Through All Things: a chat with the characters

I considered doing a book celebration. This book seriously deserves one! But then I had this little talk with the characters…

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Hello everyone, first off I want to say HUGE thank you for coming on such short notice!  

Allen: No problem.

Jess: Thanks for having us!

Ben: *Takes a cookie from plate* It’s really exciting!

Eeek! Thank YOU! I couldn’t be more excited to introduce y’all and your book to my blog readers. 🙂 Let’s start off by telling them what this is all about. Everyone, these three amazing people (and a whole cast of others!) just got their story published!!!

This book is amazing. It crushes your heart and then lets you choose if you’ll put it back together or not. It rips all hope out of your hands and then lets you choose, along with the cast, if you’ll lean on Christ or not. Well, tell them what happens to start your story off, Allen.

Allen: There isn’t much to tell, really. I was out in the woods with the boys while Jess, Pa, and our friend Betty were back at the cabin.

Ben: Behr was with us, remember?

Allen: Yes, Well, we spotted some Indians in the woods and hurried back, but by the time we got there, the cabin and barn were in flames and the others were gone. We set out to try and track down the Indians who had taken the girls.

*gulps* I’m sorry… this must be really hard to talk about. But if it is any help at all, God has used your story– the telling of it– and your journey to encourage me. And I’m sure many other readers in the future.

Allen: Thank you. It does mean a lot to know that it was not in vain.

Jessie, I have a question for you. 🙂

Ben: I didn’t know people called her ‘Jessie’.

Allen: Most don’t, but I guess you could since her name is technically Jessica.

Jess: Oh stop, boys. I’ll answer to whatever you want. Go ahead with your question, Anna.

How badly does Allen cook? Jk that’s not the real question… lemme find it…

When your friend and you were captured by Indians, what went through your head? Fear, or complete trust in God? Did you have any hope for rescue?

Jess: At first, I couldn’t think of anything but my fear. With the things that had happened back at the farmhouse, I thought that Betty and I could expect nothing but instant death. But once we had been left in the Indian’s camp while they went out on more raids, Betty and I had a chance to talk to each other and encourage each other. Even so, our only hope of rescue was for God to do a miracle, since it would have been impossible for the colonel to get enough men to rescue us from the Indians. Betty and I decided that instead of worrying about ourselves, we would instead do our best to comfort the others, especially the younger captives. In the end, it turned out to help us as well since when I was busy ministering to others, it became easy to not think about my own suffering.

Allen: As far as my cooking goes, the bread I made we used for cannon balls, and even Behr wouldn’t eat a pie I tried making once.

Ouch! That’s pretty bad. XD So glad I brought the cookies to our interview today… *grins*

*Ben eats another cookie*

Hey Benjamin, I have a question for you now that your mouth is full. *winks* How much do you love your dog Behr? Who came up with his name?

Ben: He’s the best dog ever! He saved me from wolves once, and let me ride around on his back when I was tired. Don’t tell Charlie that you called him my dog, since Charlie thinks he’s his. He’s the one who named him when he was a puppy, but he didn’t know how to spell the word, so he made him B-E-H-R, instead of B-E-A-R

Aw cool! He sounds like an amazing, very special dog. Lol That’s a great story behind his name! Jess, If you had the chance to rewind, would you choose to go through it all still?

Jess: No, I wouldn’t. Painful things happened. I lost people I love. It was hard. It still is. But I think it’s good we don’t have a rewind, that we can’t undo things in the past. God does things for a purpose, and they are for the best. If we could go back and undo what we didn’t like, then we wouldn’t have to trust God, would we?

Mm that is very hard, but I completely agree. Thanks for answering! 🙂 Question for you Allen… What do you hope your story will leave people with?

Allen: Well, I suppose I want to leave people with hope and a trust that God does know best. We went through a lot of difficult experiences through this journey– heart-wrenching things that caused me to question what God was up to. But in the end, I finally learned that He does all things well and that even if it isn’t what we wanted to happen it is for our good.

Wonderful, I can definitely say that’s what I got from your story.

So Benny, did you learn something from the trip to free the girls?

Ben: I learned to shoot a gun a little and that a broken arm hurts a lot.

Jess: Ben, I think she means like important things. Like how Allen said he learned to trust God.

Good job being a brave man in all that, though! *sneaks a look at my watch*

Ben: Oh. Well, we all changed a lot through the trip, so I guess we all learned a lot. I think I learned how important it is to work together instead of against each other. At first we fought a lot, and nothing good came from it. But when we started to love each other like God wanted us to, things went a lot better.

Aw love it, so good! Well, this has been a lot of fun guys, but we’re out of time. So grab another cookie and let’s wrap up with one last, short question.

*Ben takes yet another cookie.*

*Allen follows suit*

Okay, this question is fun! It’s for Jess–describe your friendship with Betty in 3 words.

Jess: Faithful, essential, encouraging. There is no way I would have made it through without Betty there when she was so we could strengthen each other through the hard times.

Wow, she sounds like a really great friend.

Thank you so much for coming to chat with me, guys! See ya back in your book! I honestly can’t stop picking it up and reading bits of it…

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About the Author: 

Malachi is a friend, frisbee-player, and follower of Christ first and foremost. He breathes hard and pounds his keys during word-sprints, is a good sport when we throw cups of water in his face, and generally enjoys life to its fullest. He writes really amazing, meaningful books. Oh, and he doesn’t sing as badly as he thinks he does. 

Read his real bio and keep up with the rest of the TAT Blog Tour @ BrainstormsWithRain

Oh, and guys… DO NOT miss out on this epic giveaway!!! Enter here.

Note: If you’re not from the US, you’ll be able to win a Kindle version of Through All Things and a $20 gift card to Amazon instead.

You need to read this book and go on the journey with Allen, Jess, Ben and all the rest. So leave, mark it on Goodreads, and buy it on Amazon. 🙂 Bye! ~Anna