Costly Forgiveness with Stacey Weeks

Real life is messy. Scripture teaches us that following the Lord Jesus Christ will be difficult. In fact, trouble is more likely to increase as we walk in opposition to the world. Following Jesus is not easy. We are commanded to do things that are impossible in our flesh, but they become possible as we depend on the Holy Spirit’s power and live in submission to God.  

As I worked on The Builder’s Reluctant Bride, I spoke with many people about forgiveness and our struggle with it. Various people posed similar comments and questions. Such as: If forgiveness was free, why was it so hard? Can you forgive someone who is not sorry? I wanted my characters to struggle with these questions too. But in order to resolve the story, I needed to research the answer.

Timothy Keller wrote in The Prodigal God: Recovering the heart of the Christian faith, “Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, than it isn’t mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness.”

Yes, forgiveness is free to the one receiving it, but forgiveness is never free for the one offering it. Our free forgiveness cost his life. He loved us too much to withhold forgiveness. He died for us while we continued to sin. Someone always pays for forgiveness. I wanted my readers to consider that truth. In The Builder’s Reluctant Bride Jenna must do the hard work of cultivating a heart that forgives those who don’t know, appreciate, or understand how their actions have affected her, and she struggles with it.

Stacey is the author of inspirational romance The Builder's Reluctant Bride (Pelican Book Group 2016 named Best Christian Romance by The Word Guild in 2017), inspirational romantic suspense In Too Deep (Pelican Book Group 2017), and non-fiction book Glorious Surrender (2016 Women's Journey of Faith winner). Stacey lives in Ontario Canada with her family. She is a regular contributor to Women-Together Leadership blog; she enjoys speaking at women's conferences and teaching the Word of God.

  

He Wants a Second Chance. She Says There’s No Going Back. Ten years ago, a public disgrace sent Jenna Jenkins running from her hometown. Now, the success of her professional future hinges on joining her hometown church restoration project. Her partner and team leader on the job is William Scott—expert renovator, volunteer fireman, and the ex-flame who ruined her life. William is in crisis, facing the tightening screws of personal and professional failure. When the interior designer on the church renovation project turns out to be Jenna, William sees it as a chance to make amends. But Jenna wants nothing to do with him. How much will William sacrifice to redeem his mistakes and prove his love? Can Jenna protect her heart this time or will William break her for good?

Watch the book trailer!

https://vimeo.com/168368032

The Builder's Reluctant Bride is available for purchase at Pelican Book Group, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes&Noble

Download and read the first two chapters FREE here!

https://staceyweeks.com/books/fiction/  

Can you direct us to where readers can find you?

Website: www.staceyweeks.com - I post weekly devotionals and regular home renovation projects and crafts under the blog tab. You’ll find links and information on all of my books.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/writerSWeeks - This is where I post questions to readers and collect feedback for projects. It’s also where you’ll find the most up to date information.

Newsletter:   http://eepurl.com/cZgDb9  The newsletter is emailed once every spring, summer, fall, and winter and is full of information, deals, and opportunities available only to subscribers.

Twitter: @WriterSWeeks

Interview with Author Stacey Weeks

Hi all, I would like to introduce author Stacey Weeks to you today. Here is a little about her:

Stacey is from the play-until-the-streetlights-turn-on and come-when-your-father-whistles generation. She's a cool-off-in-the-sprinkler, drink-straight-from-the-hose, and fish-off-the-pier kind of girl. She is loyal even when others are not.

She has wrestled with brothers, played Barbie with neighbors, and stayed up too late reading just one more chapter. She's from BIG Sunday dinners, steaming hot tea, and Saturday morning coin-sized pancakes. She grew up with Tupperware, paper bag lunches, Yorkshire pudding, and mashed potatoes.

Lots of mashed potatoes.

Her family is a finish-what-you-start, bargain-shopping, home-cooking, and respect-your-elders kind of family. She is one of four children framed in memories on a wall. She jumped off docks, endured eight-hour trips that took twelve, and sat in the middle bench seat of the family sedan.

She is a wait until you enter the house before driving away kind of mom. She boils the kettle in a crisis, and she knows that a job worth doing is worth doing right.

She is a fixer of old things, painter of everything, cleansed and forgiven child of God. She believes that nothing matters more than the Lord Jesus Christ and who she believes He is.

Welcome! We're so glad you could visit us today. 

Thanks, I’m happy to be here!

What made you decide to become a writer?

I’ve always loved to read and for a long time I thought other people wrote books. It wasn’t until I took a few online classes and began to study writing that I grew serious about it and thought that maybe, just maybe, God would bless this desire to write for His glory.

What is your favorite thing about being an author?

I love how it allows me to freely express myself and work through personal issues. It lets me experience things I would never consider without the excuse of book research. I love brainstorming with other writers. It is so much fun to plan a friend’s book because I can let my imagination run wild and carry none of the responsibility of pulling the story together.

Where did the inspiration for your latest book come from? 

I save newspaper articles with strange but true reports. A daring water rescue inspired one scene from In Too Deep. I used the idea near the end of the book, so I plotted the book backward – from end to beginning.

How does your faith and spirituality work in with your writing? 

Most often, the truths that God is teaching me and the ways that He is stretching me also becomes the growth arch for my characters. When my character, Grace, was reading Proverbs searching for wisdom  - so was I. As she meditated on a beautiful passage in Job –so was I.

What do you want readers to come away with after reading your books?

I want readers to know that God is bigger than their circumstances. I want them to understand that even when life is unfair and we can’t make sense of it – God is always perfectly loving and leading us. His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours that we cannot understand them, but we can trust Him.

What is one of your favorite scenes in [book name]?

I’m drawing a blank! I can’t say any scene sticks out, but I love to read Sandra Orchard (Christian fiction) and Tess Gerritsen (medical crime). Critical Condition is my favorite book Orchard wrote and Playing with Fire by Gerritsen.

When you are stressed, maybe a deadline’s approaching too fast, what is your favorite snack food? Or so you have another way to cope?

I paint things or recover / repurpose something. I’ve painted upholstery, shoes, and even a carpet. I go for a run. If I keep my hands and feet busy with hard work it clears my mind and helps me focus when it comes time to sit down and work.

If time and money were not a concern, what one skill would you like to learn?

I would love to attend a seminary class on studying and teaching Scripture. I’ve taken online classes and really enjoyed them, but I would really love the feedback a professor or classmates would provide.

What is your favorite thing about where you live?

We live on a quiet cul-de-sac and our kids can safely play road hockey, basketball, and ride their bikes out front. I love to sit in my chair by the window and read while watching them.

What are you working on next? 

I’m waiting to hear back from Pelican Book Group about a Romantic Suspense tentatively titled Lethal Legacy: Travel writer, Jessie Berns, returns to her hometown to find answers about her brother’s suspicious death. With the help of an old friend, Detective Rick Chandler, they pursue a truth that someone is willing to do anything to keep hidden—even kill again. They uncover decades-old secrets that expose hidden sins and threaten the lifestyles of high-powered people in their small community. As they close in on the devious mastermind manipulating the town, it becomes frighteningly clear to Rick that Jessie is not the one calling the shots in her private investigation. She is the killer’s new target.

While I wait, I am working on a new untitled novel: When a drug scandal rips apart Jay Holloway’s perfect life, he learns that nothing was what it had seemed. Faced with losing everything, he finally becomes a man of God. But to save his family, he must fight more than a corrupt underworld intent on framing him. He must confront and conquer his strongest opposition yet: his wife.

Like a sunken treasure wedged in the lake floor, Grace Stone’s heart is submerged in the past. Her only hope in easing her guilt over her role in a tragic drowning is launching a Water-Survival program at Camp Moshe, but success depends on Grace risking everything on the man hired to rebrand the Christian camp.

Kye Campton’s extreme sports campaign lands him in hot water with the cautious instructor. His usual confidence wavers when it becomes increasingly evident that the camp’s fight for survival is against more than a declining economy. Will Kye be able to save the camp—and Grace—from a saboteur determined to see the place close for good?