Interview and giveaway with Katherine Walden

By Jenny Blake

Today my friend and debut author Katherine Walden is joining us from Canada to share about her writing journey and her new book which we are also going to give away to one Commenter.
 

Hi Katherine, could you tell us a little about yourself?
I live in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and am a former missionary. I now oversee a large internet ministry, 'I lift My Eyes Ministries'. I am disabled, and live with a neuro-muscular disease.  I am an active member of my local church, serving in various roles such as; prayer coordinator, mentor and small group leader.

How did this book come about?

I have been writing weekly devotions for the past 15 years that I have published on the web at http://katherinewalden.com. These devotions are also sent out to a mailing list of about 1,000 people. Over the years, several of my followers have asked me to compile a book of these devotionals. After a few years of being asked to do so, I began the daunting process!

Can you tell us a little about the journey to make this book a reality?

 In April of 2014, I decided to bite the bullet, and began organizing, editing and proof-reading my archived devotions. I decided to split the devotions into three books. "Seasons" is the first book, and the theme and title became obvious to me as I sorted through hundreds of devotionals.  As many of my devotions are based on personal experiences, I marvelled at the elasticity of time. What once appeared to be long, hard seasons of all-consuming pain and adversity are now only faint memories. Simple, yet timely, acts of compassion shown towards me more than 30 years ago continue to impact me today.

I read one comment about how you are hoping your message of HOPE lifts people, is this what you want readers to take out of your book?
For much of my life, even as a Christian, I refused to entertain the thought of living with hope. I considered my pragmatism to be an admirable character trait and prided myself on being a realist. I thought cynicism was a great foundation for a successful life as it was a good starting point for gaining wisdom. Unfortunately, I was not a realist, I was in denial. The truth was: I was a dreamer, I was an artist, I was creative, I was an optimist. I allowed life's circumstances to crush the dreams inside, and I was afraid to hope again.  But the Bible says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12)  As I allowed myself to hope again, and as I placed my hope on Jesus Christ, my heart awakened again to the truth that the world is a wonderful place and God's dreams and hopes for me are so much bigger than my own. To hope is risky but to deny hope is disastrous. (Jenny here thanks for your answer here. for myself having a medical issue HOPE has become my lifeline. Hope for answers and help but also hope in Jesus to give me the strength to handle each day.)

I also know you are an Overseer at I Lift My Eyes Ministries can you tell us what this ministry is also?

I Lift My Eyes (ILME) is an internet ministry that started out in 1995 as a personal webpage. Just one small page. Since then, it has grown to a network of five websites consisting of about 2000 pages in total. I send out Daily Christian Quotes via email to close to 3000 people and have maintained an archive of those quotes since 2001. I also have a site that provides indices of bible verses, arranged by subject. I also have a large link index with over 1500 links to quality Christian resources. The prayer section of the ministry contains several articles on prayer as well as a prayer board where people can leave prayer requests. As we now live in the era of Social Media, much of my ministry is now on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.

Do you have a message you would like to leave for our readers?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - "There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time."
If you are wondering if your spiritual winter will ever end, may I bring you His hope? Spring is on the horizon! Winter is but a season that will pass.

 

To end on a fun note if you could come and visit Australia and New Zealand what would you most like to do or see?

 

I would love to visit both Australia and New Zealand. Australia fascinated me as a child; my mother regularly corresponded with an old school friend who married an Aussie. I thought that Australia was exotic and mysterious. I learned in elementary school that toilets flush in the opposite direction down under, and I guess I never grew up, I would like to see if that is true! Tasmania has a mythical edge to me, mainly because of old cartoons I watched as a child that featured a Tasmanian Devil. The outback is a bit too out back for me as I am a city girl through and through. Seriously though, I would love to explore the cultural sites of Sydney and Brisbane and the Gold Coast.  After a good visit with friends who live in Australia, I would have to make a hop, skip and a long jump from Australia to New Zealand to visit friends I have there. I've always wanted to see the rugged beauty of New Zealand.

Thanks Katherine for sharing your journey.

If you would like to win an Ecopy of this book please leave a comment with either a question or comment on the blog post and with a way to contact you. Comments saying sounds good enter me will not be accepted. Winner will be announced Next Tuesday.

Winner is Susanne Timpani

JENNY BLAKE (aka Ausjenny) is an avid reader. When not reading she enjoys watching cricket, in fact you could call her a cricket fanatic, scrapbooking and jigsaws. She volunteers at the local Christian bookshop where she can recommend books to customers. Her book blog is where she reviews books and interview authors. Her goal is to help promote new books and encourage authors. Her blog is athttp://ausjenny.blogspot.com and is Co-Founder ofhttp://acrba.blogspot.com