Wildflowers from Winter Archives

Would You Rather Wildflowers from Winter Style!

Posted on June 8, 2012April 6, 2017 by Jessica R. Patch

Today is another fun day with author, @KatieGanshert! I’ve asked
her, Bethany, and Evan (her main characters) to play Would You Rather…! So let’s
get started.

Would You Rather…

Eat cookie dough or brownie batter?

Bethany:
Brownie batter. It’s the only thing I can bake without ruining. And it brings
back some good memories with my mom, before things flipped inside out. Whenever
she made brownies, she’d give one beater to me and one to my brother to lick.

Evan:
How about a nice pork tenderloin instead? Or one of Robin’s pies?

Katie:
Brownie batter! Sometimes I make brownies just so I can lick the bowl. Yum,
yum, yum.

live in a rockin treehouse or a sweet underground lair?

Bethany:
The tree house. It would probably feel a lot like the loft I live in now. And
I’d love to design it. Evan would probably never believe it, but I was a big
tree climber when I was a little girl.

Evan:
Tree house. My brothers and I built a really sweet treehouse when we were kids.
Sometimes I’d go up there at night and listen to the crickets.

Katie:
A sweet underground lair with lots of tunnels that I could explore.

fly or read minds?

Bethany:
Fly. Life would have been a lot easier when I was a kid if I could have left
all the junk on the ground and taken to the sky.

Evan:
Read minds. I’d love to know what Bethany is thinking beneath that front she
works so hard to put up.

Katie:
Fly. Edward Cullen can keep his super power. I think I would hate to hear
everybody’s private thoughts.

Thanks, Katie, for spending the week with us. We’ve laughed, been challenged and have had a great time all around!

What
say you? Answer the questions in the comment section!

A young architect at
a prestigious Chicago firm, Bethany Quinn has built a life far removed from her
trailer park teen years. Until an interruption from her estranged mother
reveals that tragedy has struck in her hometown and a reluctant Bethany is
called back to rural Iowa. Determined to pay her respects while avoiding any
emotional entanglements, she vows not to stay long. But the unexpected
inheritance of farmland and a startling turn of events in Chicago forces
Bethany to come up with a new plan.

Handsome farmhand
Evan Price has taken care of the Quinn farm for years. So when Bethany is left
the land, he must fight her decisions to realize his dreams. But even as he
disagrees with Bethany’s vision, Evan feels drawn to her and the pain she keeps
so carefully locked away.

For Bethany, making
peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to
freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not
even sure exists?

Author, Katie Ganshert

Purchase Wildflowers from Winter HERE!

Guest Devotion: Katie Ganshert

Posted on June 6, 2012March 31, 2017 by Jessica R. Patch

Today, I’ve asked Katie to share a devotion that goes along with some of the spiritual themes in her debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter.

Don’t forget to come back on Friday when we play Would You Rather with Katie and her main characters, Bethany and Evan!

Take it away, Katie, and thanks so much for sharing your heart with us today!

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. Romans 8:28

I have
to tell you, this verse used to confuse the crud out of me. I’d hear
well-intentioned Christians quote it at each other and my forehead would go all
wrinkly.

Because
in reality, Christians suffer. Their spouse has an aneurysm. Or they struggle
through infertility. Or they fall off a silo and end up in a wheelchair. Or
(insert any number of bad things here).

And the
whole idea of patting their shoulder and saying, “Don’t worry. God will work
this out for your good” feels a little insensitive to me.

Especially
since sometimes, the spouse doesn’t recover. Sometimes they’ll never get a
positive pregnancy test. And sometimes they never leave the wheelchair.

So how
can we possibly say God’s working for their good? It doesn’t make any sense.

At least
not by our definition of good.

And
there’s the crux of the verse. That one simple word.

What
is good?

We know
the world’s definition. To the world, good equals comfort. Good equals
prosperity and health and popularity and independence and getting what we want.
That’s how my main character, Bethany Quinn, sees it.

But
maybe that’s not what good means to God.

Maybe to
God, good means becoming more like Jesus. Relying more on Jesus. Discovering
that all we really need is Jesus.

And
maybe that doesn’t happen during times of prosperity. Maybe it’s during those
times of grief, or helplessness, or failing health, or unmet expectations, that
we take our eyes off the temporary things this world has to offer and draw
nearer to Him.

Let’s Talk: What do you think God means by
“good”? Have you grown closer to the Lord because of hard times?

Here’s a sneak peek at Wildflowers from Winter! Click HERE to purchase the novel!

For Bethany, making
peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to
freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not
even sure exists?

*photocredit: www.freedigitalphotos.net

I’m hosting Living by Grace today on facebook! Come over and let’s talk!

Faith Readers Review: Wildflowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert

Posted on June 4, 2012March 31, 2017 by Jessica R. Patch

The excitement was over-the-top! Not only was our rockstar, Jan Kerley, bringing Surprise Strawberry cupcakes (the surprise was a cream cheese and chocolate chip center…uh yeah, awesome) but we had the amazing opportunity to skype with author, Katie Ganshert–her first book club group to chat live with! Yay! You can see our picture on her book club page HERE! She has the cake from the story (which had I been on my A game, I’d have baked) as well as discussion questions and a youtube video for bookclubbers! So cool!

We spent the first 30 minutes of our time discussing the book–yah know before Katie’s turn! 🙂

Our rating 1-5 stars: 4 stars!

I think for the first time ever, everyone liked this book! Here’s some of the things we said pre-Katie:

“I connected with Bethany from the very get-go.”

“I didn’t connect with her at first but then I realized how insecure she was, and by the end I forgot she was a fictional character.”

“I loved the romance! It wasn’t too much but just enough that it didn’t overpower the real story.”

“I want to meet Evan! Whoo–that kiss!”

“Whoo–that dance!!”

“I thought Robin’s grief was real, too real. It hit home and that’s all I could focus on.”

“I think the author wrote beautifully but not over my head.”

“I want that cake recipe!”

“I’d like Evan!”

And then we had the chance to skype with the beautiful, smart, and funny Katie Ganshert! She was very personable and interactive with us which is fabulous! She even asked us questions! I loved that and so did our Faith Readers. It made us all feel valuable. I can’t quote everything said because I don’t want to give anything away! But here’s a few things I can share!

Katie sent us a picture of who she thought Evan looked like!

She explained some of the changes her editor asked for, which was amazing how she pulled off those feats!

She talked about some of her inspiration, people she talked to about grief and a book she read.

Everyone took turns on the camera asking questions and laughing. It was a great night!

Katie’s debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter is an amazing book and I encourage anyone to read it! In honor of her release, I’ve invited Katie to spend the rest of the week on the blog!

Wednesday, she’ll be sharing a powerful devotion with you and on Friday we’ll play Would You Rather with Bethany and Evan, her main characters and Katie herself! It’s going to be lots of fun so make sure you come back and visit!

Here’s a sneak peek at Wildflowers from Winter!

For Bethany, making
peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to
freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not
even sure exists?

What’s your favorite cupcake? Have you ever made a recipe an author included in the novel?

Wildflowers from Winter: Emily Shuff’s Beauty from Pain

Posted on May 4, 2012March 31, 2017 by Jessica R. Patch

Emily with daughter #2, Paisley Kate!

Today, many people
are spreading hope across facebook and the blogosphere thanks to KatieGanshert. Her debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter is about to release! It’s an
amazing story of a woman whose painful past springs with hope and beauty. Katie
asked that today, we share a story of hope, where beauty grew from pain. I’m
excited to share with you, not my story–I share my stuff all the time–but the
story of a beautiful woman (inside and out). She’s not only our Creative Arts
pastor’s wife, but she’s also a dear friend to me.

She’s like sunshine
mixed with cool breezes, ice cream cones and rainbows. Everything we love and
would miss if they went away. Today, Emily Shuff, is sharing her Wildflowers
from Winter story and my prayer and hers is that it will extend to you and give
you the same hope!

Welcome Emily!

Getting married so
young at 17 and 19, I wasn’t in a hurry
for kids but we also thought whatever happens is fine. We never really did
anything to prevent pregnancy and never really thought much when nothing
happened.

At 17 life happens
when you want it to anyway, right?! It wasn’t until years later that we
decided, “Ok we are ready for this blessed event to occur”…so now it will
happen because we want it and we are ready… Right?! We started “trying” to
get pregnant.

Months would come
and go and once again it was the same thing.

No baby.

Daughter #1 Lexie Rae

It was difficult to say the least…a lot like
a roller coaster, high hopes at the beginning of the month followed by drastic
let downs when again that second pink line never showed up. I knew God was able
but just didn’t understand why he wouldn’t let it happen.

I thought through
every scenario possible…. was I just not cut out to be a good mom or had my
past just been to much that I wasn’t able to be trusted with such a precious
gift? We decided to talk to the doctor and start getting tested. Knowing seems
to make everything better! In Spring of 2005 we were sitting across the desk
from a very kind doctor and in the most compassionate way he told us, “There’s
always IVF. You guys look like you love each other though and I’m sure you will
be ok.”

Crushed doesn’t even
begin to describe the feelings we had at the moment. We had no thread of hope
except to trust the Lord. IVF wasn’t even an option…still young and starting
out in life we were far from being able to afford any expensive medical procedures.
We took a couple steps back and said, “OK God it’s in your hands. We will
wait on You and whatever You choose to do. We had one couple that Doug and I
were close with that knew what we were facing and that was it.

It wasn’t exactly
good dinner conversation, you know? But, I reached the place that I didn’t care
who knew I just needed to know God knew… And He did. In APRIL of 2005 at a
Sunday evening church service during the altar time I had a VERY specific word spoken
to me by a guest evangelist about rebuking emptiness and bareness and releasing
healing. He knew the pain and He sent hope.

I held so tightly to
that word. I listened to it over and over. I clung to Isaiah 55:8-11, that God
sent that word for a specific purpose. As I began to dig into the Word deeper I
quickly realized that there were a lot of women who also went through the same
situation. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth…. quite an extensive
list. In my pain I thought God was doing this to punish me for my past but what
had these women done, why them too?

Pastor Doug and Emily with baby number #3, son #1, Nathan

I realized God wasn’t punishing, but He was
evoking faith in them, in me.

He wanted me to trust
Him to get closer to Him and He decided to use one of the most special and
precious areas to a woman He could use…her womb, my womb. So, I hoped this
word meant that we got two pink lines the very next month but we didn’t or the
month after that either. In fact…three years had passed…

The roller coaster
continued each month but we clung to the hope that He still knew. In June of
2008, I got the surprise of a lifetime…. two pink lines.

We came to find out
that I was due in January of 2009…which meant that I had gotten pregnant in,
can you believe, APRIL of 2008! I nearly passed out when I realized this.
Almost 3 years exactly to the day after God spoke to my pain I conceived a
miracle, eight years into our marriage.

Proud papa, Pastor Doug with Nathan!

If the story ended
there it would be great….but it doesn’t! We decided that we would continue to
not prevent pregnancy because we loved the idea that we could have more kids if
the Lord was willing to give them to us and in, yep you guessed it, APRIL of
2010, we found out we were expecting our second child. But wait…there’s more!

Just this APRIL on the 20th I gave birth to
our third child. God has blessed our family with more than we could ever ask or
imagine. We have 3 beautiful children. Our oldest daughter, a bright eyed
little lady, Alexia Rae. Our middle child, full of pure sweetness, Paisley
Kate, and our newest addition, Nathan Riley. With each child and the details
surrounding their arrivals God displayed His greatness, His great love and His
compassion. He was never trying to punish me or thought I was incapable of
parenting or loving a child He was teaching me to trust Him and He used one of
the most precious ways for me to learn that trust.

Lots of precious hope fulfilled!

Have you ever watched the impossible happen in your life? Are you still waiting on the impossible! Dote on Em’s babies, cause they’re adorable! 🙂

In honor of Katie’s debut novel releasing soon, she’s giving away a copy of her book to a lucky winner! All you have to do is leave your email address in the comment section if you want to be entered! I will draw the winner through a random generator and announce it on Monday!

*If you are reading this through facebook and can’t comment in the blog comments, let me know in the comments of facebook if you’d like to be entered and I’ll message you if you win!

For Bethany, making
peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to
freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not
even sure exists?

You can pre-order Wildflowers from Winter here. It debuts May 8th!