Author Katie Clark - Losing a Child to Cancer

Author Katie Clark

Katie, welcome to Overcoming With God blog.  We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers. 

Thanks so much for having me! I’m glad to be here.

Would you tell us about one of the most difficult things in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help? 

That is extremely easy to identify yet extremely hard to write 😊. The hardest thing I have ever faced is the death of my daughter, who went to heaven a year and nine months ago, at the ripe old age of 10. She had cancer twice in her short life, first diagnosed at 3, and later at 9.

(CFP: Katie, we are so sorry you had to suffer this tragic loss.)

What passages in the Bible have been most helpful to you in those times?

John 14 tells us to not let our hearts be troubled…this has been an immensely comforting passage to me since the moment of Emma’s earthly death (I say earthly, because of course I know she is ALIVE, she’s only moved residence!)

What helped you get through or helped you cope with this difficulty?

Clinging wholly to God’s promises of salvation, heaven, and hope. That is the long and short of it. I realized early on that either I believed this “God thing” was real, or I didn’t. Don’t get me wrong—I have gone to church my entire life. I have been saved since childhood. I know God is real, and my faith has never wavered. But in the midst of such heartache, I had to buckle down and decide whether I REALLY believed it. Because if I did, I had hope. And I had to act like it. (Sometimes easier said than done!)

(CFP: Clinging wholly to God is what has gotten me through, too, in difficult times. He is our Hope.)

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? 

Unfortunately, no on the audio part as well as the large print part. However, if the book is purchased through Pelican Book Group, my publisher, it can be bought as a PDF. In this case, it can be read out loud by Adobe Reader on the computer. Also, I believe certain types of Kindles can read aloud (though either of these options would be the plain, robotic voice rather than a voice actor).

BIO:

KATIE CLARK started reading fantastical stories in grade school and her love for books never died. Today she reads in all genres; her only requirement is an awesome story! She writes inspirational romance for adults as well as young adult speculative fiction, including her upcoming YA romantic fantasy The Rejected Princess. You can connect with her at her website, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

The Rejected Princess by Katie Clark

Giveaway: An ebook copy of The Rejected Princess will go to one of our readers! Answer Katie's Question for our readers: What’s your favorite Scripture passage, and why?

Elaine Marie Cooper Interview by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Elaine Marie Cooper

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of her new release, Fields of the Fatherless, as well as the Deer Run Saga: The Road to Deer Run, The Promise of Deer Run and The Legacy of Deer Run.

Elaine, welcome to Overcoming With God.  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? 

This has been a very difficult time with the passing of my Mom last month. Although she was elderly, it happened fairly quickly and I’m still trying to recover as I distribute family memorabilia to the relatives.

As difficult as this is, however, nothing can compare to my only daughter being diagnosed with a brain tumor in January of 2002. Our lives (Bethany, my husband, our two sons) were turned upside down with the realization that this was terminal. My daughter might not see her 25^th Birthday. (She was 23 at the time) Who ever thinks their child will die? I’m sure it’s a fear that lays hidden deep in every parent’s soul but I had never allowed that possibility to ever take form in my conscious thoughts.

Yet now we faced the unthinkable: A cancerous brain tumor. Along with the many months of treatments and hospitalizations—and eventually hospice—I shared nearly every moment that I could with Bethany. Looking back, the time was a blend of exhaustion, grief, terror and anger. My Christian friends were the best support to me and I gleaned spiritual sustenance from Praise and Worship music. Those songs were a constant on our CD player.

Prior to Bethany’s diagnosis, I had already made morning devotions a priority in my life. Although I was “too busy” to keep up with this habit, I MADE time to spend with the Lord each day, reading His Word, pouring out my wrenching prayer requests. If I didn’t stop to hold His hand each morning in prayer, how would I have the strength to endure?

Bethany was with us for one year and nine months after her diagnosis. She did not reach her 25^th Birthday.

Life never returns to “normal.” As the grief counselor told me, your life takes on “The New Normal.” So I returned to work as a school nurse, and held back my tears all day. But after I got in my car to drive home each day, the floodgates would open and I would cry for most of the drive home. One day I was especially angry and brutally honest with God. “This is TOO HARD!” I shouted out loud to Him.

I felt his gentle presence and heard a very quiet, inaudible voice in my spirit: “My Grace is sufficient for you.”

It startled me. And it helped to heal my anger. I knew that He was right—His grace truly is sufficient for each day. And while I cannot bear the burden of grief on my own, He is more than willing to help me carry it. If I only ask Him.Four years to the day after Bethany died came another inaudible voice: I was to write a book. Thus began my new writing journey.

It will be ten years ago this October that Bethany went home to be with the Lord. I am currently working on the manuscript for a memoir of my daughter and our journey together during her last days here on earth. It is tentatively entitled, Bethany’s Calendar.

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?

I wish that my books were available in this format but, unfortunately, they are not. Hopefully in the future.

Fields of the Fatherless by Elaine Marie Cooper

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?

My books all have running themes of forgiveness and recovering from pain. Some of the steps in my own healing process weave like a thread of healing through each novel.


CFP: Elaine, I have really enjoyed getting to know you better through the Colonial American Christian Writers group and the Colonial Quills blog. I am so sorry you had to go through this loss of your daughter and our condolences on the recent loss of your mother.

Giveaways: This week, Elaine will be giving away one each of the Deer Run Saga to three recipients (from the reviews coming up.) This is limited to within the USA winners and includes The Road to Deer Run, The Promise of Deer Run and The Legacy of Deer Run.  Overcoming With God will also be giving away a copy of winner’s choice of Elaine’s books in ebook format (open to international winners.)

Interview with Margaret Brownley

Margaret Brownley

Margaret Brownley is a N.Y. Times Bestselling Author and the author of Waiting for Morning (Brides of Last Chance Ranch series) She also published a non-fiction book title Grieving God’s Way; the Lasting Path to Hope and Healing (Thomas Nelson 2012), written after the death of her son following a long illness. She has published 28 books, mostly historical romance.

Margaret, welcome to Overcoming With God.  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? T

hank you for letting me share.  As previously stated, my son died and I can’t begin to tell you what a painful, trying time that was for our family.  He was only twenty and just reaching the prime of life.

Six months after his death, I bumped into someone at the supermarket I hadn’t seen in awhile (actually I hadn’t seen anyone since the funeral).  She took one look at me and asked, “Aren’t you over it yet?”

I was stunned.  My first thought was that there was something wrong with me. But then I wondered what kind of person could get over the loss of a loved one so quickly?  More importantly, did I even want to be that person? 

I rushed home and started doing research on grief, starting with the Bible. What followed is hard to explain; for some reason I was driven. I read every grief book I could get my hands on, but that wasn’t all. I also attended grief groups and talked to dozens of people who had experienced a similar loss. My research paid off.   I gradually came to realize that grief was a miraculous healing tool from God designed to protect, heal, help us grow and become more like Him.  (How this healing tool works is explained in my book (www.grievinggodsway.com).

I firmly believe that God heals through our gifts and in my case that was my love of words and writing. I thought I was jotting down notes for my own benefit.  It never occurred to me that I was writing a book until a couple of hundred pages later. It’s a book I never wanted to write—and one I wish readers never had to read.  But we don’t always get to choose the direction of our lives and we just have to trust that God is leading the way.

Waiting for Morning

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?

I’m happy to say that Waiting for Morning along with most of my books are available in large print and have audio capacity.  Grieving God’s Way is also available as an Audio book and CD.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?

In Waiting for Morning, the heroine’s brother is wheelchair-bound.  Molly blames herself for his condition and is determined to put his needs first, even if it means giving up her own happiness.  Blinded by grief and guilt, she fails to realize that her brother is not helpless and is quite capable of doing for himself.  He accuses her of seeing only the wheelchair and not the person.  It’s not until she learns to look at him through God’s eyes that healing begins and they are finally able to face the future with hope and courage.

 

CFP: Thank you Margaret for agreeing to answer these questions.  We at OWG want to express our sorrow that you have lost a precious son. I’ve heard one never gets over the loss of a child—you simply learn to live with the pain.

Dawn Comes Early

GIVEAWAYS: Margaret is generously giving away a copy of “Grieving God’s Way.”  Thank you, Margaret—we have a number of OWG Followers who have suffered a loss. Margaret is also giving away a copy of  “Waiting for Morning.” We are also giving away the choice of any of Margaret’s books this week, choice of format, to one of our commenters.