Janet Paige Smith

When people ask Janet where she’s from, she says, “All over.” As a military child, she crisscrossed the country with her family to accompany her father on duty assignments. It was during those long rides in the car that she discovered her mother’s collection of books and began cultivating a lifelong love for reading.

After attending four different high schools, her father retired at Fort Benning her senior year and the family settled in Georgia. She attended the University of Georgia and majored in social work and enrolled in ROTC. After college, she decided against a career in social work, went on active duty as a 2nd lieutenant, and married Mark, a country boy from Georgia.

Twelve years and two children later, she was ready to settle down. She and Mark returned to a small farm in Georgia he inherited from his father. She was now a schoolteacher and had more time to spend with her sons, David Jr., Laughlin, and Ryyan. Living and raising boys on the farm was all she could ask for–until boredom with the country life seeped into her marriage. After repeatedly attempting to get Mark to acknowledge her unhappiness, and realizing the stress their constant fighting put on their children, she wanted a divorce.

She went to her mother for advice, and her mother reminded her that God answers prayers. She prayed for God to save her marriage, and he answered by sending her to Japan to show her that if she trusted God, her marriage would not only survive but thrive during that painful season. While in Japan, she journaled about her new relationship with Christ and with her husband.

When they returned to Georgia, she entered an excerpt of her journal in the Guideposts Writers Contest and it was selected. Winning the contest inspired her to tell her story to help other wives who were hurting and contemplating divorce. Since then she has been published in several Guideposts magazines, including Angels on Earth and Thin Places. She now speaks at Christian women’s conferences on marriage and the effects divorce has on children.

As a newly retired schoolteacher, she is excited to be spending full time as a writer. She also has more time to spend with her husband harvesting purple hull peas, corn, and squash, and using their vegetables to prepare Southern recipes.

Current Project: God, Mt. Fuji, and Sweet Tea: A wife’s journey to Japan to save her marriage (Elk Lake 2021)

Webpage: janetpaigesmith.com
Face book: Littlefoxes in Marriage
X: @jansweettea

Represented by Tim Beals