From Sharon…

Throughout our lives older women have come alongside of us to help us walk by faith. We have never met some of them, yet their fingerprints are all over our lives. Just before the death of our son, Mark, God placed me in the middle of a group of such women. I was forty-five years old and dreaded aging without our youngest child. These women, many further along in life’s journey, walked with me in the land of grief, shared their stories of God’s faithfulness and helped turn my heart toward Jesus. 

One of our goals for Aging with Grace is to showcase the beautiful gift of such relationships. Aging with Grace includes the stories of four biblical older women whose lives reflect what it means to flourish in old age. Each chapter in Aging with Grace ends with a contemporary woman between the ages of 70 and 90, who shares a glimpse into what aging with grace looks like for her. While we wrote Aging with Grace for individuals, our heart’s desire is that through intergenerational small group studies, younger and older women will learn from one another. 

As you read the last page of Aging with Grace, we hope our words encourage you to remember and believe God’s promise to each of His children: 

…even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.  I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.  Isaiah 46:4(ESV)

From Susan…

This book started with a conversation between two gospel friends about our desire to experience the promise in Psalm 92 that “the righteous will flourish . . . even in old age.” The conversation became a conviction that we should share what we learned. A few weeks after the manuscript was completed, my precious husband of fifty-six years went to heaven after a short illness. What I had learned from Psalms 92 and 71, and from the lives of older women in Scripture, prepared me for my husband’s death and is helping me grow as I grieve. I am filled with wonder at God’s promise that we can flourish in the sorrow and suffering of old age, and at His provision of the gospel to empower us to flourish with trust in His promise, hope in His provision, and joy in His presence. His promise and provision are the heart of Aging With Grace.

Sharon and I pray this book will be a resource to make aging a sweet topic for older and younger women to discuss together in the context of relationships where they see what it looks like to age with grace. The Leader’s Guide with a lesson plan and handout for each chapter, as well as resources such as 5-minute videos from women who tell their stories of aging in the book, is available.