Sherry Gore grew up in a broken home, surviving poverty and sexual abuse only to become homeless as a teenager. Into adulthood, self-destructive behavior, unhealthy relationships, and a tragedy plunged her into even more darkness. Alone with three children and on the brink of collapse, Gore turned to God, and soon thereafter took on a simpler way of life in an Amish community, as detailed in The Plain Choice (Zondervan, Aug. 25).
“The choices I made, I knew they were going to affect me, but I didn’t have any self-value so I didn’t make good choices. I was only thinking of myself,” said Gore.
After becoming a born-again Christian and transforming herself and her children with the plain dress and head coverings prescribed in the Bible, Gore realized there were others like her – in the Amish community. Defying the odds of anyone successfully joining a Plain community from the outside, Gore began "a holy life, seven days a week, not just on Sundays," and she maintains that lifestyle today.
“That did not go over well” with her family, she said.
Yet, as time went on, Gore’s family accepted that she had joined the Plain Church, and they often call to pray with her. In recent years, the Florida native has authored cookbooks such as Me, Myself, and Pie (Zondervan, 2014) and Simply Delicious (Zondervan, 2013) in addition to writing for the Amish newspaper The Budget. She hopes that her memoir, The Plain Choice, will help clear up misunderstandings and stereotypes surrounding Mennonites.
Sharing her own previous misconceptions about the Plain Church, Gore recalled standing behind an Amish woman who was buying cake mix in the grocery store. “I thought, ‘You can’t buy that,’” she said. “It was such an ignorant thought. They don’t cease from doing things because they aren’t allowed; its choices. Of course you can buy cake mix.”
Gore sees her life today as a series of choices and is grateful to have become a member of the Amish community. “I choose to be a member, I choose to fellowship with like-minded people who also think that a TV is not an ideal item to have for raising a family. We don’t live by rules; I set standards for our own life and our family.”
In fact, the author is one of very few people to join the Amish from the outside; a feat she credits to having a realistic perception of the lifestyle, free of romantic, charming, or idyllic notions. Although Gore has dedicated her life to a conservative view of the Bible today, The Plain Choice includes “gritty” details of her past, covering topics such as abortion. The author warned it may offend readers; especially those of her own faith, and she is prepared for criticism. “I can’t gloss over it and make it prettier than it was,” she said.
Gore, who recently lost her eldest daughter, revealed she has already begun writing a second memoir in hopes of continuing to help people through difficult experiences.
“I don’t believe God has us go through those things in vain,” she said. “He allows us to experience tragedy and heartache and pain, physical and emotional, so that through our healing we can help others heal as well.”
