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| 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.
