Singer, songwriter, Bible teacher, television host, children’s author…Sheila Walsh has done it all. And the latest thing she’s done is a beautiful children’s book meant to teach kids about the comforting nature of God’s presence. Listen in to a thoughtful conversation about the book, Is God Still Awake?, and learn about Sheila’s motivation and inspiration for it.
The Conversation | Sheila Walsh
This transcript excerpt has been lightly edited for clarity and conciseness. Listen to the full podcast episode at the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Josh Olds: Before we start, you’ve had such an eclectic career. You’ve done so many things. I think people might know you or know your name from one area or another, but maybe not know in full scope everything you’ve done. So can you give us a little background on your life and your ministry?
Sheila Walsh: Sure, yeah, that’s really true. I mean, I’ll often meet someone who says, oh, gosh, I didn’t know you wrote books. I know you from your music. I grew up in Scotland, as you can probably tell by my accent and I went off to seminary in London when I was 19. And after I graduated from that, I worked with Youth for Christ in Europe for a year. And then in the UK for a year I also hosted a show on BBC Television called the Rock Gospel Show. I did that for five years. And then I was doing a concert in London somewhere. It wasn’t a huge event but someone called Billy Ray Hearn, who used to be head of Sparrow Records at that point was there. He invited me to come to America and open for one of his artists…I kind of fell in love with America and felt as if God was really calling me to relocate here. Initially, I came as a contemporary Christian artist and I would sing at Billy Graham events.
While I was actually on a show called Good Morning, Canada, because the Crusade was in Canada, someone from the 700 Club saw me and said to Pat Robertson, “I know you’re looking for a new cohost, what do you think of this girl?” So I was invited to come in for five days to Virginia Beach and cohost with Pat. And the idea of being on a contemporary Christian program talking about faith was just foreign to me. But I really felt God say, “No, this is where I want you to be.” And so for five years, I did that. Then I went back to seminary, and then for 20 years, I worked with Women of Faith where we did these large women’s events, maybe thirty a year in arenas. And now I work with James and Betty Robison on a show called Life Today, which I absolutely love. So, most of my days, I’m a couple days a week in the TV studio, I go up most weekends and speak at women’s conferences. And in between that I hang with my husband and our dogs.
Josh Olds: Yes. And somewhere you find time to write. What was your journey into writing as part of your ministry?
Sheila Walsh: I honestly never saw it, Josh, as something that would be published. I mean, I wrote to kind of help process my own life. Some people write because they’re experts in a particular area. I never write that way. I write because of what I’m questioning, of what I want to understand at a deeper level. I wrote a book two years ago called Praying Women because I felt like that was the one area I struggled with most. I wrote a book called It’s Okay Not to be Okay because I spent the first 35 years of my life trying to be perfect until I realized that wasn’t actually what Christ was asking.
At the moment, I have a Bible study going on my Facebook Live every Sunday night.