Janet K. Johnson
Janet K. Johnson is a pastor, mentor in spiritual formation, author, freelance writer, and speaker whose passion is helping others draw closer to God in all of life’s situations. She finds joy in the ordinary things of life and knows it is God’s love that has sustained her on her life’s journey, especially through her times of grief.
Janet holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Evansville, a BA in Education with Master’s hours from Black Hills State University, a Master of Social Work degree from Rutgers University and a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary in addition to the completion of the Academy of Spiritual Formation, the Pastors of Excellence Program, the Methodist School of Supernatural Ministry and is an associate member of the Order of St. Luke, a healing ministry. She worked as a public assistance social worker, medical social worker, psychologist’s assistant, home-school coordinator and an elementary school teacher before God called her into full time ministry in 1996.
Janet serves on the Board of Directors of Aldersgate Renewal Ministries and is the Community Spiritual Director for the Blue Ridge Walk to Emmaus where she also serves on the Board. She is a member of Serious Writers and She Writes for Him Tribe as well as the American Association of Christian Counselors. Janet has pastored congregations in Ohio, Colorado, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
Janet currently writes regularly for a Christian magazine and has authored Grief the Unwanted Journey: Reflections to Help Navigate Your Way through Tragedy and Loss. Additionally, she looks forward to two more books being released this year including Surviving the Holidays While Living with Grief. Now retired, she continues to preach at local churches as well as speak and teach at conferences.
Having moved many times due to her husband’s job, Janet understands what it is to make friends and leave them behind. She has sat with, prayed with, and counseled with many people grieving losses, helping them to find God’s faithfulness and ever-present love amid the most difficult times in life.
Married for fifty years to her husband, Richard, who is a retired Chaplain in the Air Force, they have four grown children, one of whom is in his heavenly home. Additionally, they have fostered several children over the years and now enjoy the blessing of several grandchildren and great grandchildren. She considers herself most blessed.
NEW RELEASE
Janet partners with Michelle Medlock Adams for Fly High—a picture book that will help children deal with loss and grief. Experiencing loss—in the varied ways it comes to us—affects everyone differently. As adults, we have ways to verbalize how we are feeling. Many children, however, lack the vocabulary and the understanding to name the emotions they experience when they go through grief. They just know they are hurting inside. They are feeling sad, angry, lonely, or maybe even scared. These feelings manifest in different ways depending on the age of the children.
Fly High is about a sister and a brother who love watching a mama bird care for her babies until the unthinkable happens—the mother bird dies. In this story, the reader is taken on a journey through various stages of emotions associated with grief. It ends, however, with baby birds learning to fly, and the promise of hope that is found in new beginnings. With Scripture and hope-filled language featured in the layered-text format, our desire is that each reader will discover it’s okay to have the feelings he or she is having and that, each new day holds healing, hope, and promise.
