Barbara Bartocci

In my twenties, I was happily married to a Navy fighter pilot; a stay-at-home mom of three small children. When John’s plane went down during a combat mission, my life--and my children’s lives–changed forever.

Widowed at 29, I went back to college, earned a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing, and moved my little family from San Diego to Kansas City to become a writer for Hallmark Cards.

Frankly, those were difficult years. But even in dark moments, I discovered that God provides grace to give us strength and courage--sometimes in surprising ways. I began writing and speaking about how to stay faith-filled in the face of life-altering change.

I have experienced the death of a spouse, divorce, children’s special needs, losing a job, providing care to older parents, parents’ deaths, and a serious personal illness (which, thankfully, healed), so I feel a deep empathy for others’ life transitions. It has influenced my writing and speaking.

I was touched by this statement from a former Editor-in-Chief of Readers Digest: “Barbara’s stories have changed the lives of untold numbers of our readers."

But how about this title? It’s from an essay my grandson Jake wrote in seventh grade:

“My seminar-giving, spiritual-writing, bicycle-riding, super-Grammy."

Now who could ask for a better endorsement than that?