The Illumination Book Awards just posted their 2020 winners in their annual book awards contest, and I am excited to say that “The Road to Mercy” won a Silver Medal in the Biography/Memoir category. You can check it out on their website at: http://www.illuminationawards.com/15/2020-medalists
If you have read my book or are planning to, I would appreciate it if you would post a book review on Amazon. Thanks so much! (A special thanks to my editor, Jeanette Windle, and to Amy Deardon, who handled all of the technical and graphic aspects of the publishing).
Over twenty years ago I found myself unemployed, praying and looking for a job. I didn’t want just any job. I wanted a government pension-earning position in Virginia similar to my former position in New York. I applied for every available secretarial/assistant position within the local, state and federal government. After numerous interviews and no offers, I began to feel like I was emblazoned with a scarlet letter. I suspected my previous higher salaries might be a drawback since employers could hire someone much younger for less money, but the revolving door of interviews was becoming quite irritating. I couldn’t understand why my prayers hadn’t been answered as my search had gone on for almost two years. In the meantime, I did temp work, and continued to pray.
“Lord, Philippians 4:19 says, ‘my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus,’ and I need a job. So, Father, I know you have the right job for me. Please guide me to it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” On and on the prayers went, and on and on the frustration and bewilderment went. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t offered any of the positions I applied for when I was highly qualified for each one and had stellar references. If I wasn’t so upset, it would have been quite comical. After all, why wouldn’t God give me a job with the government like I wanted?
Then one day I happened to notice the tiniest of help wanted ads in our local newspaper for a legal assistant position at a law firm. The ad read, ‘no legal experience required.’ Hmmmm…. Since Katharine Gibbs School trained us grads for any executive, medical or legal assistant position, I decided to apply. During the interview I learned the position required a person who was highly organized. Bingo! That was me to a tee! I love to organize and keep things that way.
The day of my interview I was hired on a one month’s trial basis. By the second week, I was offered the position permanently. While there, I eventually started and led a prayer group during lunch hour on a bi-weekly basis and prayed with many co-workers during their times of need. I even had several ‘divine appointments’ as I call them, that convince me to this day I was exactly where God wanted me. Eleven years later I left that job for semi-retirement. I made some wonderful friends at that firm who’ve remained friends ever since.
As I think back on that job search, I realized I had only looked in the direction that I wanted to go in. It took two years, and numerous interviews, before I asked God where did he want me to work? After all in Proverbs 3:15 it says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” I’ve learned to go to him sooner rather than later about all things, no matter how big or how small.
My book, “The Road to Mercy,” just won 3rd place in the Xulon Press 2019 Christian Author Awards contest in the Autobiography/Biography/Testimonial category. See link:
I was newly retired from full time work when I found a very small dog wandering in my neighborhood. “Why don’t we keep it if you don’t find the owner,” my husband suggested.
“I don’t want a dog,” I informed him. After I reunited the dog with her owner, my husband’s requests continued for weeks and so did my resistance. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in getting up early to walk a dog, especially in bad weather. I don’t want the extra housework involved in cleaning up dog hair. And I certainly don’t want to pick up any dog’s ‘business,’” I insisted.
One morning on my daily walk as I thought about my husband’s persistent request, I was reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” I decided to consult with God about the situation. I told him about my husband’s annoying request (like he didn’t already know), and how much I really didn’t want a dog (like he didn’t know that either). After I pled my case, I clearly sensed my husband needed a dog. After my walk, I broke the news to my husband. “Ok, we can get a dog,” I announced. But before we did, I prayed that God would guide us to the right dog. We both agreed we wanted a female beyond the puppy stage. And she definitely had to be housebroken. After I met a friend’s shih tzu, I decided on the breed–small, non-shedding, and low energy. A perfect fit for us.
For a month I contacted every local rescue group with an advertised female shih tzu. Each time I was told she had already been adopted. I searched Craigslist and found a female shih tzu someone was trying to find a home for after she was found wandering and no original owner could be located. The problem was the dog wouldn’t let anyone near her face to groom her, so she looked pretty shabby. The dog’s current caretaker suspected she may have been injured in a grooming accident since she was missing an eye. I searched the phone book for the number of a grooming shop I remembered seeing in a nearby shopping center to inquire as to whether they would be able to groom such a difficult dog. When I called the number and asked if they were located in that shopping center, I was told they were not. However, they were located just a few miles away on the same road. I explained my situation, and the shop owner immediately told me of a female shih tzu in a rescue group that hadn’t been advertised. My interest was instantly peaked.
I filled out the application, and we met her shortly afterwards. She was approximately three years old and found three months earlier wandering the streets skinny, sick and matted. The shelter picked her up wearing no collar, tags or microchip. No owner ever came to claim her. She was soon pulled from the shelter by a rescue group and nurtured back to health in a wonderful foster home. I spoke with the foster mom who told me she was the easiest dog she ever had, and even slept late! “Whoever heard of a dog who sleeps late,” I said to my husband. “She sounds perfect for us.” The following week we met the dog and adopted her a few weeks later. We named her Fergie because the name sounded fun and different.
We soon discovered Fergie to be the quietest dog we ever met, rarely barked and indeed slept very late. She also knows the bathroom is outside and is the most chilled out dog we’ve ever met. She behaves more like a cat than a dog.
Fergie sleeps at the foot of our bed on top of her own little blanket. She lets me comb her hair every morning before I put a bow in it, and even lets me brush her teeth. Whenever we ask her if she wants to go for a ride, she gets very excited and runs to the back door practically flying through the air as if she has wings. She goes everywhere with us–or at least everywhere that will allow a dog. When I take her with me to see an elderly friend who lives in a nearby retirement community, the faces of the residents and staff light up as soon as they see her being pushed around in her pretty pink pet stroller. Even my husband takes her on errands and isn’t embarrassed to be seen pushing her around the stores in her stroller and wearing hair bows. She is so much fun and has definitely lived up to her name.
When I think back on how we found her, I don’t believe it was an accident that I dialed the wrong grooming facility. I believe it was an answer to prayer. I’m so glad I didn’t continue to deny my husband’s request for a dog, but instead consulted with God on the matter. We both would have missed out on a lot of joy had I insisted on my own way. Our Heavenly Father truly does know best!
At long last the day has arrived for the publication of my memoir, “The Road to Mercy: A Journey of Secrets, Survival, and Redemption” now available on Amazon in paperback and eBook format. It possesses all the elements of a modern-day Cinderella story. There’s the damsel in distress–that would be me; a wicked foster mother–well not my foster mother, but my Mom’s foster mother and her behavior was more than wicked; the elements of danger; a rescue—actually more than one rescue; instead of a fairy godmother, God himself shows up on the scene time and time again; and a handsome suitor who sweeps the damsel off her feet–he isn’t a prince, but he sure is handsome. My memoir even has the occasional on-scene appearance of mice, although they don’t speak as Cinderella’s little rodent friends did! To top it off, the heroine lives happily ever after.
While I have lived a real fairy tale life, I have also learned that God is not a fairy tale as I once thought after I was almost murdered. I learned long ago that he is very real, and he changes lives. He certainly changed mine, and also intervened to save it time and time again. My prayer is that my story inspires anyone who feels like I felt so many years ago—hopeless, alone, and in despair. It’s a story of second chances, available to every one of us.
I’ve shared my story on the Christian television program, The 700 Club, years ago with the desire to give hope to others. That desire continues today.
I hope you will be inspired by my memoir and encouraged that you too can have a personal relationship with the one who is not a fairy tale at all, but instead someone who created you for the purpose of having a relationship. And you too can also experience your own redemption story and given a second chance if you need one.
If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to purchase my book on Amazon. When it arrives, grab a cup of tea, curl up on the sofa or in a comfy chair and enjoy a true story of divine intervention and incredible transformation. You’ll be glad you did.
Hi everyone. Welcome to the Mary Therese Hutchinson website. I’m glad you joined me. I’m very excited about the launch of my new book, “The Road to Mercy: A Journey of Secrets, Survival, and Redemption” to be released on Amazon sometime this week. I hope you will check it out.
Mary Therese Hutchinson 