Hard times strengthen faith says Norfolk author

King’s Lynn writer, Georgie Tennant, who has recently seen her 30-day devotional book, The God Who Sees You, published, knows how hard times can strengthen your faith after losing a baby one Christmas. Peter Bending reports.

---

The God Who Sees You features 30 days of reflections around a Bible narrative and are designed to help you on your journey to feeling seen, valued and secure. Each devotional includes a song suggestion and some questions to aid in prayer and contemplation around the theme.

The book grew out of five devotional pieces which Georgie wrote for her church during lockdown. “I happened to mention those to Amy Robinson who is in my local Association of Christian Writers Group and works as a commissioning editor for Kevin Mayhew Publisher children's section. She suggested I put a full 30-Day Devotional plan together and pitch it to them, which I did with much help from Amy. Many months later they got in touch and said they wanted to publish it. A dream come true,” said Georgie.
 
Georgie describes herself as an “apprentice finder-of-hope in hard things”. She believes that hard times and experiences lead to a deeper, steadier faith: “I think my younger, more naïve faith, saw God as someone who should answer all my prayers and make my life straightforward and easy. Whereas now, I know that life isn’t always straightforward and easy, but that I can trust God to carry me through the hard parts and bring some treasure out of it, somehow, eventually.”
 
Georgie grew up in King’s Lynn and became a Christian as a teenager through a youth group run by the Christian Fellowship, now King’s Centre. Having no faith background, she was pleasantly surprised that they played football and had fun and didn’t just “pray all the time”. Ages 14, she was invited to a carol service with a gospel message and gave her life to Jesus.
 
After school, Georgie moved away to university: “I moved to Southampton then to Oxford for my degree and teacher training, but King’s Lynn felt like home. My family live here and we loved the church here.”
 
She got married and started a family. In July 2009, Georgie found out she was pregnant with her second child, a girl this time.
 
“Two days before Christmas, I had begun to feel concerned that I couldn’t feel a great deal of movement. Trying to dismiss it as unfounded fear, I called the doctor. We waited anxiously and were called quickly. The doctor couldn’t find a heartbeat and a scan at the hospital confirmed our worst fears,” said Georgie.
 
“On Christmas Eve, I was given a drug to start the process of bringing a baby into the world in much different circumstances than the ones I had imagined. On Boxing Day night, I headed to the hospital. Our daughter, Grace, was born, just before 1am on the 27th December, tiny at 25 weeks of pregnancy.
 
“It’s hard to really capture all of that and the weeks and months that followed, in a few words. I went through a lot of anger and disappointment. This was the first really hard thing I had ever had to face. I asked some tough questions and there were moments where I felt like giving up on God altogether.
 
“I know I have experienced layers of healing over time, but Christmas has always been a big hurdle for me, every year. It always feels like it contains incompatible opposites. The sparkle, cheer and jollity can be hard to face, alongside my traumatic memory. I know Christmas can be like that for others too.”
 
Georgie and her husband went on to have another boy and moved back to King’s Lynn and the King’s Centre Church in 2011. They still attend the King’s Centre Church where Georgie leads a Life Group and is involved with the ladies’ ministry and preaching. She teaches English part-time alongside writing and family life.
 
“Many people tell me that, despite going through so much, I exemplify an authentic faith, that acknowledges the tough times and doesn’t shy away from them with clichéd Christian phrases, but also doesn’t descend into total despair. Like the rallying cry from so many Psalms when the writer is expressing his authentic misery, but rallies by the end so say ‘And yet’ I will trust God.”
 
“That links to the book as it has been wonderful to receive so much feedback that says it encouraged people going through tough times. There are no clichés or empty promises in it, but what resonates throughout is the acknowledgement that we all - biblical characters and people today - walk through really tough things and they won’t all turn out as we want them too. But there is a God who sees us, walks with us, strengthens us, changes us and somehow turns it all round for good, ultimately. But we have to live that to truly grasp it.”
 
The God Who Sees You is available online from Kevin Mayhew, Eden, Amazon, and in some local bookshops. “I hope to do more author visits and book signings – if anyone local would like one I would love them to get in touch,” said Georgie. 

Follow Georgie on Twitter or email her at georgietennant@gmail.com

kevinmayhew.com/the-god-who-sees-you