training from the Professional Christian Counseling & Coaching Academy in 2007.

As a Bible Study teacher, she has taught at West Hills Community Church in West Hills California (4 years) and Community Bible Church in Easley SC (4 years). She was also a Retreat Leader at the Billy Graham Training Center.

She has spoken at the Christian Communicators Conference Training, the Hope Floats Women's Conference, MOPS Mom's meetings, The Colors of His Love Conference, and local churches. Donna has been happily married for the past 36 years to Denver. Together they have eight children, 14 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Her passion is sharing hope for the hopeless; even if they have to borrow hope from her story, until they find their own. Her happy places are her family, traveling, gourmet cooking, and playing with her dog, Penny.

To learn more about Donna Rhodes and her work, please visit: onewellwoman.com

— This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a meaningful life through the exploration of fundamental truths, enlightening ideas, insights on physical, mental, and spiritual health. The inspiration is Love. The aspiration is to awaken new ways of thinking that can lead us to a new way of being, being well.