This book has been twenty-five years in the writing. When I read the story of the Samaritan woman years ago, it touched and intrigued me. I felt there was so much more to her than what first appeared, and God planted the seed of her story in my heart. I shared the idea and my first tentative chapters with the members of a critique group in the San Diego Christian Writer’s Guild, founded by Dr. Sherwood “Woody” Wirt to encourage budding writers. I appreciate the group’s encouragement and help over the years. At a writer’s conference at Forest Home Christian Conference Center, I talked with an editor about the book. Her question, “But can you write it?” startled me and made me pause. My genre was poetry and short stories, not novels. Perhaps I could not. With the difficulties of a broken marriage and raising three children alone, the manuscript was shelved many times. During my own journey through those years, I walked my own paths and didn’t seek God for what He had planned for me. Through my struggles and deep valleys, in bits and pieces came the story of Marah, the woman of Samaria. There were many revisions to the story.
During those years I was able to travel to the Holy Land and see the sights mentioned in the book including Jacob’s well. In 1986, while working at Point Loma Nazarene University, I was fortunate to find an old copy of The Samaritans, the Earliest Jewish Sect by James Alan Montgomery, PhD. It covered the more current dwindling generation of Samaritans, but gave me depth and insight into the lives of the Samaritan people, the Samarim, whose customs have really not changed through the centuries.
In 1990, I remarried and we moved to a small mountain community called Lewiston, in northern California. With all the time to write, God began to nudge me again about the woman of Samaria, and I knew I needed to finish her story.
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Mona Gansberg Hodgson, who first read and edited the budding manuscript through the Christian Communicator Critique Service; to my agent, Joyce Hart, for answering the cold call of an inexperienced but determined writer, for her encouragement and belief in the story, for keeping faith with me and becoming a true friend; to Jan Medley, who went through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb and found things I couldn’t see; to the ladies of my book club, Donnie Cramer, Betty Alman, Ricki Cokas, Ronnie Feehan, Claire Hughes, Phyllis Kaylor, Doris Kenyon, Joanna Ludwig, Mary Meisner, Sue Randerson, Joanna Schumacher, and Carol Simpson, who faithfully read the manuscript in one month, enthusiastically endorsed the story, and have held me up with their prayers and encouragement; to my daughter, Karen Penrod, for her insightful comments and suggestions during the latter stages of the writing; to Glenna Hess, assistant manager of our Family Christian Bookstore, who read the manuscript and told me, “Good as anything on the shelf!” at a time when I was discouraged; and last but not least, to my dear husband for his patience as I burrowed down under mounds of research books and papers and lived in front of my computer.
Finally, there is not a great deal written on the daily life of the ancient Samaritans, so I used the life of the Jewish people in ancient times. Where it was possible, I used a known custom. In other situations, forgive me for taking poetic license. I pray that as you read this story, you will see in the woman of Samaria what Jesus saw in her and what Jesus sees in us all.
Diana Wallis Taylor is an award-winning poet, songwriter, and author. A poet since the age of twelve, her collection of poetry, Wings of the Wind, came out in 2007. A former teacher, she retired in 1990 as director of conference services for a private college. After their marriage in 1990, she and her husband moved to northern California where she fulfilled a dream of owning a bookshop/coffeehouse for writers’ groups and poetry readings and was able to devote more time to her writing.
The Taylors have six grown children between them and ten grandchildren. They now live in the San Diego area, where between writing projects Diana is an inspirational speaker for Stonecroft Ministries, participates in Christian Women’s Fellowship, serves on the Board of the San Diego Christian Writer’s Guild, and is active in the music ministry of her church. She enjoys teaching poetry and writing workshops, and sharing her heart with women of all ages.
Visit Diana’s website at www.dianawallistaylor.com.
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