Emily Graves spoke with authors Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers

Emily: Do we sometimes feel unworthy of those second chances?

Betsy: Yeah, I think so. What we wanted to show in the book is to use stories - God speaks so often though stories in the Bible - and just to bring these stories and show an actual fictional character, but a person struggling with that second chance and struggling with that unworthiness and to see how God meets them and see how God changes them with his word.

Laurie: And you know, Emily, the shepherd pays for the sheep - the shepherds we met, he had paid for those sheep and they were valuable to him. And the same principle applies with our Shepherd: Jesus paid a price for us and so he owns us and we are valuable to him. So there is significance there.

Emily: Did you include elements of your own second chances within each of the different stories?

Betsy: Each story starts with a person. Usually we'll use a physical description of a person we know, a person we see, an actor, anyone. But those feelings and that personal experience come from our own personal experience. We may have not experienced grief to the point of the man in the story but we've both experienced grief. We've both experienced disappointment in our own behaviours and our own lives and we can take that and use it as we describe the story.

Laurie: And the psalm actually ministered to us, Emily, as we were writing The Shepherd's Song. Our cup overflowed! We both had our first grandchildren during the time we were writing the book - but we also had challenges: we really felt that we needed the rod and the staff to comfort us. We needed God's protection as we experienced spiritual attacks during the writing of the book and we were comforted by the fact that our Shepherd does not slumber, he does not sleep. He's out there watching out for us and protecting us and cares for us.

Emily: So who is the book aimed at? Obviously adults, but can you give more of an idea as to who might benefit from reading the book?

Betsy: I think the book is for anyone who wants to learn more about God and learn more about second chances and restoration.

Laurie: And the power of Scripture to change a life - people may question that. I think anybody who knows the psalm or has read it would have an interest in it, to see how it actually can play out in individual lives.

Emily: Have you guys got any dreams for writing more books? Or is there anything else in the pipeline?

Betsy: Well, we love to write and we love meeting in that café and brainstorming ideas, so for our next book we've started looking at the Lord's Prayer and seeing if we can begin to break that down and to use it in a book.

Laurie: And to see how it might actually change a life. An individual phrase from that - "Hallowed be thy name" - how does that impact you, what does that make you think about and how would that change your life when you've understood the holiness of God?

Emily: Ladies, it's been wonderful speaking to you. If anybody wants to find out more about either The Shepherd's Song or even more of the work that you've done, how can they find out more?

Laurie: We do have a website: www.writingsisters.com.

You can buy The Shepherd's Song from Cross Rhythms Direct for only £13.29.