I am thrilled and honored to be a part of Faith Blum's blog tour for her book release of Amazing Grace - with both an interview and book review! I hope you have some spare minutes, because we had fun making this blog post a long read! :) First, let's learn a little about Faith.
1) When did you begin writing?
I think I’ve pretty much been
writing since I started school, but I think I got more serious about it around
age ten. And I’ve been writing stories every since. Some are really good and
some are really bad.
2) What inspired your Hymns of
the West series?
A picture and a contest. A
homeschooling magazine we got had a short story contest. I was too old for it
and there was no way I could keep the story down to 1500 words, but I decided
to write it anyway. When it was done, it had a lot of problems and I set it
aside to work on someday. Then another contest, sponsored by the Women of Faith
conference, came around for a novel and I decided to polish up my book.
I didn’t win the contest, but I was
a semi-finalist and that spurred me on to independently publish my book.
Originally, I didn’t intend it to be a series, but then a beta-reader asked me
what the next book was about and his simple question got the wheels in my brain
turning. The idea that spurred my book into a series is actually going to be
book #5 and I keep coming up with more ideas so I have no idea how long the
series will be.
3) How do the hymns play a role in
your series (if this isn't a spoiler)?
The hymns kind of provide the
theme for each of my books. In A Mighty
Fortress, one of the themes is trusting in God to lead us and guide us.
Making Him our refuge. Be Thou My Vision is
about having God give us a vision for our lives and asking Him for wisdom for
that vision. Amazing Grace is
about…you guessed it, God’s grace. It also has a theme of God’s redemption.
4) What have you found to be the
most useful resource for researching the Western time period?
The internet and other fiction
and non-fiction books. If I need to just check a fairly well-known fact, I’ll
do a quick search on the internet. Some things I have gotten from reading Louis
L’Amour or Janette Oke, and go by my memories from them.
5) What is your goal/vision in
writing?
To encourage and challenge
Christians in their walk with God and to hopefully reach a few non-Christians
with the gospel as well.
6) Do you find yourself using
struggles, victories, and spiritual lessons that you have personally
experienced to help teach lessons in your books?
Definitely! With this last
book, it seemed like God was beating me over the head with the lesson of His
grace.
7) What would you say to encourage a
young Christian writer?
Don’t rely on your feelings.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 says: “‘The
heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? ‘I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man
according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.’”
You won’t feel like a Christian all the time. If you have truly repented of
your sins, you are born again and you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Trust
God, He is always faithful.
8) Have there been any Scripture
verses that God has really used to encourage you in your writing/publishing
journey?
First Corinthians 10:31: “Whether,
then, you eat or drink or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
9) Who do you find encourages you
most in your writing journey?
My family, one of my sisters
in particular, and my friend, Andrew. They at least try to act interested when
I talk about my writing and sales.
10) When not writing, what are three
of your top favorite things to do?
Play piano, play games with my
family, and read.
A few extra questions (that you can
answer in just one sentence if you'd like)
~Which author has inspired you the
most in your writing?
Louis L’Amour. He’s not Christian,
but he writes clean Westerns.
~What are some of your favorite
books to read?
How many do you want? ;) The Holy Bible, Never by J. Grace Pennington, Ride
the River by Louis L’Amour, The Short
Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer, Little
Women by Louisa May Alcott, Resistance
by Jaye L. Knight, The King’s Scrolls
by Jaye L. Knight, This Present Darkness
by Frank Peretti, Piercing the Darkness
by Frank Peretti, and anything about Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
That’s just a few, of course.
~What is one of your favorite Bible
verses?
That is hard! I think James 1:5-8 (I
know, it’s more than one, so sue me): “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be
given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting,
for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the
wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive
anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man,
unstable in all his ways.”
~What is one of your dreams?
To get married someday and have
children of my own.
~What is your salvation testimony?
I prayed with my mom at the age of
four and have been growing in my salvation ever since.
~Anything else about you or your
writing that you'd like to share?
Not that I can think of. Thanks for
having me, Amanda!
~*~*~
Now about the book! :)
Because if you're like me, finding new reading material is just fun!
Caleb
hurried to the post office. He had to get in and out before his sister finished
at the general store. “Any mail for the Stuarts?” he asked the postmaster.
The
postmaster took a lazy look at him over the top of his eyeglasses and gave a
heaving sigh as he turned around to check. “Yep. Somethin’ from Ohio and
somethin’ from Montana.”
Tapping
his foot, Caleb waited until the large man put the letters lazily in his hand.
As he left he wondered why Anna had written someone in Montana and who she knew
in Montana. It was really none of his
business, but he was still curious. He folded the Ohio letter in half
and stashed it in his back pocket. It would get wrinkled, but at least Anna
wouldn’t know about it.
As Caleb struggles through some inner
battles, he secretly starts a correspondence with a widow and her daughter.
Their unabashed faith in God convicts him and increases his inner struggles.
Unable to find a steady job, Maggie
places an advertisement to become a mail-order bride. Her daughter, Rachel, is
her motivation and encouragement, but if Maggie doesn’t find a job or husband
soon, Rachel might not survive through the next year.
Can Caleb learn to trust God despite his
past? Can Maggie and Rachel hold onto their faith despite all their trials?
What will happen when they meet in person?
My review:
Stories about mail-order brides always intrigue me. Not
being very romantic, I'm not really sure why (maybe it's the history or unusual
concept); but I was happy to realize that
Amazing
Grace incorporated the story of a mail-order bride and found the first portion
of the story very interesting as it bounced between several correspondents.
As the story progressed, I got to know Caleb, Anna, Iain,
Maggie, Rachel, Miles, John, James, and Toby, and enjoyed following their
story. There is definitely a strong Christian emphasis in the story (which I
appreciate) and a lot about seeking God for His direction in your life.
Though the third book in this series, I was glad that I could just jump in and read it -- from what I understand, reading the former books would have given me a more rounded story, but it was enjoyable as a stand-alone.
A few things I really appreciated:
~I appreciated how Miles would just break out into prayer
during tough times.
~I appreciated the realistic conclusion that though we may
present man with the Gospel, we cannot force him to accept it. Though I almost
didn't want to read it, it is very true that some people, though we witness to
them, we may never know in this life whether or not they accepted that Gospel
for their own.
~I appreciated that the salvation message was very clearly presented.
A few things that I was hesitant about:
~I will admit that I was very cautious in reading about a
Christian woman corresponding with and practically courting an unbeliever.
Though it turned out well (and it was very clear that Maggie was not the reason
for Caleb's profession of faith), I know that such is not always the case. It
is easy for our emotions to run away with us and a Christian girl might hope
for the same results as Maggie and Caleb, and before she realizes it, gets
swept into an unbiblical marriage. This is pretty much the main point that I
cringed in reading the book. I think the author handled the situation well,
with the characters bathing the situation in prayer and getting godly counsel,
but at the same time, would caution girls not to take Maggie's story as their
pattern for courtship/dating.
Some of my favorite quotes:
"Hold that thought. I have a ring to buy."
(I'll admit, this one had me laughing out loud [which
doesn't happen often while I'm reading] and my family had to know what was so
funny)
"My caution to you is to not get so caught up in the
romance you lose sight of God. God should always come first in any
relationship."
"As good as she may be for him, it is never good to go
contrary to God's will and in this case, His will is very clear."
About Faith:
An avid reader, Faith Blum started writing at an early age. Whether it
was a story about the camping trip that summer or a more creative story about
fictional characters, she has always enjoyed writing. When not writing, Miss
Blum enjoys reading, crafting, playing piano, Captaining on the Holy Worlds
Historical Fiction Forum and playing games with her family (canasta, anyone?).
As a history enthusiast who has been fascinated for years with the Old
West, Faith has endeavored to create a clean, fun, and challenging Western
story. Faith lives with her family on a hobby farm in the Northern Midwest,
where she enjoys the many cats they have.
See where else
Amazing Grace has appeared on the web
here.
Psalm 119:36-37
