FINDING HOPE IN CRISIS - Grace Fox - One Free Book

Welcome, Grace. What would you like for our readers to know about you personally? My husband and I have been involved in career missions for nearly 30 years. In 2007, he became the Canadian director of International Messengers. It’s a missionary sending agency with about 225 staff in 28 countries. Together we train and lead short-term volunteer teams to Eastern Europe every summer. There we partner with our staff to host evangelistic English-learning family camps. I also train Middle Eastern believers for career ministry.

Here’s an unusual fact: we’ve lived aboard a sailboat since March 2018. This is a stretch for me, a girl who grew up on the southern Alberta prairies, but it’s a total God-story. Some people think we’re livin’ the dream, but that’s not the case for me. It’s truly an act of obedience, and following through has brought me great joy even when the diesel heater fails or the freezer breaks down. What a journey this has been!

Wow! I’m not sure I could do that. I admire missionaries so much. I have many who are close friends. Tell us about your family. Gene and I knew each other only six weeks before he proposed. We married six months later, in February, 1982. We celebrate three married kids and nine grandchildren with two more due this spring. Unfortunately, they all live a fair distance away, and this means we aren’t able to see each other as often as we’d like. We’re grateful for technology that allows us to stay connected.

James and I got married three months and three days after we met on a blind date. God put us together. Have you written other nonfiction books? Yes, I have. Check out Peaceful Moments to Begin Your Day: Devotions for the Busy Woman, Morning Moments with God: Devotions for Busy Women, and Moving from Fear to Freedom: A Woman’s Guide to Peace in Every Situation. I’m also a regular contributor to Mornings with Jesus (Guideposts) and a member of the First 5 writing team (P31 Ministries).

Do you have any other books in the works right now? I have a couple of ideas that I want to develop into proposals. First though, I want to hone a Bible study that I wrote and then taught on Zoom last fall. I’d like to make it available in workbook and video form for women’s small groups and am asking God to guide me regarding the best way to proceed.

What kinds of hobbies and leisure activities do you enjoy? Spending time with my family is at the top of my list. After that comes baking, taking long walks especially in the early morning or evening, and dabbling in photography and watercolor painting. I also enjoy fair-weather sailing with my husband. British Columbia’s coastal islands are absolutely gorgeous. I love anchoring in pristine harbors accessible only by boat.

Why did you write the featured book? I’ve experienced a few crises. During those times, I shifted into survival mode. I desperately needed encouragement from God’s Word but found it difficult to read and remember lengthy passages of Scripture. I needed short meditations, something that was doable when my mind was on overload. I wrote Finding Hope in Crisis for people in that position—in survival mode. My prayer is that these brief nuggets from the Word will provide the encouragement they need during the difficult days they’re experiencing.

I would say that all of us need the book with all that’s going on right now. What do you want the reader to take away from the book? I want my readers to find hope and encouragement in knowing God is sovereign, wise, strong, and good. Their situation’s outcome might not be what they want it to be, but His presence and power in their lives will see them through no matter what.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell my readers about you or your book? Yes. I’ve seen God’s handprint over it from the get-go. I pitched the proposal using a different title to a couple of editors in 2018. They both expressed interest but eventually rejected it. I set it aside intending to come up with a stronger title and try again, but international ministry travels began taking more and more time.

In January 2020, a friend was telling me about a crisis she’d recently experienced when suddenly the current title came like a download into my mind. I knew in my heart that this was the one. The pandemic struck about two months later and grounded my international travels. Suddenly, I had time to tweak the proposal and give it to my agent.

The proposal landed on the editor’s desk as she sought a substitute for a similar project that had just fallen through. She wanted to fast-track it so I wrote the first draft in 20 days, and that while suffering from a broken tailbone and a frozen shoulder. The prayers of God’s people on my behalf carried me through. There’s no other explanation.

I wrote this book while in a physical crisis of my own. Focusing on the truths about God’s strength, goodness, and love enabled me to persevere and to wake up each day with hope in my heart. My prayer is that readers will experience the same.

Please give us the first page or two from the book. Here’s one of the 90 devotions.

An Everywhere God

So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love.   Genesis 39:21-22 (NLT)

Pause

Joseph was a teenager when his jealous brothers turned on him. Their actions thrust him into slavery in a foreign country where he no doubt experienced culture shock. Then a false accusation landed him in prison where his captors bruised his feet in fetters and held his neck in an iron collar (Psalm 105:17-19).

Where was God when Joseph’s story went from bad to worse? He was present with him in the cell. The writer of this account mentions God’s presence three times. Repetition in Scripture indicates something significant. It’s like a light flashing to capture our attention. It says, “Don’t blow past these words. You need to understand their importance.” 

Suffering might cause us to question God’s presence. Where is he? Has he forgotten me? Joseph’s story reminds us of the truth. His situation seemed hopeless, yet God was with him in his cell. He’s with us in our hard places, too, even when circumstances point to the opposite.

Ponder

How has God shown you his faithful love in your situation?

Pray

Lord, thank you for your presence with me in this hard place.

“You are before me and behind me, above me and below me, around me and in me. You hem me in with your reassuring presence, whether I’m coming or going. It’s a wonderful thing to ponder Thank you for being my prepositional God.” –Twila Belk, Raindrops From Heaven: Gentle Reminders of God’s Power, Presence, and Purpose

Finding Hope in Crisis: Devotions for Calm in Chaos by Grace Fox, copyright 2021 by Rose Publishing, Peabody, Massachusetts. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Where on the Internet can the readers find you? Readers can connect with me in the following places:

www.fb.com/gracefox.author

https://www.facebook.com/FindingHopeinCrisis/

www.gracefox.com/blog

Instagram: graceloewenfox

Where can the readers find this devotional book?

It’s available now at Christianbook.com: https://tinyurl.com/y5tkawtj

It’s also available for pre-orders on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/y25jwb7o

Thank you, Grace, for sharing this timely book with my blog readers and me. I’m eager to start using it after I finish the 21-day devotional our church published this year. By the way, I love your cover. It's very appealing.

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