Five Questions With Christine Caine
We are beyond excited to have Christine Caine on the blog today. We recently spoke about her book Unexpected on LSK in this post, so it is a major blessing to be featuring five questions with Christine Caine today on the blog. Christine is not just a woman of faith, but she is a woman who is fervently pursuing the life in which the Lord has called her to live as an activist, author, and international speaker. If you attended or watched IF Gathering this past February, you know what I am talking about! Her passion for spreading the Gospel and loving God with all of your heart and mind is truly inspiring. Read the Q&A below to learn more from Christine and definitely read her book!
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-Your newest book, Unexpected, has spoken to our to hearts so deeply. What initially prompted you to write about stories of the unexpected happening in people’s lives?
When I first sat down to start writing Unexpected, it was actually headed in a very different direction. But as 2016 rolled on at the time, I saw how shaken our world was by unexpected tragedies and events. Then, the unexpected hit my own life in a whole new way. I share in the book that I stepped off of a boat where I was celebrating my 50th birthday with 150 of my closest friends to discover several missed phone calls and texts from my brother telling me my mother had passed away. That experience of feeling whiplashed by pain in a moment of such joy really defined a new direction for the book.
The result is what I would say is the most personal book I’ve written. God took me through my own wilderness season in writing the book. And because of that I think the stories are more than just stories, they’re testimonies of His steady faithfulness even in the most unexpected of circumstances.
-Your vulnerability and the vulnerability of the people you feature in Unexpected is undeniable throughout the book. What is your prayer for opening up in this way?
My prayer is that we will all become prisoners of hope. That we will develop the emotional and spiritual muscles needed to overcome fear with faith. That doesn’t mean we deny the reality of pain in our world, but it does mean that we aren’t defined by it and don’t define our lives by it.
-A chapter from your book speaks to the feeling of being in the wilderness and how God works in us during these times to prepare us for the Promised Land in our lives. If you could summarize that amazing chapter into one piece of advice for how to navigate the wilderness seasons we face, what would it be?
When you find yourself in the wilderness, make God’s promises bigger than your disappointment and heartache. If you give up on His promises, you will give in to disillusionment, cynicism, and bitterness, and you will lose heart.
Our disappointment and heartache threaten to derail us every day. They can so easily distract us and shift our focus from God’s power at work in our lives to their destruction in our lives. What we chose to do with that disappointment and heartache will determine our destiny. Take hold of the promise that God’s power is bigger than any disappointment or heartache. And remember that the wilderness is a place to pass through, not a place to stay and set up camp.
-God is using you in such an incredible, bold, impactful way. You write in the book that you got where you are now by taking the long way and not being tempted to take a shortcut in the past- even if you might not have been where you expected to be by that time. When it comes to patience and trusting that the Lord’s steps are the right steps for us, what is your biggest piece of advice for readers?
Put your trust in God’s plan into practice by embracing the place you are in today with passion and faithfulness. Focus more on becoming the person God designed you to be than on doing the things God designed you to do. He cares most about our hearts and souls, we should too. Remember that the long way around is where we build the muscles - mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually - that are required for the next step in our journey.
-You reference Scripture often in your book to support the stories that you share. Can you share with us now a passage from the Bible that you hold on closely to when facing unexpected times in life?
One of my favorite Scriptures of all is Ephesians 3:20 which says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” Those words give me so much hope in the unexpected times because it reminds me that following God’s plan instead of my own is a grand adventure that will far exceed my dreams in the end no matter how rough and painful it may get in the middle.
feature image via Christine Caine's Instagram // second image via IF Gathering's Instagram