A View from Ginger Garrett's Window!

It is with special excitement that I welcome Ginger Garrett to my Window! I am a graduate of a Women's College, and we didn't study history, we studied "herstory"! (I kid you not!) So anytime someone presents a story of a woman who wielded particular influence that resulted in a freedom I enjoy today....well, I'm hooked!

Ginger has a sweet testimony for the Lord, and I think she will encourage many with her new series! Please, welcome Ginger Garrett to my Window!

How did you become intrigued with Anne Boleyn? Is her faith something that is usually overlooked in history?

I was researching the bitter fight over the first English Bible and she stole my heart. If you can read, you have Anne Boleyn to thank for it. Anne fought for women’s right to read, and especially to read the Bible, at a time when it was punishable even by death for doing so.

Anne was executed as a traitor and seductress, but the truth is: she was a Christian martyr. Her enemies hated her, not because she caught Henry’s attention, but because her convictions changed the world.

Modern-day women often sacrifice family on the altar of career pursuits. This is the polar opposite of the day women had no voice or choice at all about their lives. How can history help us to find balance in the roles that are uniquely ours as women?

The first lesson history has taught me: You are not who you think you are. We think of ourselves as wives, mothers, friends, and that’s all true. But God sees us as so much more. God sees us as lead characters in His story. He often gives us big, dramatic roles to play.

Also, I learned that it is most often through our relationships as women that God chooses to act. I can’t speak for men, since I’ve never been one!, but I know that I have been inspired to love more deeply, sacrifice my desires more often, and listen more closely to God’s voice.

In your novel, In the Shadow of Lions, Anne does resist Henry VIII vehemently, however becoming his “queen” seems to turn her into a bitter, paranoid woman just as Catherine is originally portrayed in the story. How accurate is this portrayal, and did Anne ever really have any recourse in light of her children being either female or still born?

Recreating intimate, emotional scenes of real life people….that’s hard. I can’t say everything I wrote was accurate in that sense. However, careful reading of Anne’s own writing, and historical documents, reveal that Anne was a deeply committed Christian who soon realized that her beliefs put her in the crosshairs of the most powerful men on earth. Those men were intent on destroying her, and they did. By painting Anne as a witch and seductress, when she could not produce an heir, they had a window of opportunity to have her beheaded.

Will the Scribe angels continue to play a part in this series? Will their role broaden or will they remain a background story that ties the past to the present?

The Scribe will always return, but each novel will feature new angels. Some angels are based on biblical accounts: the Destroyer, for instance. Others are the guardian angels of the women in the story.

You have a powerful voice regarding the role of women as God created them to be…yet you still recognize the struggle women have when men don’t fulfill their own God-given role. (Your open letter to men on your blog – August 6, 2008) What words of encouragement can you give women today? How does your new series Chronicles of the Scribe work toward that same goal?

I don’t consider myself as living in fear, but if we are honest as women, we can admit that we often do live a life of fear. Or we call it “awareness.” As women, we experience the world in a way that men don’t. Women are afraid to walk across a dark parking lot alone at night. Women are afraid of lone men in parks. Women are afraid when the phone rings and no one is there. Women know that the world is not a safe place for us.

Remember, God declared an open war between the serpent and the woman. I find that compelling. But then, I return to the awesome truth that each one of us is shadowed by an immense, powerful being. A warrior whose only purpose is to watch over us, and walk with us. Angels minister to us at all hours of the day and night. Perhaps as women we need to remember: the world is not a safe place for our enemies!

What exciting things is God doing in your life right now?

I’m excited to be traveling and speaking more. My calendar is booking up for 2009. I either speak on Beauty Secrets of the Bible or the inspiration from the great women of the past, Listen to Her Voice. I’m also excited that my youngest child has started preschool and I can write during the day now! Amen!

And finally, I am so thrilled when I get reader emails. I am trying very hard to understand my readers more, and know what they want to read. My job is to serve through words. The focus on others is what keeps my passion on fire!