Interview: HomeSchooling Today Magazine - Marilyn Rockett

My Journey

My name is Elizabeth Wiens, and I’ve been married to my wonderful husband, Gary, for twenty-three years. Together we have four daughters, so I’m sure my husband is looking forward to the day when he can welcome a few young gentlemen into the family. Most of our married life, we have been involved in full-time ministry, raising our own support as home missionaries. For sixteen years we served in children’s ministry with Child Evangelism Fellowship, and the last two years we’ve been working with GoodSeed Canada. We have been blessed to be able to involve our daughters in ministry from the time they were little, serving together as a family.

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to read. I love the way talented authors have the ability to draw a reader into their fictional world and make their characters come to life. Story is a powerful tool. It not only entertains, but has the ability to affect the reader with its underlying message. Jesus often used stories to teach. I love stories that challenge me to think more deeply about my life and attitudes. Books that challenge me to live a more godly life are a blessing. They convict and encourage me long after the last page is turned and the book is returned to the shelf.

Years ago, as a young mother, I began writing with my twin sister. We developed a love for creating characters and transforming our experiences into stories. Many hours were spent huddled over a notebook, which we passed back and forth trying to capture just the right words to express our thoughts. That was the beginning, and I’ve loved working to convey a message through the written word ever since.

As my girls reached school age, my family embarked on a new adventure, one that we have come to feel passionate about—the adventure of homeschooling. We have now been homeschooling for fourteen years, and I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. It was not always an easy journey, and the decision to train up our children at home challenged my husband and me in many ways. Having gone through the public system ourselves, we had to rethink our whole approach to education and God’s plan for our family. Gary and I came to realize the vast difference between a secular education, and one that is founded on Scripture and presents a biblical worldview. The more we studied Scripture and tried to apply its principles to our family, the more we realized how much we had bought into the world’s thinking. It has been quite the journey, one I felt compelled to share with others.

And so my writing began again, and Bringing Them Home started to take shape. However, I did not merely want to write an entertaining story. For the story to have purpose, it must challenge others as I had been challenged. Woven through the lives of my fictional characters, I wanted to include a definite message for Christian parents. I strongly believe that God has given parents the responsibility to raise their children for Him, and it needs to be intentional. As such, it was my desire to encourage parents who read my story to prayerfully consider how their children were being educated and to realize that no education is neutral. A child's education, and the environment in which they have been educated, plays a large role in shaping their worldview—whether biblical or unbiblical. It was also my desire to help others understand what homeschooling was about, and to encourage homeschooling families in the spiritual mentorship of their children. That was the message I felt compelled to share.

Now the fun part—the development of my characters, the Knight family. Cassy and David Knight have four children who started out in the public school system. Through a series of events and much prayer, they decide to bring them home, though Cassy feels very uncertain about taking on this new role of teaching her children. Especially her 8-year-old son, Jeremy, who hates school. Bringing Them Home follows the Knight family through the many adjustments encountered in their first year of homeschooling and all the surprises along the way.
As a writer, I get very involved in my characters’ lives. I think that is natural, as writers spend so much time getting to know their characters as they try to develop each one’s personality. Each member of the Knight family became my “friends” as I struggled through their experiences alongside them. Sometimes they developed a mind of their own and they surprised me with what popped out of their mouths. That was the fun part—when my characters unexpectedly made me laugh or cry. I can especially relate to the Knight family, because their journey reflects so much of my own.

When I finished Bringing Them Home, I knew my story could not end there. That was just the beginning of the Knight’s journey into homeschooling, I had to tell the end. That is why I have gone on to write a sequel, which follows the Knight family in homeschooling through the teen years and courtship. As For Me and My House reflects our current journey, one which has led us counter to our culture as we seek to honor God as a family.
As far as my writing “career”, I don’t know where it will take me. That is in God’s hands. I don’t feel a need to become a best-selling author, or to write a pile of books in my lifetime. When I feel God moving me to write something He has given me a vision for, I write, and it’s up to Him to do with it as He will. I seek only to honor God with my life, and to encourage others to do the same.