Suzanne Fisher | Amish Principles for Today's Families

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of the "Lancaster County Secrets" series (Revell) as well as non-fiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace and Amish Values for your Family. She hosts a popular weekly radio show called Amish Wisdom and lives with her family in California.

Plain Talk about the Amish: One Boy's Rumspringa

February 12th, 201204:58 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

"People convinced against their will are of the same opinion still." Amish proverb Like all other seventeen-year-old Amish boys, Joni (pronounced Johnny) Weaver was finished with school. He'd completed the eighth grade and was now caught in that strange uncertain time between being a child and being old enough to be baptized into the Amish faith. ...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Penn Dutch Proverbs

January 31st, 201204:57 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

"Fortune knocks once but misfortune has more patience." Amish proverb If you want to know a people, know their proverbs. Most every culture has proverbs that are unique to it. Whether called maxims, bromides, truisms, idioms, expressions, sayings, or just an old saw, proverbs are small, concentrated packages that let us peek into the window of a ...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Coping with Alzheimer's

January 18th, 201210:31 AM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

This is a story I wrote a few years ago about my dear dad. He passed away on January 1st, just as the sun rose on 2012. "Before we can pray 'Thy Kingdom come,' we must pray 'My kingdom go'." Amish Proverb It is a blistering hot June evening and I am stuck in a traffic jam, retrieving my dad from his latest escapade after recei...
Plain Talk about the Amish: A Year in an Amish Family

December 30th, 201103:50 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

"No winter lasts forever. No spring skips its turn." Amish Proverb A few years ago, I met the Simon Yoders while doing research for a book. The following story is what I've learned and observed about them from visits with the family and through letters I've exchanged with Edna Yoder. Life and work on the Yoders' Ohio farm revolves around seasona...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Christmas on an Amish Farm

December 03rd, 201101:13 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

by Suzanne Woods Fisher "The dearest things of life are mostly near at hand." Amish Proverb On a farm, Christmas morning is like any other day. The cows must be milked. The animals must be fed and tended to. But when the chores are finally done, Christmas begins like any other home. On the Stoltzfus farm, the five children gather in the kitchen, ...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Charlie the Crow

November 25th, 201111:11 AM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

"Patience is a quality most needed when it is exhausted." Amish Proverb An Old Order Amish family in Salem, Indiana found out that crows are very smart birds, even though they seem so ordinary, often annoying. One October afternoon in 2006, a woman's sons found a crow's nest and brought home a baby crow. The boys clipped the crow's wings so he cou...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Election Night 2008

November 09th, 201110:25 AM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

by Suzanne Woods Fisher "You cannot change life—because God on high, controls with this world an all-seeing eye. He makes the calls and you're never alone; all's well in heaven and God's on the throne." Amish proverb It is Tuesday, November 4, 2008, the day our country is going to elect a new president. Throughout the day, I check in with news ...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Bless Those Who Curse You

October 31st, 201106:32 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

By Suzanne Woods Fisher "It is better to forgive and forget than to resent and remember." Amish Proverb It started as a small loose thread on the elbow of Elsie Miller's black sweater. It was just one thread, but she couldn't leave it alone. During silent reading periods in school, she would hold her elbows and twirl that thread ever so slightly,...
Plain Talk about the Amish: Beards and Bonnets

October 09th, 201111:21 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

By Suzanne Woods Fisher "It can take years to earn respect and only minutes to lose it." Amish proverb By now, we've all read the news story of the Amish men who were arrested for a bizarre crime: they broke into homes and shaved off the beards of Amish men and cut the hair of an Amish woman. Certainly, a strange crime of harassment, especially ...
Plain Talk about the Amish: How to Make a Marriage Last

September 29th, 201112:40 PM ET

By Suzanne Fisher

by Suzanne Woods Fisher "Marriage may be made in heaven, but man is responsible for the upkeep." Amish proverb Rhoda and Tom Beiler have been married for forty-seven years. "We understood the vows and thought we were very much 'in love,'" Tom said. "But from the perspective of time and experience, I now know that we didn't fully grasp the depth o...

Page 1 of 2 PREVIOUS 1 2 NEXT

About this blog

Adopt the wisdom of the Amish through true stories interlaced with solid, biblical advice about parenting, marriage, and all aspects of family life--without selling your car or moving to a farm. Learn to prioritize what's truly important, simplify decision-making, slow down as a family and safeguard time together.