70 Years of Hope & Inspiration

Elizabeth Sherrill’s life as a writer has been a journey of the soul, a journey that also became the very soul of Guideposts magazine

-  RICK HAMLIN

I have known Elizabeth Sherrill since I started at Guideposts in 1984, but I knew her by reputation before that. To say I was in awe of her gifts as an editor and writer would be only a slight overstatement. She was the toughest editor I ever wrote for. When you thought you had done your best on a manuscript, Tibby—as we know her—was just getting started. She’d take your opus and cut it down to a one-pager. “This works nicely now, Rick.” Ouch! A hard way to learn but probably the best. And Tibby was the best.

For all the lasting influence Tibby imparted to Guideposts in her nearly seven decades as a contributor, retiring only recently, she was thoughtful and reserved in her manner, quiet-spoken for a writer of such editorial and spiritual conviction. Tibby was as kind and compassionate a person as she was tough as an editor.

Behind that unassuming exterior is the heart, faith and voice of Guideposts. Amazing then that she was not a person of faith when she arrived at Guideposts. (More on that in a bit.) She was a writer looking for a gig.

That was in 1951, just six years after Norman Vincent Peale founded the magazine with his wife, Ruth Stafford Peale, and one year before he would publish The Power of Positive Thinking, that bestseller of spiritual well-being. For most of those seven decades, Tibby worked alongside her beloved husband, John, also a longtime contributor. Do you love Guideposts’ vivid first-person stories full of heartfelt spiritual struggles and lessons? Do you feel as if you are right there with the writer when you read a Guideposts story? Do stories move you to tears or inspire you to take a step forward in your own spiritual life?