ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You’ve all heard the saying, “If life deals you a lemon, make lemonade!” With Lydia’s tunnel vision her lemons of life were souring her responses to her adverse situations until she began transforming her mind and bringing it into submission to the word of God.

Lydia was the second of seven children born into her Amish family. Her negative responses to adverse situations kept her suppressed with an inferior complex. Lydia learned early in life what hard work was and the rigors imposed by lives that are bound with religious traditions and poverty mentality. When she was seven years old her family was excommunicated from her denomination and she found herself transferred to a public school where all the children spoke English rather than Pennsylvania Dutch which was the only permitted language in her home.

Lydia grew up with an “I can’t” mentality that was only broken by God’s grace and his word. As a young girl she had a dreadful fear of dying, knowing she would go to Hell. She believed in eternity (in her mind that was an endless circle), in God (a great dreadful supreme being that was out to strike her with lightening), in Heaven (a vague concept that she longed to have the assurance of), the devil (he carried a pitch fork and had a forked tail) and that God had a Son named Jesus (who had no relevance to her life).

At age 15 she joined a more liberal branch of the Amish church and remained miserable without her assurance of salvation. The traditions of her denomination played such an important part in her life she could not understand that Jesus had actually bought her redemption at Calvary. When she turned 18 she had an encounter with the Holy Spirit in a personal way and embraced God’s plan of salvation along with the supernatural infilling of the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t long until she was excommunicated from that denomination and joyfully embraced her newfound faith in Christ.

Though the release was marvelous and her love for God and His word grew, she still clung to her old emotional baggage of defeat and fear. In her mid twenties she met Russell and after a whirl-wind courtship they were married. At the end of first year of marriage, while they lived in Iowa, their house burned to the ground and their first daughter, Bonita Lynnett, was born. Three and a half years later found them in Florida where Valencia Marie was born. Exactly three and a half years after that Lacinda Dawn was born in Missouri.

After a very testing detour to Missouri, Lydia was happy to be back in her home in Florida when Russell broke the news that he was sure they would never be content until they were into full-time ministry. Shortly thereafter the Chorpening family was again moving. This time they were headed to San Antonio where Russell attended and graduated from International Bible College.

In 1982, with only the belonging that would fit into their stuffed suitcases the family of five was on their way to the Philippines where they ministered for the next eight years in various remote islands. In 1990 Lydia found herself taking an abrupt turn as the family headed back to the States to strengthen family ties and receive the support that they all needed. Within three years Russell and Lydia were again moving—this time to North West Wisconsin and leaving their three daughters in Texas.

The move forced Lydia to make some challenging decisions. She was either going to have to relinquish her rights to the Lord or further see her dreams dashed to pieces. When the situation seemed so impossible that she stopped struggling on her own and allowed God’s breaking process to take over, Lydia found a new peace and a new outlet in her life.

Her parked pen began to flow with beautiful words of poetry and devotional thoughts. Bible studies were developed with hope to some day teach the materials. While she waited on God as she dealt with her own unregenerated soul (mind, will, and emotions) the book, The Seven Robes of Joseph, was birthed. The anointed message took weeks and months to formulate and years to turn into a book. Each step from scribbling the first concepts (that Joseph actually had more than his coat of many colors) to the self-publishing of this beautiful message was one of faith and challenge.

At present Lydia works at home enjoying the company of her husband, Russell. He is disabled with an undiagnosed disease that has virtually confined him to home and has allowed the two the time they needed to enjoy their marriage. Their daughters are all married to wonderful husbands and Russell and Lydia are the grandparents to five beautiful grandchildren. Lydia does free lance writing and shares her testimony and teachings as God opens the door for her. She is involved in friendship evangelism in her community which has a large population of widows.

If you were to ask Lydia about the book, she would assure you that it’s not about the book but the message God has purposed for His end-time church to hear. Lydia’s background and challenging experiences have allowed her to speak this message with insight and authority.