Welcome to Isaiah’s Legacy Blog Hop – Stop #12

1 Week ~ 24 Blogs ~ 3 Incredible Prizes!

Learn a little about Isaiah’s Legacy and enter multiple giveaways while picking up CLUES at each stop. Compile all the clues, submit the final PHRASE at the last stop, and you’ll be entered to win one of 3 Grand Prizes!

What are the prizes? They’re completely unique to the winners!

Mesu will contact each winner personally to chat about what they would most like to see in Israel, and then she’ll SHOP for just the right gift while touring Israel, March 6-19! She’ll then purchase a personal and memorable gift specifically chosen for each of those three winners and ship them to each one when she returns. How fun is that?!

How does the Scavenger Hunt & Blog Tour Work?

• Begin at Stop #1. At the end, you’ll find a CLUE and a link to the next stop. Progress to each stop IN ORDER.
• Collect all the clues—in order—and submit the full phrase at the last blog stop in the Rafflecopter form. Every stop has a clue, so be sure not to skip any along the way!
• You may enter the final giveaway only once and win only one grand prize.
• The Hunt begins 2/19/20 at noon EDT. Deadline for entries is Tuesday, 02/25 at midnight Eastern.

• For best results, hunt through our list using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).

There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have a whole week! As you visit each blog, it’s our hope that you get to know Mesu’s BFF team and discover the heart behind Isaiah’s Legacy.

Greetings!

Hello! My name is Becca Weidel.  I’m a new addition to Mesu’s BFF crew but I’m no newbie to her books and I’m excited to be joining in the fun 🙂

I loved Isaiah’s Legacy because not only do we see what happens when a heart turns itself away from the Lord, but how there are no bounds to where God can go to redeem the lost.

Remember there are lots of great FREE Resources and special offers for Isaiah’s Legacy right now. For a FREE Downloadable Bible study visit: https://mesuandrews.com/books/isaiahs-legacy/

Q&A – All About the Books

Do you have a set office that you write in or have another favorite place to write?

At the moment, my office is still a work-in-progress in our basement in-law suite. We moved in with our daughters’ family in July. Spent the first four months in a large “bonus” room above their garage. Then moved into our nearly-finished basement apartment in November. Still adding base trim, door knobs, and painting doors, but we’re sleeping in one place and I at least know where most of our boxes are now!

I must confess that even if my desk and office space was pristine, I would still write in this cozy little spot. I tend to write 8-12 hours a day, so I like the comfort of a recliner, my coffee, and Zeke in front of the fire with me.

How did writing Biblical fiction come about for you?

I used to speak quite a lot and wanted to publish one book—a Bible study on my most popular topic, the Song of Songs. No publisher would touch it, so then I wanted to publish my devotionals. Again, no one wanted to publish a no-body pastor’s wife. So a dear friend suggested I teach through writing biblical fiction.

I was terribly offended. I was a serious Bible student, after all. (Isn’t it wonderful how God humbles us?) So she said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot you’re a better teacher than Jesus—because, you know, HE used stories to teach!”

Ya, everyone needs friends like that who will sort of smack you with the truth when you’re being a brat! So I started learning to write biblical fiction—and I’m still learning! I attend writer’s conferences whenever I can, not just to teach but to LEARN!

What was it like for you to go from writing a story about a king who honored God (Isaiah’s Daughter) into one where his son didn’t?

These two books, Isaiah’s Daughter and Isaiah’s Legacy, are the first books I’ve written as true continuation stories. Though they can stand alone (like all my books), they are more powerful when read in order—powerful meaning emotional because you become attached to Hephzibah (Zibah), Isaiah’s daughter.

She’s long been my favorite character in Scripture, largely because of what her name implied about her character despite her circumstances. According to her name, the Lord’s delight is in her (Hephzibah), even though her wicked son destroyed everything about the godly nation she and her husband had built. I want to bring God delight even when life is hard—don’t you?

Both books had difficulties and dark days, but I think this one was especially difficult because evil was so pervasive during Manasseh’s reign. I continued to hold onto the promise of Manasseh’s coming redemption—as did his mother—and I wrote the last two chapters of this book while on the floor, on my knees, tears streaming down my face. I’ve never had such an overwhelming reaction while writing. It was worth the darkness to experience that kind of Light.

Do you have a favorite character and/or one you felt you resonated with?

It’s been nearly twelve years since I first proposed these stories about Hephzibah, when my daughters were walking a prodigal season of their own. I’m thankful my publishers didn’t let me write them then. It would have been too personal. Too heart-rending. Now, I could relate to many characters as I wrote.

I was Shulle, confused by so many voices telling her different things to believe—like the various doctrines my family believed while I was growing up. It pushed me away from God and into prodigal teen years.

I was also Zibah, that worried but steady influence on my children, trying to show love even when they acted unlovely. I got angry and even despaired at time, but witnessed their return to our gracious God.

What’s something that you yourself took away through the writing of Isaiah’s legacy? What would you like the readers to walk away with?

I learned so much about high-functioning autism (HFA) through the help of professionals and friends who live with and love these amazing folks every day. The more I learned about their special concerns, the more my respect grew for them and their families.

I hope readers walk away with the understanding that anyone could have become as wicked as Manasseh, given his circumstances. He wasn’t born evil. He wasn’t doomed to make bad choices because he may have been HFA. But through a hard set of circumstances and personal choices, he was separated from the holy God.

He then had the same choices available to each of us today: Recognize our sin. Confess it to God. Ask forgiveness. Turn and go the opposite direction (repent).

It’s so simple, isn’t it—but not easy. But if King Manasseh could return from a Babylonian prison and restore his nation to Yahweh worship, we can certainly change our lives to reflect Jesus Christ to our corner of the world.

He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

 2 Chronicles 33:15-16 NIV

 

Available wherever books are sold!

 

Before you click over to the next blog, remember to write down the clue!

Here’s the Stop #12 Stuff!

Clue to write down: went away,

Link to STOP #13: CLICK HERE

In order to be able to write down all the clues in the right order you’ll need to start at the beginning. Click HERE if you need to find the first stop 🙂

Enjoy the hunt!