Thursday’s Featured Author: Kathleen L. Maher

My friends, the day we’ve been waiting for is here. Welcome award-winning author Kathleen L. Maher to our corner of cyberspace! Today she’ll be sharing a devotional based on the theme of  her newly released book The Chaplain’s Daughter. Comment at the end of this post to be entered for a chance to win a copy of one of her books, reader’s choice of book and format! One winner will be randomly selected on April 10th.

Hi, Candace. Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guest on this lovely new blog. Congratulations on your foray into the brave world of blogging!

I’m so honored to have you here, Kathy! And congratulations for hitting number 1 in your category on Amazon for The Abolitionist’s Daughter! I know you did a happy dance.

 

Kathleen’s Devotional

Judges 6:11-12
And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, ‘The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.’

Most of us grew up knowing the awesome Bible story of how the Lord helped a certain judge in Israel defeat a vast army with only 300 men. It’s a story of courage and faith. But the hero Gideon, really started as an anti-hero. A beaten down, defeated man from a defeated tribe in a defeated nation. Midian, their enemy, had stolen everything. In fact, their tactics were especially cruel. They would wait until Israel had planted their crops in hope, or maybe sheer desperation to survive, and then, when all the hard work of sowing, weeding, tending and cultivating were done and the fruits of their labor were at hand, Midian would swoop down and steal it all at harvest time. Over and over, year after year.

Gideon had been ingrained from birth to expect defeat. So much so, that he threshed his wheat in the wine press, hiding it from discovery to eke out a meager subsistence. Into this portrait of utter fear walks the angel of the Lord, and He calls this cringing man what?

Mighty. And valorous.

Gideon must have felt mocked. But isn’t that just like God to speak our true identity into our lowest moment to release destiny?

As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17)

Many men in this culture of feminization, masculinity shaming, and gender confusion might relate to Gideon’s reaction of hiding and hopelessness. He’d never experienced victory, or confidence, nor had he seen it modeled. And then, along comes the angel of the Lord who releases a bombshell of truth, speaking to the untapped potential within him. Only God, who looks on the heart, could have extracted precious ore from unremarkable matrix.

The Chaplain’s Daughter, Book 2 in the Sons of the Shenandoah series, features Gideon Sharpe, the oldest of the sons of Sam Sharpe, a horse trader from Shenandoah Valley. Gideon sustains a debilitating injury which sidelines his career as an artillery captain under General Beauregard. He is not the typical alpha male expected of a historical romance. And he has father issues, to boot. He has lost career, wife, health, direction, even identity. He’s struggling to recapture the basic instinct of pursuit. And he can be downright ornery.

The heroine of the story, Ellen White, is the daughter of a minister who releases an arsenal of spiritual weapons into the invisible battle surrounding our hero. She prays, she sings hymns, she serves, she tries—and sometimes fails—to represent not just her earthly father’s ministry, but her heavenly Father’s authority. But the real breakthrough doesn’t come until Gideon encounters Reverend White and the Truth he delivers, man to man, imparting what can only be imparted from a strong male leader. Not to diminish the importance of a godly woman. Women often intercede and stand in the gap. Women set the atmosphere wherein miracles happen.

So, I’ve written this unconventional historical romance with an almost anti-hero who finds his strength through the identity only God can give. And the reason I have written this?

A fatherless plague on our land has produced young men stripped of their identity, where strength and authority are confused with “toxic masculinity”, where alternative lifestyles have eclipsed the standard given by God for healthy gender roles. If ever there was a need for a story about a man who regains his inner warrior, it is now. I pray it will be used to encourage moms, wives, and sisters in the Lord to stand in the gap for their men, until the Gideons arise and reclaim our land.

 

Thanks so much for having me, Candace. I’m blessed by your friendship and generosity. I would love to give back by offering reader’s choice of one of my books, and choice of format, to one lucky commenter.

It has been a joy to have you here, Kathy! Thank you for sharing your devotional with us! 

Author Bio

Kathleen L. Maher has had an infatuation with books and fictional heroes ever since her preschool crush, Peter Rabbit. “Love Brick by Brick,” a novella with her hometown’s history, appeared in BARBOUR’s 2018 Victorian Christmas Brides collection. Her Civil War romance The Abolitionist’s Daughter released six years after winning the ACFW Genesis Award. She has another novella coming out in Barbour’s schoolteacher collection Lessons on Love in Oct 2019. Kathleen shares an old farmhouse in upstate New York with her husband, children, and a small zoo.

Follow Kathleen

on the group history blog the 8^th of every month: https://www.hhhistory.com/

on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mahereenie

and on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/kathleenlmaher

 

A feisty army laundress must disarm a grieving Confederate Captain’s pride to win his heart.

A minister’s daughter abandoned during war must rely on faith to survive. A wounded widower feels God has forsaken him. Will her devout care bring medicine to his soul or rub salt in his wounds?

Ellen White is assigned to attend a debilitated artillery captain after the battle of second manassas. She offers God’s strength, but Gideon Sharpe would rather rely in his own. He would prove himself a devoted father to his infant daughters, the sort of father he never had.

Ellen longs for the security of a home and to feel cherished. Can a jaded and broken man be God’s plan to fulfill her fondest hopes?

Can’t wait for the drawing? Click here for Amazon