Shout For Joy

I am back in Missouri and life is still difficult but the Lord is still good Twenty-five years ago, Sharina Smith survived a suicide attempt and began a journey that took her far from the Missouri Ozarks to the East Coast and back home again. Chronicling the loneliness she felt at the loss of her earthly father and the bitterness of feeling abandoned by her Heavenly Father, these poems show that Sharina saw glimmers of joy despite a lingering sense of ennui and emptiness. After years of running away from home and her first love, Sharina returns to the Ozarks, her high school sweetheart, and her Father’s arms. Both her husband and her Heavenly Father are embraced with a shout of joy as Sharina discovers the journey has just begun. “Shout for Joy takes you on an intimate journey through the songs of sorrow to the shouts of joy that have been woven into Sharina’s life. Your heart will be moved with compassion and recognition as you travel with her on this journey. Read it! Enjoy it! Read it again!” -Robin Rees, SINGER, SONGWRITER, SPEAKER “Sharina Smith shares from her heart and her hurts. Her transparency will help fellow travelers who are struggling with this awesome and sometimes awful thing called Life. I am thankful Sharina has found the time necessary for, and much success in, her search for her soul.” -Pastor Hosea Bilyeu, RIDGECREST BAPTIST CHURCH