Sharon Garlough Brown

About the Author

AUTHOR, SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR, SPEAKER, AND CO-FOUNDER OF ABIDING WAY MINISTRIES

Sharon Garlough Brown is a spiritual director, speaker, and cofounder of Abiding Way Ministries, providing spiritual formation retreats and resources.

She is the author of Shades of Light, the Shades of Light Study Guide, Remember Me, and the bestselling Sensible Shoes Series, which includes the spiritual formation novels Sensible Shoes, Two Steps Forward, Barefoot, An Extra Mile, and their study guides. Her latest work, Feathers of Hope (third in the Shades of Light series) releases in April 2022.

A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Sharon has served on the pastoral staff of congregations in Scotland, Oklahoma, England, and most recently in West Michigan, where she co-pastored with her husband, Jack, for many years.

Sensible Shoes Series

What is the Sensible Shoes series?

Sharon Garlough Brown invites you to join in the journeys of Hannah, Meg, Mara, and Charissa as they – and you – gain a new understanding of friendship, spiritual truths and a deeper life with God.

In Sensible Shoes, you will meet these four women as they reluctantly arrive at a retreat centre and embark together on a journey of spiritual formation. They find themselves drawn out of their separate stories of isolation and struggle and into a collective journey of spiritual practice, mutual support and personal revelation:

Hannah, a pastor who doesn’t realise how exhausted she is
Meg, a widow and recent empty-nester who is haunted by her past
Mara, a woman who has experienced a lifetime of rejection and is now trying to navigate a difficult marriage
Charissa, a hard-working graduate student who wants to get things right

We continue the journey as the women face roadblocks in the second book, Two Steps Forward. Sometimes life feels like two steps forward and one step back, but there is always hope. Find your own spiritual journey reflected in their lives and discover the way forward.

The third book, Barefoot, takes the women through unexpected turns in their spiritual journeys. Having been challenged to persevere in hope, can they now embrace the joy of complete surrender?

In An Extra Mile, the fourth and final book in the series, the women are navigating both deep joy and devastating loss. Travel with these beloved friends as they endure trials that test their trust and their willingness to walk an extra mile.

Sharon Garlough Brown tells us how the fiction series ‘Sensible Shoes' came to be...

In September of 2008 I began leading a weekly women’s spiritual formation group at the church where my husband, Jack, and I co-pastored. My intent was to introduce women to spiritual disciplines that had deeply impacted my own life with God: prayerfully reading the Word (lectio divina), the prayer of examen, journaling, spiritual direction, and other ways of prayer. Our time together became sacred space where we encountered the living God. The women grew to trust one another deeply, confessing sins and heartaches in order to receive God’s healing love, forgiveness, and power.

In one of our first meetings together, one of the women in the group looked around the circle and commented, “Everyone here is wearing really cute, but sensible shoes!” The phrase stuck, and we began to refer to ourselves as the “Sensible Shoes Club.” God was leading us through the unpredictable and sometimes treacherous terrain of the inner life, and we needed sensible shoes for the journey. We also needed one another.

As we walked together, we witnessed stunning and breathtakingly beautiful transformation. The Lord healed old wounds, opened blind eyes, and set captives free. After being together a couple of months, I sensed that God was inviting me to share the story of the group by creating characters who were also learning to walk closely with God. None of the characters represent actual people. But they do struggle and wrestle with universal issues: letting go of control, trusting God, people-pleasing, perfectionism, hiding behind roles and busyness, fear, regret, guilt, and shame. In this way their stories are our stories of hope and healing. I pray you’ll discover glimpses of your own story reflected in the lives of the characters as well.

There are four books in the series. But the characters do make cameo appearances in “Shades of Light,” which takes place in Kingsbury, nine years after “An Extra Mile.”

Author Sharon Garlough Brown hopes that you

encounter God through her pages of fiction...

My hope when I wrote the Sensible Shoes series was that readers would encounter God in the pages and long for deeper life with Him. I especially hoped that readers would take the journey with others in community. I’m delighted to hear from many groups that are using the study guides to walk together. I’ve even heard from groups that have used the guides multiple times, discovering new insights with each reading.

As for other resources, there are some wonderful non-fiction books about spiritual formation. I’m a fan of Adele Calhoun’s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Jan Johnson’s Invitation to the Jesus Life, Juliet Benner’s Contemplative Vision, Alan Fadling’s An Unhurried Life, and just about anything by Henri Nouwen and Richard Foster. Check out Renovare and InterVarsity Press’s Formatio line for more ideas.

And if you’re interested in hosting a retreat, use the contact page to drop me a line. I love leading others in “sacred journeys” deep into the heart of God.

Extra study resources available:

SENSIBLE SHOES SERIES STUDY GUIDES

Have you enjoyed the journey with Meg, Mara, Charissa, and Hannah? These companion guides will take you deeper into their world and give you an opportunity to try out the spiritual practices that you’ve seen them engage at New Hope Retreat Center.