About

Welcome to my web site!

What you’ll find here is a record of a portion of my journey through life, some of the struggles and trials that I’ve experienced, and how the grace of God has sustained me. It’s a story of many personal adjustments. Occasionally I’ll post new material, but I may also use some older favorites from time to time.

Though I sold my first article in 1970, most of the material here was written after the death of my daughter Jenny in 1995. For when Jenny died, my view of life and writing style took a dramatic shift, and you’ll see that reflected in the content.

Jenny was the child expectant parents pray not to have. Blind and profoundly retarded and never able to even hold up her head, her birth instantly plunged my wife and me into the first of many difficulties yet to come. But as we gradually adjusted to this “special needs” child, Jenny, in spite of multiple handicaps and need for constant care, ushered in countless blessings we would not otherwise have known. In 1982 I wrote an article about Jenny’s life for Moody Monthly magazine.

Later I co-authored (with well known interior designer Georg Andersen) Silent Witness: The Language of Your Home and began writing regular columns for newspapers. The columns usually had an inspirational slant and elicited approving reader comments for nearly 10 years until the aftermath of my wife’s death in 2007 compelled me to temporarily change priorities and stop writing.

Jenny’s many unexplained issues, I suppose, made us trepidatious as the birth of our son Barrett approached. Normal in every way, however, Barrett demanded that we adjust again. Whereas Jenny never changed, Barrett was constantly on the move—and we enjoyed him immensely. Now married to his beautiful wife, Brandi, they have a wonderful son and my first grandchild, Jackson. Of course I’m thrilled about this adjustment!

Jenny’s death left me with the mistaken assumption that the loss of a child would be the hardest thing I’d have to endure. I was wrong. For when my wife, Mary, died in February 2007, I found again myself confronted with another unwelcome, fearful and probably the most difficult adjustment so far: loneliness and an empty house after 40 years of constant companionship. She was artistic, loving, whimsical, animated—all the things that I’m not.

I give you this brief background because these names and experiences are foundational to my writing. I don’t presume that my path is all that unique; we will all struggle with one thing or another. It’s my hope, therefore, that in my experiences you will truly find some Words to Live By for your own journey… and be encouraged.

May God bless you in this quest!

James McAlister

p.s. I’ve tried to make this web site easy to use. You can search, subscribe to posts, get email updates–even forward individual articles by email. But if you have suggestions for other improvements, you can reach me through the Contact link at the top of the screen.

All of the material here is copyrighted, but you may use it freely for any personal, non-commercial purpose as long as you leave the copyright notice and contact information intact. All other uses require written permission.