Emily T. Wierenga talks about her debut novel, A Promise in Pieces
An interview
with Emily T. Wierenga,
Author of A Promise in Pieces
Q: Most
authors draw inspiration in some form from an event or person in their own
life. What personal connection do you have with A Promise in Pieces?
I connect with the main character, Clara, who is a
very broken person. She’s a pastor’s daughter, like me, who’s disillusioned
about religion and desperate to encounter God for herself. As I wrote in my
memoir, which is coming out this coming summer, I needed to get away from home
in order to realize God had been there the whole time. My relationship with God
was also restored upon returning home to care for my mum (who had brain
cancer). I’ve also battled infertility and miscarriage and could relate to
Clara’s fear of loss.
Q: Up until
now, you’ve written non-fiction titles, especially on the topic of motherhood.
Has writing a novel always been a dream of yours?
Yes, it has. My bedside table is full of a stack of
library novels I never make it through. I love a good literary read where you
can dive into the characters’ minds, and it’s always been my dream to write
one.
Q: Tell us
about the quilt in A Promise in Pieces.
What was it about the quilt that brought healing to the hearts of all those
associated with it?
The quilt in A
Promise in Pieces is filled initially with the names of babies born to
women following World War II, as a way to honor their dreams for their children,
as well as provide a family (or sorts) for the widow who donated the quilt, Mattie.
It also serves as a comfort for Clara’s mother, who lost multiple children
through miscarriage. Eventually the squares of the quilt are also filled with
names of sons who’ve been lost to war, and it becomes a memorial that is
eventually archived in the National World War II Museum.
Q: Were you
able to talk with any World War II nurses to gain insight into what life would
have been like for your main character, Clara, during the war?
I watched a few interviews online of nurses who had
been through World War II, and I also read extensively.
Q: Clara
fled from both her pastor father and the church when she left for the war
because she tied the two together. Do you think one of the reasons so many
young people are leaving the church today is because of something that happened
at home? What can parents do differently?
Well, I would hate to blame it on parents, as I myself
am a mom now and know how hard it is; parenting is truly the hardest calling, extremely
vulnerable and reliant on grace. However, I know my own relationship with the
church was greatly affected by my relationship with my father — who was the
pastor of the church. I do think God intended for family and marriage to be a
representation of the unity of the Trinity and the kind of love that is possible
if we lean on one another. When those relationships are broken, it’s hard to
continue to have faith in a loving heavenly Father. So yes, the two are
interlinked, more than we know, and family and parenting are divine callings
that have a holistic effect on our children. Nevertheless, God is bigger than
our mistakes and can redeem the most broken of relationships.
Q: Growing up as a pastor’s daughter, Clara remained a
“good girl” out of fear. Do you think we tend to live our Christian lives out
of fear of God rather than living in His love and a life that serves Him?
Absolutely, yes, I
believe one of the greatest tragedies of modern-day Christianity is having the wrong
kind of fear. We fear man when we should fear God. Perfect love casts out fear
of man, and it creates an “awe” of God that brings us to our knees in humility
and worship.
Q: Speaking of fear, the fear of losing someone you love
plays a major role in the relationships between several of your characters.
Certainly losing someone is something we all must face at a point in time, but
how can we overcome that fear so it doesn’t cripple us and keep us from loving
relationships?
I would not have been
able to answer this question before my recent trip to Uganda and Rwanda where I
met countless women, men and children who’d lost loved ones to the war and
genocide. Having seen their faith in a God who is beyond time, who holds every
lost person in his arms, who promises life everlasting in heaven — a life where
there will be no more tears, no more suffering, no more loss — I know now it is
possible to continue to live, and believe, and hope, in spite of loss. And all
because of heaven.
Q: What is the one thing you hope readers will take away
from reading A Promise in Pieces?
I hope readers find
the courage to love after reading A
Promise in Pieces.
Q: Every
Quilts of Love author donates a quilt to an organization. Your donation will be
to the World Help Organization. Can you tell us more about your involvement
with their ministry and your recent mission trip to Uganda and Rwanda?
Yes, I was a blogger with World Help — a Christian
humanitarian organization — on a recent trip to Uganda and Rwanda, where we met
with orphans, widows of the genocide and former child soldiers, and saw how God
was using World Help to equip them with homes, clean water, churches, skills
and a future. We are currently hoping to adopt a little girl through Destiny
Villages of Hope in Kampala, Uganda, and I want to donate my quilt to Mama Evah
who runs the Villages, so she can continue to blanket the babies she saves from
the slums. You can read more about the trip here: http://worldhelp.net/bloggers/trips/africa-2014/.
For
more information about Emily Wierenga and her books, visit her online home at www.emilywierenga.com. She is also
active on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Keep up with the Quilts of Love
series online at:
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