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For more than twenty years, my professional life centered on education. I spent 22 years teaching in the Rapid City Area Schools, continued teaching at the university level, earned my doctorate in curriculum and instruction, and wrote a doctoral dissertation. At the time, I never imagined that my background in curriculum and technical writing would one day help lead me into co-authoring a book.

The path began in an unexpected place.

I met Annette “Annie” Faith Bifulco while participating in an anxiety treatment program developed by Rex Briggs. Annie and I had both experienced the program personally, each going through it twice, so we understood its principles not only from an academic perspective, but from our own lives.

After the program, we stayed in touch. A few months later, I called Annie with what seemed like a fairly simple idea:

What if we added Scripture to the program?

I did not realize at the time that Annie had already been thinking for years about how Rex’s work might be adapted for a Christian audience. She understood the program deeply and brought years of personal experience, research, ministry, and mental-health-related work. I brought decades of teaching experience, a background in curriculum and instruction, and the technical writing skills I had developed through graduate work and my doctoral dissertation.

Suddenly, our very different backgrounds fit together.

Our goal was not to replace counseling or professional mental-health care. Rather, we wanted to complement the practical principles of the established program by exploring them alongside Scripture and a Christian understanding of the whole person, mind, body, and spirit.

And then COVID arrived.

During a season when anxiety and uncertainty were affecting people around the world, we found ourselves writing a book about anxiety. We began working seriously on the project early that year and completed the manuscript within a matter of months.

The result became Empowering the Warrior Within: Using the Word to Win the War on Anxiety.

The book combines principles rooted in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Scripture, practical exercises, personal experience, and opportunities to examine the thoughts and beliefs that influence anxiety. It was written as a resource for individuals and groups seeking practical help within a Christ-centered framework.

A companion Field Journal followed, providing additional space for chapter-based exercises, Scripture, reflection, and documenting what readers discover along the way.

Looking back, what began as an unexpected meeting became the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

I had spent years helping students learn, read, write, think, and understand. Through this project, I discovered that those same skills could be used in a new way, through books that encourage people, strengthen faith, and share lessons worth carrying forward.

Sometimes the experiences that seem unrelated at the time turn out to be preparation for what comes next.