Carrie Fancett Pagels Interviews Regina Jennings

Regina Jennings

REGINA JENNINGS is the author of Sixty Acres and a Bride. Her 2013 book, Love in the Balance is available as a pre-order through Amazon!

Regina, welcome to Overcoming Through Time – With God’s Help.  We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers.  Would you tell us about the most difficult thing in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help?

Thank you for inviting me and thank you for the opportunity to share my testimony over my daughter’s struggle. First off, I’d say she’s really the one doing the overcoming with God’s help, but a Momma can’t stand by when her child is hurting without joining in the fight.

Our daughter was our first child—a delight and a joy, but by the time she was three years old we realized that she had some unique challenges. She suffered from migraines, slurred speech and walked on her toes. As she reached school age her physical and learning delays became more pronounced leading us to choose homeschooling in order to personalize her education. This year she is a senior, but I think I’ve received as much of an education as she has. She is now a lovely seventeen-year-old who is starting training as a nurse assistant this year at the local vocational training center, and we couldn’t be more proud. She has worked very hard to get where she is. Watching her struggle has taught me the meaning of overcoming. It’s made me realize how God can use those who rely on Him instead of relying on themselves.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

I Corinthians 1:27-29 - But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. (NKJV)

God is interested in His glory, not ours. He will use the humble before the proud. This is a comfort when I’m afraid that I can’t do something. When I doubt that I can write another book, when I’m afraid I won’t be able to balance my responsibilities, I can rest in His strength. The inspiration and the ability come from God.

Sixty Acres and a Bride

Disability friendliness: Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio?  Do your e-books have audio capability? Do you have any in large print? 

Sixty Acres and a Bride has recently been purchased by Thorndike Press to be printed in a large print format. It is also available from DoubleDay Book Club in large print.

Sixty Acres and a Bride is also available on several ebook formats where you can enable the text-to-speech option and adjust the font size.

As a side note, because of my daughter’s learning disabilities we have been greatly blessed by our local library for the blind. If you have connections with a library for the blind, please request a recording of Sixty Acres and a Bride and perhaps they’ll make one.

What has been the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your books and why?

First off, I hope they will be entertained. I want them to be drawn into the story, love the characters and be satisfied with the ending. Secondly, I hope my stories add something to the way they view God’s world. Whether a character helps them understand a family member better or a description makes them look at the world in a new light, I hope that some time, years from now, someone might think, “That reminds me of this book I read…”

As you researched your book, did you learn anything that particularly touched your heart?

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to explore the themes of the Ruth and Boaz story from the Bible, but I needed to find a historically accurate setting.

While researching I stumbled  upon a tiny town in Texas named Prairie Lea. I also found a snippet reporting that many families left Prairie Lea after the Civil War to live in Mexico because of the violence and lawlessness of Reconstruction. This was the perfect set-up for a “Naomi” to return to her homeland with her foreign daughter-in-law, but it also showed the desperation of the times. They must have believed that Mexico offered more of a chance for prosperity and safety than the United States. Unfortunately, many of them gave up on property which the cattle drives would make profitable within a decade if they would’ve stuck it out.

Do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation? 

I hope that readers will finish Sixty Acres and a Bride with an increased understanding and patience for immigrants and other cultures. I’ve traveled outside the U.S. on mission trips, traveled away from the tourist spots and resorts, and have made my share of social blunders and broken taboos. If you ever spend a full day with no one else who speaks your language, you’ll soon find yourself reduced to caveman grunts and gestures. Not exactly sophisticated.

Viewing 1878 American culture through Rosa’s eyes was very fun for me. Although she could speak English I still had a blast coming up with her mishaps in Victorian-era Texas. I hope to write another non-Anglo heroine someday.

Thank you REGINA for agreeing to answer these questions.  Have a blessed day and keep on writing!!

Thank you, Carrie, for inviting me! It’s been a blessing and an honor to visit!

Regina's books can be purchased through CBD, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other book stores.  

GIVEAWAY:  Leave a comment and your email to be entered in this week’s contest.  Drawing will be late Saturday.  Regina's debut book in your choice of format* or her upcoming 2013 release as a paperback pre-order. Void where prohibited by law. (*International winners will only receive the debut book in ebook format not as a paperback and are not eligible for the 2013 book.)