Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for January 2013

The beauty of winter: Review of Wildflowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert

I didn’t like Bethany Quinn at first. She seemed stuck-up, full of herself and operated with an attitude that she was better than other people.

But as with most first impressions, I was too quick to judge.

wildflowers from winterBethany’s story unfolds on the pages of Wildflowers from Winter, the debut novel from Midwest (yay!) author Katie Ganshert, and the more I got to know Bethany, the more I sympathized with her. A small-town girl with some deep wounds, Bethany hightailed it out of town when she turned 18 and didn’t look back. Now, she’s an architect at a prestigious firm in Chicago with a lawyer boyfriend, living the life she imagined. A family tragedy draws her back to her Iowa hometown and Bethany finds that escaping her past, and the memories both good and bad, wasn’t as easy as she thought.

Wildflowers from Winter is a story of loss and redemption. Bethany thinks she has it all, and when she loses the “sure things” in her life, she starts to question her life and future. She gave up on God years ago but she discovers that He hasn’t given up on her.

Ganshert’s writing is simple and poetic. The story flows like the stream winding its way through Bethany’s grandfather’s property and gently carries the reader along. And there are moments, not an abundance, where her words convey a solid truth, like a giant rock perched in the middle of the stream, and you sit with the wisdom for a little while before moving on with the story.

Her descriptions of the small town and the surrounding farmland made me homesick for my hometown in Illinois. Yes, I love the beauty of the mountains here, but I will always miss the farmland scenes. Maybe that’s something only Midwesterners can appreciate. Anyway, I could see it the way Ganshert described it, and I wanted to be there. I’d call that successful scene setting.

And Evan the farmhand? Well, let’s just say he’s a gruff, charming, passionate, hard-working leading man in this story. I loved him.

The story tackles grief of all kinds in all seasons, as well as the ways people cope and move on. There are sob-caught-in-your-throat moments and bring-a-smile-to-your-face moments. I look forward to the continuing story in Wishing on Willows, coming this spring.

You can read the first chapter of Wildflowers from Winter here.

And I have a copy for you!

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win your own copy. I’ll pick a winner using Random.org and post the results on Monday, January 7.

For additional chances to win: “like” Author, Katie Ganshert’s Facebook page, or share about this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter. (One extra entry each.) Come back here and leave another comment when you’ve done the “extra credit.”

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In exchange for my review, I received a free digital and print copy of Wildflowers from Winter from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

One word to guide my year

I’m bad at making–and keeping–resolutions. Who isn’t, right?

So when I stumbled onto the opportunity to simplify my new year’s resolutions into one word, I decided to give it a try.

A Facebook friend blogged about her experience with Oneword365 for 2012. And I was inspired by the idea that I could spend the whole year letting one word transform my life, my attitudes, my behaviors.

It’s not a to-do kind of word but a to-be kind of word, not a rule but a guide.

I’m totally game.

So I spent a couple of days thinking of possibilities. They’re endless, you know. So many words to choose from. Peace. Grace. Joy. Love. I’d be thrilled if my capacity for any one of those increased over the year. But none of those seemed to fit.

The right word came to me in the middle of an emotional breakdown. I’d shut myself in the bedroom, asking the kids to please play by themselves in the living room or their room for a few minutes so I could have some space to cry and journal and pour my heart out to God about how yuck I feel about life right now.

He listened as I raged–on paper–and let my emotions spin wildly out of control.

Then He whispered, “Let go.”

I am a control freak, and nothing scares a control freak more than the idea that she’s not in control. Parenting has yet to break me completely of the notion that I have little to no control over anything. (Have you ever tried to get a preschooler or toddler to do anything you say? Not pretty.) But our circumstances have put me in a position to realize that I have no control. I can’t make anything happen. It’s not up to me to chart the course of our life. My job is to wait. And listen. And take the appropriate steps.

Since “let go” is two words, I wanted to replace it with a one-word synonym. “Surrender” is one, but to me, that sounds like giving up. I know surrender is a biblical thing, and I’m okay with surrender, in general, but I don’t want to put myself in a mental state of giving up.

So, here’s my word for 2013:

Release.

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I’ve felt myself holding tightly to things in the last year. Expectations. My plans. My way. People’s perceptions. Excuses.

This year, I want to unclench my fists and hold my hands open and let go of what I think I need. Hold my heart open and let go of pain I’ve been harboring. Hold my mind open and let go of perceptions, of me and of others.oneword-release-rope

I’ve heard that when you’re at the end of your rope, you should tie a knot and hold on. I’ve heard, too, that there’s another option.

Let go.

And like a free fall, trust God to support you, even if you can’t see how.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1)

Release. 2013.

I’m hoping to check in here once a month about what a mindset of release is teaching me.

Have you considered one word for the year? Find out more here. And join the journey.

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