Sighing Forth My Soul

This book offers inspiration to readers in a world of increasing need for spiritual formation. It provides words of encouragement, guidance, and hope for a broad range of readers from the experiences of a layperson. The essays in Sighing Forth My Soul will call laity, clergy, Christian educators, and other constituencies to reexamine present circumstances and to consider possible alternatives for changing the course of their lives and the life of their communities.

JERRY RUTH WILLIAMS, vice president of the United Methodist General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, is the first African American lay leader of the Missouri East and Missouri conferences. She is a past president of the eight-state South Central Jurisdiction organization of United Methodist Women and a former director of the Women's Division, General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. Retired from Southwestern Bell (now AT&T), Mrs. Williams, a certified lay speaker, holds educational certifications in counseling, English, and social studies. Her travels include Israel, Egypt, Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, North and South Korea, China, Argentina, and most of the United States of America.