Author of When I Lay My Isaac Down
By: Trisha Bleau Smith
T4JYM: Your most recent book is When I Lay My Isaac Down . What is an Isaac experience?
CK: An Isaac experience is when we make a heart sacrifice, and it’s a multiple step process:
- Identifying something or someone precious to us (our Isaac)
- Letting go of our control over the situation, event, or the person as an act of worship
- Embracing God’s love in the process of the release
- Resting in the outcome, even if in this lifetime we are not allowed to understand the reason behind the need for the sacrifice and the pain involved
T4JYM: This is a very personal book for you. It’s the first time you’re sharing, in print, about your son’s incarceration. Tell us what happened?
CK: In October of 1999 my husband and I received a middle-of-the-night phone call, telling us our son, Jason Kent, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a stellar record, had been arrested for the murder of his wife’s first husband. Our son was a joy to raise; he was president of the National Honor Society in high school and a young man of integrity, focus, and discipline. We realized he believed allegations of abuse about the biological father of his stepdaughters and he knew their father was seeking unsupervised visitation with the girls. Following the arrest, we went through two and a half years and seven postponements of Jason’s trial before he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the State of Florida . He was twenty-five at the time of the offense. We grieve for the family of the deceased; we hurt for his wife and stepdaughters.
T4JYM: In your book you share what you call “power principles” that can help us walk through tragedy with faith in tact. What are those eight power principles and how have they helped you cope with your personal tragedy?
CK:
- The Power of Unthinkable Circumstances – Challenging circumstances bring us to a place of understanding we live in a fallen world and when we go through unthinkable circumstances we confirm or reject our faith. The trivial things around us are just that-trivial, because our “big situation” puts everything else in perspective.
- The Power of Relinquishment – We let go of our ability and/or right to control the person, dream, expectation, or preferred outcome of the object of my concern.
- The Power of Heartache – It forces us to embrace God out of desperate, urgent need. God is never closer than when our heart is aching.
- The Power of Community – The compassionate, tangible encouragement we received from the body of Christ (friends and family who came alongside taught us to become the hands and feet of Jesus to others in their hour of need.
- The Power of Hope – No one can live without hope. Hope’s power is that we have the energy and desire to go on living because we believe something better is coming. When we vote for mandatory minimums (like life without the possibility of parole), we take away the ability of our judges to be judges. We are also saying that God can’t change the heart of a man/woman and allow him/her to make restitution for their wrongs.
- The Power of Faith – Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led-but has more to do with knowing the One who is leading us. Instead of focusing on our unthinkable circumstances, we are focusing on the faithfulness of God-even if we don’t see the answer to our prayer in this lifetime.
- The Power of Joy – Our family is learning the “upside-down nature of the cross’-that the cup of sorrow can also be the cup of joy. Our son’s appeal has been denied and we are having to figure out how to find God’s joy behind the razor wire of a Florida State Prison. Sometimes we have to learn that lesson again and again because tears cloud our joy.
- The Power of Speaking Up – The biggest message I want people to hear when they read this book is that we can choose to hide when unthinkable circumstances hit our lives (abuse, crime, financial reversal, illness, incarcerated family members, etc.), or we can stand up and start telling our stories. A woman recently said to me after I had shared our story from a public platform: “My husband’s been incarcerated for the past eighteen years and nobody knows.” She then stood to her full height, and with confidence said, “Today, you’ve given me the courage to start telling my story. I refuse to hide in my false guilt and false shame any more.” If all of us start telling our stories, we will change the world in a positive way and we will reach out and help each other.
T4JYM: What is Speak Up for Hope? How can our visitors find out more about Speak Up for Hope?
CK: My husband, Gene, and I have launched a new nonprofit organization based on the Proverbs 31:8-9 passage: “Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers. Sp[eak out for justice. Stand up for the poor and destitute!”
I am not proud to tell you that before our son was arrested, I had never visited a jail or a prison. Suddenly, I was standing in the visitation lines with the needy, the emotionally and spiritually hurting, the abused, and the broken. I was a broken mother, too, and I’m discovering broken people can minister to broken people.
Speak Up for Hope will assist churches and organizations in adopting the prison closest to their location to provide hands-on encouragement to inmates and their families by working with the prison chaplain to supply needed assistance spiritually, educationally, and emotionally. We are making it possible for people to help to send encouragement baskets to families of inmates and to make counseling available. We also will connect educators with prison chaplains in order to provide GED programs, marriage and family classes, vocational training, and college credit programs that will give purposeful living to prisoners.
People can get more information by logging on to: www.SpeakUpforHope.org or by calling toll free: 888.987.1212
T4JYM: How important is it for us to have a community of people around us when tough times come our way? If we don’t have a close community of friends during hardship, how can we achieve that or what can take the place of that?
CK: Having a community of people around us when tough times come our way is an essential way God allows people to use their spiritual gift of compassion and meet the needs of people who need help. It was hard for me to be on the receiving end of compassion in the beginning, because I was used to being on the “giving” end. For people who do not have a network of friends during a hardship, the best place they can turn to is a local, Bible-believing church. There are some social programs available through the government, but a church office will give you the contact numbers of Christian agencies that can help you during the time of a crisis.
T4JYM: How many publishers did you send your book to before it was picked up? Did any publishers reject it? What kind of feedback did you receive from them?
CK: I have been blessed with a long-term publishing relationship with NavPress, in Colorado Springs, CO. The publishing team knew me and had published my writing long before our personal tragedy happened. They gave me time and space to live through the initial part of this ongoing crisis, knowing I would need some time to heal before I could write about it. NavPress was the only publisher I sent the proposal for When I Lay My Isaac Down to and they sent me a contract immediately. They continue to give me the strongest support possible.
T4JYM: Who have been your biggest influences in life? Who have been your biggest influences in your life as a writer?
CK: Who have been the biggest influences in my life? Godly parents-my mother led me to Christ when I was five years old. By example, my parents have demonstrated that serving Jesus is the most important use of my time on this earth. They have taught me that excellence is not an act, but a habit. In the middle of our crisis they have reminded me that this life is not all there is. They believe if our son (who is assistant to the chaplain in the prison where he is incarcerated) one day walks in freedom in this lifetime or in the next, he will still walk in freedom-because there is a better day coming because he knows Jesus as his Savior.
Who have been my biggest influences as a writer? I have been positively as a writer by being an avid reader of good books since I was a young child. Early on I realized that I could take a mental vacation by reading a good book. I soon realized that books educate, encourage, inspire, and motivate. The writings of Amy Carmichael, John & Betty Stam, Leonard Ravenhill, Elisabeth Elliott, and Oswald Chambers influenced me to write about things that matter.
T4JYM: How has this book been received by the general public? Has there been positive feedback? Any negative feedback?
CK: The book has been very positively received and I am humbled by that reception. It went into it’s second printing within a couple of weeks of its release. Amazon lists seven poignant reviews. I have heard from some victims of violent crime with concerns and questions and I hurt for them and understand their need and their right to voice their responses.
T4JYM: Have you written any other books? Do you have plans to write anything more? Do you do any other kinds of writing – magazines, newspapers, etc.?
CK: I have written many books, including: Becoming a Woman of Influence , Secret Longings of the Heart , Tame Your Fears , Speak Up With Confidence , Mothers Have Angel Wings , and Detours, Tow Trucks, and Angels in Disguise . I have co-written (with Karen Lee-Thorp) My Soul’s Journey , and the Designed for Influence BibleSstudies (all available at www.CarolKent.org )
My articles and/or interviews have appeared in Today’s Christian Woman, Focus on the Family, Lay Leadership, Just Between Us, and Progress magazine.
My next writing projects will be released in March, 2005. I am the general editor of a series of five books for Zondervan Publishing called Kisses of Sunshine for Moms, Kisses of Sunshine for Sisters, Kisses of Sunshine for Grandmas, Kisses of Sunshine for Teachers, and Kisses of Sunshine for Women . The co-authors of these books are Thelma Wells, Ellie Kay, Gracie Malone, and Vicki Caruana.
T4JYM: What training do you have in writing? Did you take any writing courses in college to obtain the skills you have currently?
CK: I’m a former English teacher, so journalism came very naturally to me. In college I majored in speech education and minored in English, so some of my classes were in writing. I spent seven years as a classroom teacher of English, speech, and drama, and that was a very good background for becoming a writer.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in writing?
CK: Be an avid reader of great books. Attend writers’ conferences because you will learn the basics of what is required in a book proposal and you will meet acquisitions editors from a variety of publishing houses. Above all, pray about your desire to write. Ask yourself the hard questions: What is my motivation to be a writer? Will my subject matter glorify God and further His kingdom agenda? What am I an expert on that would help people if I choose to write about that subject? What is the unique slant I have on a subject that hasn’t already been covered by another author?
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