S2S Books: "You Are Precious In His Sight" by Sherilyn Shirk

Welcome back to S2S Books for an author interview. The vision of Strength to Strength Books is to offer resources that will strengthen your love, faith, relationship with King Jesus, and give you solid footing in a shaky world. And we're excited on this interview to be interviewing Sherlyn Sher, who is the author of a new children's book called You Are Precious in His Sight.

And Lynelle is holding that up there right now. Thank you, Lynelle. So also joining Sherlyn is her husband, Andrew. And here, right shortly, Andrew's going to introduce them and where they're from. But before that, I would just like to introduce my wife as well, Lynelle. Lynelle, it's good to have you here with us. Lynelle was able to—I've given some input to this book along the way. My wife and I love children. We have seven children of our own. And here a number of years ago, we got into foster care and had a number of foster children. And one of our foster children actually stayed with us, and we adopted her. And so this interest in books and books that help children see their value and how they're precious in God's sight is close to our hearts.

And so that was some of the reasons she's joining us here today, because of her interest, our interest, really, in seeing books created that can be used broadly to show children the love of God. And I thought of a verse here this afternoon as I was thinking about this interview. It's out of Matthew 19, the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, the first book in the New Testament. And here Jesus, the Son of God, is interacting with his disciples, those who are following him. And it goes like this. It says, "One day, some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

But Jesus said, 'Let the children come to me. Don't stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are like these children.' And he placed his hands on their heads—I'm sorry—and he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left."

So right here, we see Jesus just showing so much kindness to children. And so, Sherlyn, we're excited to have this book as a book that we can use for reaching out. And Andrew, I'm just going to turn to you here. Thank you for being willing to be part of this interview. I know that you're a very much—you've been a very much of a behind-the-scenes support for this. And so it's really a blessing to have you join here as well. So tell us a little bit about you and your family, where you're from, and anything you have on your mind.

Yeah, well, I'm Andrew Sherk, and Sherlyn's my wife, of course, as Brian said already.

We live in Macon, Mississippi. Been married 21 years. Have six boys. No girls. To Sherlyn's dismay. We have a farm. Raise broilers and cattle and boys. And we have a ready-mix plant also. We sell ready-mix concrete.

We attend Magnolia Mennonite Church, a congregation here in Macon. And we have about, I don't know, 50-some-odd families, I think, there. And we really appreciate and love our brothers and sisters there.

We're just normal people just trying to serve the Lord where we're placed. And several years ago, we got involved in the foster system by foster parents, being foster parents. And we ended up—well, this is kind of how this book came about—having the foster, being dealing with the foster system with the people that are there. And I just wanted to mention a verse in Esther where Mordecai is telling Esther that he feels like she is placed here for such a time as this.

I feel like we are placed here. Each one of us is. And we need to be faithful and serve out where the Lord has called us to.

So yeah, that about sums up everything about us. Wonderful. So Andrew, our family might be interrupted with children. My oldest is 14, and there's some that are sleeping. But you know how that goes when you put children down for a nap in the afternoon. Sometimes they don't stay there. But what did you do with your children?

Well, our boys are aged 18 through 4. And the oldest one is in South Dakota teaching Bible school this week on the reservation. So we just gave the 16-year-old a little money and sent him the rest of McDonald's for lunch. So that's where they're at right now.

That's great. I love it. Sounds like a good time for them, right? They might say, "Dad, Dad and Mom, do some more of these interviews," right?

Thank you, Andrew, for that overview of your family. We've never met in person, but maybe sometime we'll head to the Deep South and head down to the Deep South and visit the Shirks down there. But if you ever come this way, know you can stop by State College. We'd love to meet you. Okay. So Lynelle has kind of thought through a little bit of some questions. We'd like to ask Sherlyn the vision behind the book and some other things. So Lynelle, go ahead.

Yes. Thank you, Sherlyn, for joining us here today. And yeah, tell us a little bit about your vision behind this book. And also tell us about who you were thinking of when you wrote it. So I was really thinking of foster children as I wrote it. But as I wrote it, as the book came together, I broadened that focus to all children who have not been to church, have not heard the stories of Jesus, do not know that Jesus made them, do not know who made them. And so that is my focus. I would love to see this book in the hands of children who do not know Jesus.

Thank you for that. And I know that you have an interesting story behind this book, too. So tell us a little bit about that. Okay. Well, many churches have women's groups that get together and do projects for charitable causes. And in our church, we do a lot of sewing. So we call it the Sewing Circle. And there's a committee. And I have served on the committee numerous times. The committee is nominated. And it was the beginning of 2022.

They were getting ready to nominate another person for the committee. And I had this premonition that I would get nominated. And I did not want to do it. There were numerous different reasons, but I just didn't want to do it. But I was nominated, sure enough. And I had the option to say no, but I felt God was leading me to accept it. So I went ahead and accepted it. And I told the Lord I would do it with my whole heart. I would give it my 100%, but I would like his help.

And it was that very night, or maybe it was a couple of nights later, but it was either that very night that I had been nominated or soon after that I couldn't sleep. And so normally I take a melatonin and go back to bed. But that night, I decided that I would just get up and read a new book that we had gotten, read the soon before. And one of the chapters in the book was on reaching the needs of those around us in the community that we live. And I sat there for quite a while just trying to analyze, is there a group of people, is there somebody that Jesus would like me to serve in my life that I have been unaware of?

And the thought crossed my mind that I wonder if there's something a group of people are sewing needs to be reaching out to, a different project to focus on for the coming year. And it was just that that thought crossed my mind about the sewing. And immediately, I don't know, did I fall asleep in that minute? Did I have a vision in that minute? But it was instant, just immediately after that thought of wondering if the sewing should be doing something that I was suddenly in another room. And it was a very, very dark room. There was a lamp shining over my shoulder, over my right shoulder. And in my lap was a small child wrapped in a white blanket.

And the child was just all hunched over. And in my dream, I knew instinctively that this child was a foster child with tremendous abuse and that that was one of the reasons that the child could not sleep. And I was just rocking this child. And in my hand was a book. And so I was just reading this book very slowly. And we were just very slowly turning the pages. And the book was just jumping out at me. And it was jumping out at me. And after about the third page, I couldn't wait to get to the end of it, but it disappeared after the third page.

And in the immediate—and I was back in my own living room, very wide awake. So as the dream left me, in the immediate aftermath, there were three things that just were stark. They stood out to me. And the first one was that the blanket that had been wrapped around the little child had been made and given by a women's group.

And the second thing that jumped out at me was I wanted to write down the words that I had read in my dream or in this vision. I needed to get those words on paper. And I grabbed a pencil. I had pencil and paper there. And I scribbled them down just as fast as I could, just the words I had seen and what might have been in the last part of that book. And what you will see in the book that we are showing today is my idea of what could have been in the last part of the book in my vision or dream. And the third thing that was kind of funny to me was my heart was just pounding with excitement that I got to serve on the Sewing Circle.

And this was exciting. And that excitement never left me. The rest of that whole year, I still get all excited about Sewing Circles and Sewing Groups. And yeah, it's something I try to tone down sometimes because I'm just so excited about all the opportunities of service that are available when we get together and work together.

Thank you for that. And am I right that the first three pages of this book are what you saw in your dream? Yes. Word for word. Yeah, that's really exciting. Thank you for sharing that. So now tell us a little bit what some of the next steps were as you developed this book. After you had your dream, then what happened? Well, my cousin Margie was serving over in Kenya. So she had a totally different time. Her day was our night. And I was still awake. I had not gone to sleep when Margie texted me a question about something unrelated. And I was still so excited about this dream. I told her about it. I said, "Margie, if I would put this into a book, would you illustrate it?"

And she said, "Yes." She would be happy to. And she has just been a number one cheerleader we've enjoyed working together on this book. So that was the next step, and that's how we got started.

So you mentioned being excited about different ways that women can serve. And what are some of those that you have done and that have blessed you, that you are excited about, and that your group of sisters has done there in Georgia?

Well, I love blankets. One thing when we started fostering, I thought I wanted to encourage any kind of bonding with our foster children. And Jeffrey came into our home loving blankets. In fact, his favorite blanket I eventually surged, cut little corners off so that he could carry it with him everywhere he went.

I actually have a picture here of what he would do every evening. When he came to us, he was on drugs. And so he was going through withdrawal. There was lots of screaming, lots of tantrums. I mean, it was hours and hours of tantrums. But the one time he would quiet down was when we would wrap him in a blanket in the evenings and give him a cup of chocolate milk. We made it pretty sweet.

And rock. And he would always—he wouldn't tantrum during that time. I do have a picture here. I don't know if we can show it, but I will try to show it.

Well, let's see right here.

But that is what we would do every evening with Jeffrey. We would wrap him in a blanket and rock. And he loved it. And the social workers talked about it later that they had rarely seen a child acclimate into a home quite as quickly as Jeffrey did. But he just soaked up that. And so I'm very passionate about blankets.

I would just love to see every women's group give a blanket and a book to their local foster children.

Very good. And I think you have a sample one there, right, to show us? Yes. So when I asked our church ladies if they would like to do this, they were so excited. And I was thinking something kind of simple, like fleece. And they said, "No, we're going to make these special." And so they wanted to piece. And then they wanted to embroider "Jesus Loves Me" on every blanket. That's kind of wrinkly there.

But that was something they wanted every child to see is "Jesus Loves Them." Well, our social workers were so excited about it. But they did come back. They said, "We want bigger blankets that can be twin size for our oldest children." So we went ahead and we made twin size for the older foster children. And on those, we did a paraphrase of Joshua 1:9, "Do not be afraid. The Lord is with thee."

So that is something we have really, really enjoyed doing in our church, our church women.

Thank you for sharing that. Okay. Now, transitioning back to the book a little bit, what are some of the pages or illustrations that stand out to you that maybe have a story behind them or that are just special to you?

Well, probably the one that is the most special to me, the one that stands out, is the picture of the little boy.

He made each of us special, every person unique, yet each made in his image. Isn't that neat? So it was about 10 or 12 years ago. We were teaching Bible school, and we had quite a few community children that came to our Bible school that year. And Andrew and I, we love teaching the little guys. It's about five, six. And I'll read the Bible story, and Andrew just makes everybody behave.

Anyway, that year, of course, there was one little guy who was extra wild, and Andrew just would kind of follow him around, sit close to him. And the boy loved. He just lapped up Andrew's attention. He really liked that extra attention. But one night, we had the story about Jesus and the children. And Brian, you read some of those verses right at the beginning of the interview. And so I read that story, and then I just elaborated a little bit how Jesus loves everybody. He loves every little child. And there was one little boy who just, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, he just turned and he looked me in the eye.

He's like, "Jesus does not love black children." I was just stunned. Andrew and I both were there. We're like, "Jesus loves everybody." His eyes were totally unconvinced. And when it came time to paint this picture, Margie sent a little preview to me of another child. I said, "No, there's only one child that can go on this picture." And it was my—I just would like to—it's just my way of going back and telling this child again that he is made in the image of God.

God varies the melanin, the shade of our skin, just like he varies our eyes and our hair. But we are each made in his image. And so I really hope that others will get this book and pass it out to other little children who think that Jesus does not love them. And I hope that this will, in looking at the pictures, that this will assure them that Jesus loves them. He made them.

And I don't know this follow-up story on that little child. He came from an area of town. We don't know anybody. So I've often prayed for him over the years, but I don't know where he's at today.

Okay. Back over to you, Brian. Okay. Thank you so much, Sherilyn, for sharing that story. It's really moving. And also even to take us into kind of your favorite page in that book. And that book also stood out. One of my children got it, and they opened it up, and they just stayed there for quite some time and just studied that page. It's been kind of fun to see our children reading it and allowing it to impact them. My favorite part, my favorite two pages of that book are on the same fold. And Lynelle, could you just take that? I have a little white yellow tab there. Thank you. I just love that picture. All the different children there.

And of course, you have some—you have nature. You got butterflies and rabbits and a dog or two.

And it's like the Garden of Eden, right? Just living in harmony, harmony with themselves, each other, with God, and with nature. What could be better than that? And it makes me think of those two verses at two different places in Revelation, Revelation 5, Revelation 7, that say, talk about that. In heaven, there's going to be people from every tribe, every tongue and language, and every nation. And nation there, the Greek word is ethnos. And that's where we get our word ethnicity from, or ethnic group. And that means every shade, every color of people will be there in heaven before the throne worshiping Jesus. And I just think that that page there just captures that in such a beautiful way.

And so, yeah, thank you, Sherilyn, for allowing God to work through you. We know that God cares about each one of us and about children. Of course, we see Jesus, as I read there earlier on, Jesus is inviting children into his life. And in that time, 2,000 years ago, in that culture there in the Middle East, children were kind of looked at as a bother and kind of kept on the outside more. That was just kind of the culture ethos at that time, as I'm told. But Jesus, we see breaking that cultural norm and saying, "Let them come to me and forbid them not." Okay. Let them come. And he lays his hands. Could you imagine having Jesus lay his hands on your head and bless you?

What an incredible experience that would be. So, Andrew, did you have a favorite page in that book?

Not necessarily. I think the whole book's pretty great.

Yeah. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. So, yeah. So, Sherilyn, as you were creating this book, in your mind, how did you—who do you—how did you imagine this book getting out? And what would be the purpose for the use of this book? We've kind of touched on it a couple of times, but I think kind of in a nutshell, who would you imagine using this book?

Well, definitely the children who do not know Jesus, who do not know that Jesus made them. I would love—I've already mentioned Bible schools, kids' clubs, foster children.

Any of those groups. I talked with our supervisor quite a bit, and she said that if we would even want to set up a booth at one of their, let's say, a Christmas banquet they give for the foster children or a family fun day, she said that would be a way to hand books directly to the children. So I would love if a group doesn't want to do blankets, if they would like to set up a booth at a foster event and hand out these books and other books. But one thing I think is a really good pair—this is just a personal—if a child maybe doesn't know, needs a better vision of Jesus, is to give both the 25 Bible stories and my book as a pair and pass it out to anybody, any group of children that does not know Jesus.

There was a church in our area that put together bags, and they had a book and a fidget toy and a fleece blanket that they would put into a bag and give to our local police station for the policemen to hand out to calls where children are involved. And to me, I would just love that idea. I would just love if groups would do that as well.

I feel like the options are limitless. Just where there's children everywhere in the world, they can—sure. I would love to see you have this book. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. And I thought too of even going to parks where a lot of children are. It could be a great way to hand this book out.

I want some at our café. We have a place where we have free books there. And we have a lot of children, families coming to our café. That would be another great place to get this out. So yeah, many places. And so at Stricken Strength Books, what we're going to do is we're going to offer this book at a bulk rate. We'll have a flat rate for one book, but with some pretty intense discounts on books like orders of, I think, maybe starting in the—is it in the 10 or 20 range? I don't have that right offhand. But we would love to see this book get out into churches, small groups around North America where you can use it and hand them out in your community.

So yeah. And then all that pricing will be on our website or on our Stricken Strength Book flyer. You can reach out to us. If you don't have access to the internet, you can email us at contact@strength2strength.org. Or you can go to our website at strength2strength.org, and you can order the books there. So again, Sherilyn, thank you so much for all your work for allowing God to work through you.

A question we can ask ourselves is, how does God want to use us in reaching the world? And God is on the move. He's looking for people to use in being his representatives. And so I just want to bless you and Andrew for allowing God to work through you, not only to your own children, but to other foster children and also through this book. So thank you so much for that. And also, Lynelle, thank you for joining too. All right. Have a great day.

Thank you. Thank you.