Welcome back, Ada. What
would you like for our readers to know about you personally?
I began writing in my teens as a ministry, and spent more
than 30 years teaching youth classes. I’ve always been an idea person, and that
helped me work with young people and gave me direction in my writing. It was my
top talent when I became a newspaper reporter. I found important news stories
everywhere, as well as interesting features.
Now as I’m writing
the third novel in my Peaches and Dreams series, I dig for ideas to complicate
the lead character’s life, which is how I plot. I only hope I can get him or
her out of the mess I create.
Knowing the Lord personally gives me joy beyond any idea I
dream up, however.
Tell us about your
family.
My husband of 64 years, L.C. is romantic, a great helper,
and the father of our five talented children. They are Gary, well known for his
talents in a technical aspects of a church, and he’s designed church stages
featured in magazines. Gwen, involved in healthcare, is working on her
doctorate in nursing. Jaron is a computer software designer and works part-time
as a worship leader. Jeanette is the #2 person in human resources at a steel
mill in Pueblo, Colorado, and the wife of a pastor who now is a hospice
chaplain. Our oldest daughter, Carolyn, a great pianist with perfect pitch
passed away at age 31 from cancer. She worked with youth in a California
church.
We have a group of talented grandchildren, as well. I thank
God for family.
Have you written
other nonfiction books?
My first, published by the Assemblies of God, was Confessions of a Pentecostal. Later, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death,
Resurrection and the Eternal; Imagine the
Future You; and Facts, Faith and
Propaganda. I have three novels: Joe
the Dreamer, The Castle and the
Catapult, The Lady Fugitive, and Peach Blossom Rancher.
Do you have any other
books in the works right now?
I’m working on the third book in the Peaches and Dreams
series. It’s tentatively title Ritah,
but that probably will be changed.
What kinds of hobbies
and leisure activities do you enjoy?
I love singing in groups, playing the piano, playing board
games, and I used to play tennis.
Why did you write the
featured book.
My brand is “Stick-to-Your-Soul Encouragement” and that’s
the reason I wrote all my books. What Prayer Can Do is a compilation
of 55 articles of the more than 100 articles I’ve had published in The Pentecostal Evangel. The book is
filled with testimonies of answers to prayer among people I’ve known and
interviewed. Some I ghost wrote under the other person’s byline so the stories
could be told in first person.
What do you want the reader to take away from What
Prayer Can Do?
I want the reader to believe God exists and He rewards those
who diligently seek Him (see Hebrews 11:6).
Is there anything
else you’d like to tell my readers about you or your book?
People’s testimonies I wrote in this book still bless me.
The healed child admitted to a children’s institution with hydrocephalus (water
on the brain where the head grows faster than the body) communicates with us
yet today, many years after her miracle when their pastor visited, prayed for
the child and the workers call the parents (our close friends) to come and get
their baby because she suddenly was normal. The doctor wrote “absolute miracle”
across her records after comparing X-rays of the brain before and after.
Please give us the
first page or two from the book.
A strong wind propelled a raging brush fire up the side of
Grand Mesa near Cedaredge, Colorado, leaving only blackness and ashes where it
passed.
Suddenly the billowing smoke and hungry flames came into
view of a mother and three children who were alone in a white two-story house.
The roaring mass of flames raced directly toward the home.
The father had gone to help fight the fire, which began near Cedaredge. He had
no idea the wind would take the fire to his family—now stranded without a car
or any other means of escape.
Inside the house the mother and children ran to the bedroom,
took the Bible, and read the 91st Psalm. Then they knelt and prayed fervently,
but only briefly. They went back to the living room and watched the fire, now
almost upon them.
Suddenly they saw the flames turn away from them as the
direction of the wind changed. Their prayer had reached God, and He had
answered!
This true experience is one of several miraculous answers to
prayer experienced by persons who attend the First Assembly in Lakewood,
Colorado.
Recently I was asked to speak to the youth meeting at our
church, so I decided to talk about “What Prayer Can Do.” While meditating and
praying for the service, I felt I should let people in our church tell from their
own experience what prayer can do.
So I began asking individuals to help me. My only problem
was choosing which miraculous answer to prayer to use! I found so many examples
of the power of prayer that I couldn’t use half of them.
One woman said she uttered a simple prayer as their family’s
truck, loaded with apples, rolled over the side of a mountain. Her three
children rode on top of the apple boxes under a tarp. After she scrambled out
of the truck which was crushed by the huge boulders, she began calling her
children’s names.
“Tim? Are you all right?”
“Yes,” a voice answered from beneath the boxes.
“Steve?”
“Here!” he answered.
“Connie?”
“Here, Mom!”
The entire family escaped uninjured.
“Sometime let me tell how the Lord made an empty fuel barrel
keep the house warm for a week,” she added.
A deacon told how God stopped the rain so he could work on a
road construction project. The deacon had five small children to feed and
needed all the work he could get. If it rained, he couldn’t work.
One day he noticed big black clouds rolling toward the road
construction area. He prayed the Lord would let him keep working.
It was the deacon’s job to send supplies to the men on a
paving machine. For three days the rain followed close behind the paving
machine, but it never rained where the men worked. Occasionally the showers
came right up to where they were, but then would go back again.
Where on the Internet
can the readers find you?
Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
Amazon hadn’t added What Prayer Can Do to the page yet. You
can get the book, paperback or for Kindle, at http://ow.ly/9CEI30h4IdL
Thank you, Ada, for
sharing this book with us. I love to hear about the wonderful things God has
done for other Christians.
Readers, leave a comment for a chance
to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in
the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory
or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject
to removal by blog owner.)
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the
number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of
eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any
pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on
this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You
will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz,
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave
your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
14 comments:
Thanks, Lena, for inviting me to be your guest! I love sharing the stories that are in this new book. I wrote them first for the magazine, and decided these miracles are too good not to share.
My mother loves to read stories like this. She is not a Christian, so I always hope that they will move her heart! I will have to find a copy for her!
I firmly believe the power of prayer is great. I would love to read this book. Thank you for the opportunity. Melanie Backus, TX
I am also a firm believer in the power of prayer. This sounds like a very inspiring book. Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year!
Connie from KY
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
My husband is alive today because of prayer. He broke his neck 7 years ago. The doctor said that, "by all rights, your husband should be dead or paralyzed". God wasn't through with him yet. He is proof that God is still doing miracles today.
Janet E.
von1janet(at)gmail(dot)com
Florida
I believe in the power of prayer and am always seeking to recognize when my prayers are answered. I would love to read this inspiring book. Danielle from Michigan.
Amen, Janet! I've discovered people in almost every church have miracles to share becaust God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Deanna, keep praying and believing and you['ll see your mother accept the Lord as Savior. There are several amazing conversion stories in the book. I pray for your mother now, and hope you can get her a book.
Connie, Believing is a big part of praying. Take note when you pray and God answers. So many times we pray and when God answers we forget about it. I talked to a woman from our church in Fruita, Colo., whose brother was healed of diabetes. She and her sister had requested prayer in many churches, and then when the boy went to the doctor he no longer had diabetes. I called her maybe 20 years later to see whether he ever had trouble with diabetes again. The woman gasped and said, "I haven't even though of that in years. God certainly healed him, he is married and has children and has never had diabetes symptoms again. She said from that day she was going to remember to thank God for the miracle.
Too many of us are like the Children of Israel. We walk through the sea on dry land, and then when another problems comes up, we say, "Where are you God?
Enter me in your awesome giveaway!!
Conway SC.
What awesome testimonies of God's answer to prayer. My husband is alive today because his sister and her church prayed for him years ago before he got saved. God is awesome! Vivian Furbay of CO
Sharon, you're entered! God bless you for reading about my writing.
Vivian, I rejoice you for your answered prayer! I'm native Coloradan who moved to Missouri about 12 years ago, and it's interesting it's about 10 degrees warmer here than in Colorado today!
The Power of Prayer is amazing!!!!
Natalya Lakhno from Citrus Heights, CA
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