Deborah Rutherford

Where Redemption, Beauty, and Grace Meet

Podcaster. Author. Poet. Speaker. Emmy-award winning makeup artist

Welcome.

I’m Deborah Rutherford—a poet, writer, speaker, podcaster, and Emmy Award-winning makeup artist. For more than 30 years, I helped people discover outward beauty in film and television. Today, I write and speak about the beauty only Christ can create—a heart transformed by His redeeming grace.

As the author of Prodigal Daughter and founder of the Behold-Her Beauty Blog, Letter & Podcast, my passion is helping women and teen girls discover the beauty of redemption, embrace their identity in Christ, and walk confidently in the life He created them to live.

Although I write primarily from a woman’s perspective, I hope these words also encourage husbands, fathers, sons, and friends who desire to better understand and love the women in their lives.

My Story

There was a time when my past felt heavier than my future. I longed for love, acceptance, and a place to belong.

Everything changed when I encountered Jesus.

In Him, I discovered my true identity—not defined by my past, but by His love. I learned that God doesn’t waste our broken places. He redeems them, reshapes them, and uses them for His glory.

That story of redemption has become the heartbeat behind everything I write—my poetry, books, essays, podcast, and conversations with readers.

If you’re wondering whether God can bring beauty from your own broken places, I hope you’ll find encouragement here. His grace is still writing beautiful stories.

A Few Things About Me

Long before I became a makeup artist, I was a young girl filling notebooks with poems to Jesus and pages from my journal. In college, I studied Theatre Arts and explored playwriting before songwriting led me into music. I even spent time performing in one of the early all-girl punk bands before later joining a folk group that was featured in People magazine.

For more than three decades, I worked as a makeup artist in film and television, earning an Emmy Award along with multiple Local 706 Guild Awards. Today, those brushes have been exchanged for a pen and a microphone as I continue telling stories of God’s redeeming grace.

When I’m not writing, you’ll usually find me with my Bible and journal nearby, enjoying a bold cup of coffee, walking among Georgia’s peaceful pines, singing hymns, or spending time with my husband, Christian guitarist and composer Don Rutherford.

Thank you for stopping by.

Come as you are.

Stay awhile.

There’s a seat at the table for you.