Welcome to the Blog Tour for Captive Set Free by Valerie Limmer, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: Captive Set Free Have you been hurt? Are you hounded by turbulent feelings and looping thoughts? Do you know you need to forgive but aren't sure where to begin?
Captive Set Free is a lamppost along the path of healing, offering engaging stories and examples, explaining how forgiveness fits into our spiritual DNA, and examining mindsets that make forgiving easier or harder. In this book, you'll learn how toPURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound | BookBub
About the Author
Valerie Limmer is a missionary in Japan. She is neither a therapist nor a theologian, but she has experienced severe abuse from a handful of people. In Captive Set Free, she shares the principles and techniques she's learned in her own life on her journeys towards forgiveness.
Connect with Valerie by visiting valerielimmer.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Author Interview
Q: What prompted you to write Captive Set Free?
Valerie: If we are Christians, most of us have heard about the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, and so on), and the gifts of the Spirit (e.g., pastor, prophet, evangelist). The Holy Spirit also seems to also choose certain life themes for each of us. One person might learn a lot about what it means to be His child, another person might continually learn more and more about God fulfilling His promises, and another might learn about the ways God provides for us. One of my major life themes is forgiveness.
Over the course of my life, I’ve been badly abused by half a dozen different people, starting in childhood. I started writing this book when I was healing from some horrific abuse I’d experienced as an adult. I realized that the things I was learning, the principles and techniques I was applying in my own journey of forgiveness, might be useful to people who might be struggling with the same issues. It’s a beautiful thing to witness God redeeming the horrors we’ve experienced and transforming them into something beautiful that can help other people.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from this book?
Valerie: Forgiving someone who has hurt you is possible! Not only is it possible, but the journey towards forgiveness will deepen you—both your faith, and your understanding of the forgiveness that Jesus offers to you. Forgiveness requires courage and endurance, but you don’t need to have it all at the start. Sometimes starting with a prayer (“Jesus, please help me want to forgive”) is all we can do, and God delights to honor this type of prayer. You will grow through the process, and as you do, Jesus will unlock doors to joy and peace in your heart that you might never have realized were there!
Q: Do you have a favorite quote from this book?
If I had to choose something, it would probably be the last line of the book. At the end of each section in Captive Set Free, there are a few questions and exercises to help the reader internalize the lessons of that section and examine his or her own life to help start the process of forgiving. Here’s the quote from the last question:
I love this question because there’s so much hope in it. Forgiveness isn’t a journey whose end is despair and further hurt. It’s a journey that embraces hope and peace.
Q: How long did it take you to write Captive Set Free?
Valerie: Writing is a hobby, not my profession. So, I write for a few hours a week on my day off. Overall, it took about 5 years, from start to finish: one year for the first draft, three years to edit, and another year to publish.
Q: What do you wish you’d known when you were younger?
Valerie: That I wasn’t going to peak in high school, as I feared, but that as we use our gifts and talents, God honors our desire to honor Him.
Q: Would you share something about yourself that most readers wouldn’t know?
Valerie: I normally live in Japan as a missionary; it can be interesting to see how God prepares us to follow Him as He calls us to follow Him into ministry. For instance, I have double-jointed knees, ankles, and toes, which makes it easy to sit seiza (a special way of sitting in Japan, required of ladies in formal situations). This is usually quite painful, even for Japanese women. But not for me!
Q: What are you reading now?
Valerie: The Humans by Matt Haig. I’ve only read one other book by him, which was very good. This fictional story is about an alien who’s come to earth and is inhabiting a human body. He doesn’t understand anything about human culture or customs, and it’s ridiculously funny to see the world through his eyes.
Q: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?
Valerie: I like to read, cook, draw, learn new languages, and make Japanese wax food models.
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive a copy of Captive Set Free and a $25 Amazon gift card!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight January 9, 2023 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on January 16, 2023. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
great interview! Thank you, Jolene & Valerie! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a book I will enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI would love to read this.
ReplyDeleteInteresting cover.
ReplyDeleteMarion
Sounds like an interesting read!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Q&A! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this interview, I enjoyed learning more about the author
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good, I enjoyed the author interview
ReplyDeletei enjoyed the Q&A! thank you
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind comments. If you end up reading Captive Set Free: How to Find Freedom Through Forgiving, please know that I would be honoured to talk with you about any questions that might crop up. After this week, I’ll probably check back here once or twice more, but after that the best way to reach me would be through the contact form on my website (valerielimmer.com). May you each experience Jesus’ peace and healing on your own journeys of forgiveness.
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