God is in the mending business
Part 2
of an
interview with Kim Vogel Sawyer,
Author
of Bringing Maggie Home
In Bringing Maggie Home (WaterBrook), award-winning author Kim Vogel Sawyer introduces readers
to three generations of women whose lives have been shaped by a 70-year-old
unsolved mystery.
Hazel DeFord was just 10 years
old when her younger sister Maggie vanished while they were picking
blackberries one afternoon. However, her guilt over the incident has shaped her
entire life, particularly in her relationship with her daughter Diane. Hazel’s
inexplicable eccentricities, unexplained overprotectiveness and constant
paranoia drove a wedge between the two women.
When Diane became a parent, she
was determined not to imitate the close hold her mother held on her. In fact,
she gave her daughter, Meghan, such free rein that Meghan sometimes questioned
whether her mother really loved her. Though neither woman had a good
relationship with their own mother, Meghan has built a cherished relationship
with her aging grandmother who lavishes her with attention and affection.
Will the three women ever find a
way to mend their tattered relationships?
Q: Why do past
events affect present situations? How can we make sure we aren’t allowing our
pasts to influence our future negatively?
Past events remain embedded in our memories and impact
the way we view the future. Sometimes life lessons lead us to make better
decisions, and sometimes they send us into hiding for fear of being hurt again.
It’s wise to take inventory of your actions and reactions now and then, to
explore if what you’re doing/saying/feeling is building you (and others) up or
bringing you down. We can’t always rely on our own judgment on this, though, so
it’s good to have one or two people you trust to give you honest observations .
. . and to listen to them. I also suggest digging into God’s Word. God doesn’t
give us a spirit of fear, so if fear, uncertainty or any other negative emotion
has control, He wants to offer peace and discernment in its stead. Seek Him.
Q: There are
things people turn to in order to numb the pain of the past and escape their
problems. Why are these comforts only temporary?
EVERYTHING in this life is temporal; only our
relationship with God through Jesus’s sacrifice at Calvary is ETERNAL. Thus,
seeking comfort, joy or satisfaction from any other source is a waste of time
and energy. Sure, drugs or alcohol will temporarily mask the pain; obtaining
the latest gadget or adding more money to our bank account will give us a rush
of pleasure. However, those effects quickly diminish, leaving us needing a
bigger binge, a larger acquisition, a better whatever-it-is we’re grabbing for.
In the end, they all leave us empty. Nothing fills us and satisfies the way the
hope of heaven can, and that is found when we become a child of God.
Q: Diane believed
God orchestrated certain events in a way to bring the three generations
together. Do you believe God plans our pathways or uses the paths we create to
bring us to Him?
I believe God makes good plans for His children (see
Jeremiah 29:11 and Ephesians 2:10). I also believe He gives us free will — salvation
is a gift we can accept or reject — so we can either seek and follow His path
or carve our own pathway. However, it’s His will all should find Him (see 2
Peter 3:9), so even when we’ve gone running off on our own, our route doesn’t
catch Him by surprise. He can use those circumstances to grow us in faith and
work good in our lives. That’s the wonder of God — nothing is wasted. So, in
answer to the question . . . both.
Q: Can you offer
us a tease about your next release?
I’d love to. In March of 2018, I’m returning to “prairie
romance” with Beneath a Prairie Moon. It’s a major twist on the
mail-order bride story:
Abigail Brantley grew up in
affluence and knows exactly how to behave in high society. However, when she is
cast from the social registers due to her father's illegal dealings, she finds
herself forced into a role she never imagined — tutoring rough Kansas ranchers
in the subjects of manners and morals so they can “marry up” with their
mail-order brides. Mack Cleveland, whose uncle was swindled by a mail-order
bride, wants no part of the scheme to bring Eastern women to Spiveyville,
Kansas, and he’s put off by the snooty airs and fastidious behavior of the “little
city gal” in their midst. As time goes by, his heart goes out to the teacher
who tries so diligently to smooth the rough edges from the down-to-earth men.
How can he teach her that perfection won't bring happiness?
I hope readers will enjoy this often humorous, sometimes
touching story that brings two very different worlds together in a way only God
can orchestrate.
Learn
more about Sawyer and her books at www.kimvogelsawyer.com, on Facebook (KimVogelSawyer.Author.Speaker) or by following her
on Twitter (KimVogelSawyer).
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