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| Author Jill Stengl |
Jill, welcome to Overcoming With God. We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers.
Thank you so much for hosting me! I have often been blessed by the testimonies shared here. The sense of Christian community, of coming alongside to encourage and edify in love is a rare gift.
Would you tell us about one of the most difficult things in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help? (transparency appreciated!)
Being a military wife for fifteen years was challenging for me in many ways. My husband, Dean, flew thirty-four bombing missions into Iraq and Kuwait during the first Gulf War while I stayed home with our three young children and wondered if he would be able to return to us. He was deployed frequently throughout his years of military service, which forced me to be a single mother much of the time. And after he left the military to become a commercial pilot, he was still away from home more often than not, which put an extra burden of stress on the family during crucial times in our older children’s teen years. And stress tends to bring out the best and the worst in people.
In most respects I was/am a good wife and mother; but all too often I have failed miserably! Being an airheaded, people-pleasing, know-it-all busybody has its hazards, I can tell you that much. *grin* Yet in His gracious kindness, God uses my failures to humble and discipline me. It is definitely an on-going process. I can always find new ways to embarrass myself, which gives God plenty of opportunity to further His work.
Holding myself up as an example of how not to do it would not be my first choice for ministry—but whatever God can use is good with me! We Christians so often present only our successes to the world and hide our failures, which builds pressure on other hurting people to do the same. Not one of us is righteous; all of us fall short and desperately need God’s grace. And we need to offer love and grace as generously as God has shown it to us.
Believe me, my dear husband and children have demonstrated abundant mercy and grace to me over the years!
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| Until that Distant Day |
Sadly, no! I would love to offer these formats in future, however.
In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?
One of the central characters in Until That Distant Day suffers from adult-onset epilepsy. Several of my near relatives and friends are afflicted with this condition, yet few novels seem to feature epileptics as major characters. At the time of the French Revolution, victims of epileptic seizures faced being institutionalized (and quite probably experimented on) if their condition were discovered.
Interesting fact: Napoleon Bonaparte was epileptic, even suffering grand mal seizures, yet managed to keep his condition secret due to devoted servants and officers who recognized that he was neither insane nor demon-possessed.
Also, my heroine, Colette, is dyslexic, another misunderstood condition at that time.
Thank you, for agreeing to answer these questions!
You are most welcome! Thank you, my Christian sisters, for extending love and friendship to me.
Jill’s links:
Author blog: http://jillstengl.blogspot.com/
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jill-Stengl/233740900123521
Until That Distant Day:
Barnes & Noble:
British Brides Collection:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-british-brides-collection
Giveaway: I'll be giving away a paperback copy of Jill's British Brides collection, with this interview. We'll also be giving away a copy of Until that Distant Day, later in the week!
