Unfulfilled Familial Expectations - By Lucy Thompson & Giveaway

Author Lucy Thompson

Lucy, 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?

Unfulfilled Familial Expectations

We all think our family is “normal” until we grow up, possibly even move out, and are challenged by other people’s ‘normal’. Recently, I came across the terms Narcissism and Gaslighting. After reading and researching more on the subject I realized a lot of what is found within those terms described my childhood and first marriage “normal”. There is a short but powerful article here which describes more on this topic and, more importantly, some healthy solutions.

One of the hardest things I found to overcome is unmet family expectations. You know, where we (I!) expect a parent or spouse will treat us (me) one way and instead the reality is totally different. It could be something simple such as:

when I’m married my spouse will never leave his socks on the floor in front of the hamper…

Daddy will always hug me goodnight…

ALL of our family will always love Jesus…

Or, it could be something bigger. Something harder. You fill in the blank with whatever that may be.

But! But…God.

God is so faithful. Jesus truly is my Rock and one steadfast constant through life’s ups and downs. He alone determines my worth and makes my name successful. All this is to glorify Him.

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

John 14:16a, 18 NLT is a comfort to me. “…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you…No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.”

Romans 8:28 NLT “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

When I am tired this verse gives me courage and heart": Galatians 6:9 NLT “S let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

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

God doesn’t leave us as orphans. He places HIS family in our lives, stays with us personally, gives us strength when our own gives out.

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? 

No audio formats so far. However, ebooks have the wonderful capacity to be enlarged to a large print standard. Handy! J

In this latest work, “Waltzing Matilda” in The Captive Brides Collection, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?  

No disorders in particular. I mainly wrote about trusting God with his plan in the midst of challenging circumstances.

Question you’d like to ask readers:

Do you have a particular song or hymn that has helped you or been a comfort during any of your challenging seasons in life? YouTube links are welcome in the comments. Let’s lift up Jesus’s name. J

BIO:

Lucy Thompson is a stay-at-home mum to five precocious children by day and a snoop by night, stalking interesting characters through historical settings and writing about their exploits. A resident of Queensland, Australia, she loves her sunburnt country and loves to make new friends.

Lucy’s Links:

Blog: http://lucythompsonauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lucy.thompsonauthor

Pinterest:  https://au.pinterest.com/lucythompsonaut

Book Links:

A Cowboy's Dare (Harding Family Book 2)

Tyrone woke up with a headache—and a wife. And he’s never been so scared in his life. 

$3.99 or FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Christian Historical Fiction.

The Captive Brides Collection: 9 Stories of Great Challenges Overcome Through Great Love

Waltzing Matilda by Lucy Thompson - Sydney, Australia, 1821

Henry didn’t plan on a runaway convict masquerading as a shepherd. Or on the woman’s baby. Keeping them safe will cost him his freedom—or will it?

Giveaway: I’m happy to giveaway an ebook copy (open internationally) of either Mail Order Surprise or A Cowboy’s Dare.  CFP: And I'm offering a paperback copy of The Captive Brides Collection (if you're an international reader, if Book Depository ships to your country, you're eligible for the giveaway.)

Dyslexia, Narcissism, and Redemption? -- An Audiobook Review of An Elegant Façade

An Audiobook Review of  An Elegant Façade
Tantor Audio

Book by Kristi Ann Hunter
Narration by Charlotte Anne Dore

Review by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Dyslexia, Narcissism, and Redemption? 

This audiobook has had me thinking about it long after I finished reading it. Start with a heroine who is more of an anti-heroine, who has a reading learning disability, or dyslexia. She's born into a family she perceives as perfectionists. Set during Regency England, the heroine reminds me of one of Jane Austin's antagonistic females. There was a movie sometime not too far back where a twist was done on an Austin novel, making the antagonist the heroine and giving her a happier outcome than the book had. This novel reminded me of that movie, to some extent.

As a psychologist of twenty-five years, one of the most difficult conditions to deal with was narcissism. Granted, today it is rampant in our culture. And it is a vice that Lady Georgina Hawthorne epitomizes well. The problem is -- we don't normally want to see that in our heroine! So I kept waiting and hoping that this well-written story would show progress for the heroine and I hung in there and kept listening.  The narrator, while sounding rather young and petulant in voice for this character really is quite perfect for Georgina.

Spolier Alert

The heroine, in contrast, is a lovable guy and kept me interested in the story. Colin McRae makes up for what Georgina lacks. And he draws her forward in her relationship with the Lord. And finally to making her own decision. The problem is, when someone is "ashamed" of their disability and hiding it, that doesn't excuse self-absorption and narcissism and even with redemption, the chance in the heroine is not so marked as to make the reader think -- there now, she'll go forward and stop all that. On the other hand, we shouldn't expect redemption to cure all our fleshly sins. So that is my struggle in reading this story and why it is memorable. One hopes for, wishes, and delights in the day of redemption yet those fleshly behaviors are likely to continue, and disturb others, as God slowly peels those layers away.  We aren't going to see that at the end of the story. We get a nice epilogue, and we can hope, but one can't help but wonder if all that self-centeredness and deception are going to be problematic in a marriage and family. My personal experience has been that narcissism is horrifically hard to excise from someone and overcome. It can be done, but only with God's help. Kristi Ann Hunter doesn't give a neat little package wrapped up with a bow at the end -- and maybe that is how this story needs to be. 

Question: Do you enjoy stories with an anti-hero who is restored? What is your favorite?