Jennifer Davids -- Overcoming Miscarriage

Author Jennifer Davids

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

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

15 years ago I suffered a miscarriage. When I first found out I was pregnant I thought: 'Hey a new baby! This is going to be so wonderful!’ Then the spotting came. I wasn't worried - that happens sometimes, right? Then it continued. I soon found myself at my ob/gyn's having blood drawn. Next thing I know I'm sitting on my couch on the phone with the doctor. The tiny life inside me was gone. I was roughly nine weeks along. I suppose by some wouldn't seem like a big deal, but it was – is – to me. As far as I'm concerned I have a child in Heaven - a girl. That's what my mommy gut has always told me. 

The hardest part was not understanding why. Why did God decide to call her home? Had there been something wrong that would have made parting with her later more difficult? Had I done something wrong? Or was God just being cruel? Of course, I know better about that last question. But when something like this happens it crosses your mind. Although He gave me no firm answers, He did make my pain bearable. My blessed church family showered me with prayers and sympathy. One sweet lady asked how God could best comfort me. I told her I wanted to get pregnant again. Not to replace the child I lost, never that. But I knew a baby would help me heal. And just a few months later He granted my prayer. My daughter, Grace, is kind and caring, everything this mother could hope for and a comfort to me in so many different ways. I can’t believe she turns 16 in just a few short months. I’m looking forward to seeing how God will use her in other people’s lives.

What passages in the Bible have been most helpful to you in those times? Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And later after my daughter was born I Samuel 1:27 “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him.” 

What helped you get through or helped you cope with this difficulty? Just the fact that even though I didn’t know exactly why I lost my baby, God sent His comfort in ways only He can. 

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?  Sadly, my current book, Brides of Ohio, is not available in any audio capacity or large print.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?  I would like to suggest reading The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel. The second book of Brides deals with a returning Civil War veteran and his crisis of faith and was instrumental in creating that character.

BIO: Jennifer loves a good book. Not only does she read and write them, she gets to take care of them at her part-time job at her local library. She resides in central Ohio with her husband and two children, is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and a graduate of The Ohio State University. She makes room to write in between being a busy wife and mom and despite the fact her cats like to walk on her keyboard.

Jennifer’s Links:  

Website: https://www.jenniferadavids.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenniferadavids

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jenadavids/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifera.davids/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5385735.Jennifer_A_Davids

Book Links: 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-A.-Davids/e/B00E5X8PR8

Barnes and Noble:  http://tinyurl.com/hzaxqka

Christianbook.com: http://tinyurl.com/yathxlv3

Giveaway: Secret paperback book giveaway of a Barbour novel or collection. Answer this question from Jennifer: In what ways had God sent His comfort to you in troubled times?

Jaime Jo Wright -- Overcoming Multiple Miscarriages with God's Help

Author Jaime Jo Wright

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

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

Losing 3 children through miscarriage. I call it the “silent grief”. Miscarriage is something that seems to be overlooked on the tragedy scale. Because they are relatively “common” people move past very quickly. There is no funeral or memorial (usually) to mark the grieving process, so often, the parents tend to grieve in silence. Definitely, it was the most difficult thing I’ve had to walk through.

CFP: I am so sorry you went through this, Jaime. I agree with the way you characterize this. 

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

Really not one specific. I drew comfort in the promises of eternity, in the Scriptures where we’re promised a home, perfection, no more grief. It was comforting to know my babies had skirted a world of sin and entered ultimate perfection and unity with Christ.

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

Definitely my husband. He was very strong, when I wasn’t. His faith boosted my own and made forging ahead without our three children possible.

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? 

This current release is available in Kindle. The Kindle does have an option to be read-aloud. My upcoming release, The House On Foster Hill (December, 2017) will also have an audiobook edition along with an e-book option. I’ve not heard yet whether large print will be offered.

CFP: Congrats Jaime!!! Looking forward to your first full-length novel! Will be watching for the audiobook.

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

I do not. ☹

CFP: Actually, you do -- you have issues of trust, of aging, and of overcoming differences in social status. Very enjoyable novella! We reviewed this on OWG blog two weeks ago.

Question you’d like to ask readers:

What bolsters you in times of challenge?

BIO:

ECPA/Publisher's Weekly best-selling author Jaime Jo Wright, pens spirited romantic suspense stained with the shadows of history. Coffee drinker by day and coffee drinker by night. Www.jaimejowright.com

Jaime’s Links:

Web site: www.jaimejowright.com 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jaimejowright
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaimejowright 
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jaimejowright 
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/jaimejowright 
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/13916081.Jaime_Jo_Wright

Book Links:

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/of-rags-and-riches-romance-collection-susanne-dietze/1125051944?ean=9781683222637#productInfoTabs

Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/Rags-Riches-Romance-Collection-Opulence/dp/1683222636/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487870181&sr=8-1&keywords=of+rags+and+riches+romance+collection

CBD: https://www.christianbook.com/romance-collection-stories-poverty-opulence-gilded/susanne-dietze/9781683222637/pd/3222637?product_redirect=1&Ntt=3222637&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

Book blurb:

"Of Rags and Riches" Romance Collection (Barbour, July 2017) 

Love Flourishes during America’s Gilded Age

Journey along in nine historical romances with those who lives are transformed by the opulence, growth, and great changes taking place in America’s Gilded Age. Nine couples meet during these exhilarating times and work to build a future together through fighting for social reform, celebrating new opportunities for leisure activities, taking advantage of economic growth and new inventions, and more. Watch as these romances develop and legacies of faith and love are formed.

The Fisherman’s Nymph by Jaime Jo Wright - Flambeau River, Wisconsin, 1890
The reclusive daughter of a fly-fisherman guide must read the waters for a wealthy gentleman’s sport and send him back where he belongs before he hooks her heart and takes her away from the river she was born to love.

Carolyn Miller Interview - Praising God Through Trials

Author Carolyn Miller

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

Thanks for having me - greetings from Australia!

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

In 2001, after several years of marriage, my husband and I were thrilled to learn I was pregnant. I remember waking before dawn a few weeks later, knowing something was wrong. In those cold, dark hours as I watched a precious life ebb away, I felt challenged: I’d praised God in church only the day before—could I still praise God when my hopes crumbled?

I was struggling—wasn’t God supposed to work things out for good? This certainly didn’t seem good. And what if it meant I could never have children?

I felt this moment to be a crucial one in my relationship with God: would I somehow trust Him, despite my circumstances, or would I blame Him for not giving me my heart’s desire?

Despite everything, I chose to sing, and praise God anyway, with a broken heart, a voice that cracked, and a faith under siege. For me it was putting into practice what’s described in Isaiah 61 as “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness.” So I sang, amidst muffled sobs, in my lounge room, and praised God for His goodness, for His love, and for His promises. I knew this garment of praise was one that had to be ‘put on’ – it was a choice, requiring action, so opposite to what we naturally want to do. I was still desperately sad, but I believe that by praising God in that moment of heartbreak—and during those subsequent weeks and months—the depths of sorrow were eased by this decision to sing by faith.

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

I’ve always loved Romans chapter 8, where we’re reminded about God’s love in the midst of suffering: “Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, no any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.35, 37-39)

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

Remembering God’s love, recalling His faithfulness, was crucial in this time. I’ve always loved singing, so I found praising God in the midst of pain strangely therapeutic, like singing in defiance of my circumstances. I also wrote a number of songs that we sang in my church (and in other churches around Australia), that reaffirmed God’s love for us—singing out the promises of God always seems to help make them ‘stick’ a little better, and helps combat negative, fear-driven thoughts. Later, I found talking with other women who had undergone miscarriage very helpful. I’ve since found my experience of loss really beneficial in helping counsel others who are facing difficulties, as I can relate a little more deeply now, and offer encouragement that comes from God and His word.

Footnote: later that year my husband and I attended a conference where the pastor prayed for couples having trouble with pregnancy. We were prayed for, and he told us to come back next year and show him our baby. Twelve months later we did! (She’s now nearly 15, and has a sister and two brothers. God is good!)

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?

My first novel, The Elusive Miss Ellison, will be available in a large print edition later in the year, and I’m hopeful for the same for The Captivating Lady Charlotte. And I’d love to see them in audiobook format—we’ll have to wait and see J

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

Question you’d like to ask readers:

Have you ever experienced or tried to help others with miscarriage? What did you find helpful, useful? What was not helpful?

BIO:

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together with her husband she has co-pastored a church for ten years, written songs and headed music ministry, and worked as a high school English and Learning and Support teacher.

A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer’s Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives.

Carolyn is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Australasian Christian Writers and Omega Christian Writers and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. Her latest Regency novel The Captivating Lady Charlotte released June 27, 2017, and follows her February debut release The Elusive Miss Ellison, both from Kregel Publications.

Carolyn’s Links: Connect with her at www.carolynmillerauthor.com and subscribe to her quarterly newsletter, and follow via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Giveaway: We're giving away a paperback copy this week and Carolyn is offering an ebook copy.