Bounce, Don't Break by Penny L. Hunt

“When life T-bones you like an eighteen wheeler, Bounce, Don’t Break: Stories, reflections, and words of encouragement through times of change…” My guest author, Penny Hunt, shares how God can help turn your defeat into victory through personal stories and experiences. Please leave a comment to be entered to win a Kindle copy. Sign in on the Rafflecopter at the bottom for even more chances to win!

Fabulous Fridays

Welcome Penny! Please share with us how you started writing and what audience you target with your new book, Bounce, Don’t Break.

Sometimes the best way to answer a question is to ask one. So, please allow me to being sharing with you how I started writing by asking your audience; What you do if your husband said he never loved you and you found yourself a suddenly single parent with two small children, some college but no job and sporadic child support as your only means of financial security? I imagine they would do what I did. They would look around at their available resources and get creative.

At my immediate disposal was the two skills I possessed. I knew how to type and I knew how to tap. I used my typing skills to procure a job as a GS-4 clerk/typist and my ability to tap to begin teaching young children how to dance. When the dancing school morphed into an international dance aerobics program for Christian women, I began writing short messages of encouragement that were read aloud by myself and other instructors during the cool down phase of classes. The messages were well received and later provided the confidence I needed to submit a devotion to The Upper Room which, to my utter amazement, was published.

Bounce, Don’t Break is targeted toward anyone needing encouragement through times of change with five specific, right now tactics designed to help them bounce back quicker from a set-back. As a former military spouse I have included some special stories and reflections directed at the unique needs of military wives dealing with continual relocation and other stresses of military life.

What do you want your readers to gain by reading your book?

The lesson of the 23^rd Psalm. That no matter how bad it gets, no matter how dark the valley, God is with them and will see them through and provide the strength for today and hope for tomorrow.

What was your greatest roadblock in writing Bounce, Don’t Break, and how did you overcome it?

Ah, “Roadblocks.” You mean those great yellow and black barriers with flashing caution lights flanked on either side with detour signs, don’t you? I didn’t actually encounter any of those. There were no singular, brake screeching event that I came up against while writing Bounce, Don’t Break. Rather, I faced a continual trickle of unwanted change in nearly every area of my life, over a long period of time that impacted the speaking end of my career and provided easy excuses for my bent towards procrastination. Family and health issues would derail my train of thought, stop ideas from peculating long enough for them to properly brew and, despite my best efforts to “keep calm and carry on,” would leave me feeling as if I were standing center stage in a three-ring circus on a trampoline wearing cement boots.

I overcame the diversions with a huge white board and sticky notes all over the place.

I tried keeping track of where I was and where I was headed on my computer, but did not do well using that tool. For me – visualization is the key.

Often we desire to teach a lesson in and through our writing, but we as writers also learn something. What was one thing you learned while writing Bounce, Don’t Break?

I learned that help and inspiration come from the most unexpected people in the most unimaginable places – including in my car when going through a car wash – as long as I keep my “spiritual antennae” up and operating. I also learned that writers need other writers the way speakers need other speakers.

Do you have a favorite verse or signature Bible verse?

Without a doubt, Romans 8:38-39 is my favorite Bible verse. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

The day, over 35 years ago, that I married my husband, Bill. He is God’s greatest earthly gift to me.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Traveling to Hawaii, London, Seattle, Washington DC and Charleston, SC to visit with my children and grandchildren. I also enjoy cooking and learning how to make new dishes for my friends and family to enjoy.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

When Bill retired from the Navy he began working as an educator and we ended up in the tiny, peach-growing town of Trenton, SC near the high school where he served as the Senior Naval Instructor for the Navy Junior ROTC program.

They call that area of SC the “midlands” but to me it was more like the “middle of nowhere!” I was completely miserable and having a really hard time blooming where God had planted me until the day of the annual Ridge Peach Festival when I gathered enough courage to step beneath the vendor tent of a local newspaper and ask the editor if he would be interested in seeing some of my work. I had an idea for a children’s serial about a boy and a dog named Piper. He needed a Faith Columnist.

Writing those weekly reflections and words of encouragement is where I really cut my writing teeth and the place where I learned more than any writing course could have ever taught me. I can hear my husband, Bill, chuckling in the background as I say that – he is what I lovingly refer to as my first tier editor and will be quick to tell you how desperately I needed him both then and now. Nothing leaves my desk without Bill looking it over first and I can only recall one occasion when I handed him a final copy that came back without a single red mark. The other thing that has helped me grow is attending Christian Writers Conferences and being part of an on-line community with other writers. (p.s. Blooming Where God Plants You and Piper Tales, The Adventures of A Very Lucky Black and White Dog will be coming soon!)

Can you tell us something that your readers might find surprising about you?

Despite being a regular in the speaking circuit and faithfully attending large conferences, I really dislike being in a large crowd.

Please share a favorite passage from Bounce, Don’t Break with us.

Forgiveness is something I think we all struggle with and I talk about that in chapter fifteen, titled: It Takes A Little Time.

Spring in the South is not a long season, often jumping from pleasantly warm to hot and muggy in a matter of days. During one particular winter, long before the arrival of spring, surgery had taken place to remove a painful bunion from my foot. Though the surgery was a success, a raised and sensitive reddish-purple scar remained for several months at the site of the incision.

It was now a hot and sunny May. While everyone else was sporting capris and summer sandals, I was still wearing long pants and orthotic, close-toed shoes.

I couldn’t stand it another moment. My legs and feet were hot, and every summer outfit I tried on looked awful with my clunky shoes. I finally gave in, put fashion first, and – with the determination of Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid, which is very different from the Disney version – slipped on my sandals and braved the pain of every fashion-forward step.

I paid a big price for that decision, and the healing of my foot was set back by weeks. When I returned to the foot doctor for my final post-operative checkup, I was lamenting not being able to wear sandals because of the way they so painfully rubbed against the scar. The technician preparing me for the examination suggested I ask about silicone scar treatment pads.

The doctor explained that these pads are a type of treatment used to prevent the formation of new scars and to reduce the appearance of existing scars. The pads are lined on one side with silicone gel. The other side is lined with a smooth fabric or transparent film. He said my incision was sufficiently healed for me to begin using the pads.

The moment I left the parking lot, I headed for the drugstore to purchase a box of the silicone pads and immediately began wearing one over my scar. Voila! In just a few short weeks, I was happily sporting summer sandals again and telling anyone who would listen about this marvel of medical science.

Things were going well until a newly purchased pair of sandals began irritating the site again. I had hoped the sandals would eventually become more supple and continued to wear them. But as the-western song by Amy Dalley says, “Shoes don’t stretch and men don’t change.” The result was – once again – a sore and highly inflamed scar requiring further silicone treatment.

Scars of the heart are much the same. Time and prayer begin the healing process of our mental, emotional, and spiritual wounds, but ugly scars of unforgiveness form when we fail to take the final step and forgive those who have hurt or offended us.

Like the scar on my foot, heart scars of unforgiveness can easily become inflamed. This happens when new situations with painfully similar circumstances occur, remind us of past hurts, or when the people we have already forgiven continually repeat their foolish or wicked ways. With heart scars, memories we have chosen to forget are stirred, and feelings thought to be resolved once again bubble to the surface.

We might have prayed, thereby leaving the person who has harmed us “in God’s hands” with the idea that God will deal with them. That is all well and good if we prayed God’s mercy in dealing with them, asking Him to reveal Himself, have them respond, and then turn to Him for forgiveness. But if “leave them in God’s hands” means desiring God to deal with them in punishment for their offenses – either here on earth or on the day they are called to stand before Him – what we are really seeking is vengeance, which can leave an ugly scar over our forgiveness…

Book Blurb:

When life T-bones you like an eighteen wheeler, Bounce, Don’t Break: Stories, reflections, and words of encouragement through times of change will unearth the tools needed to successfully navigate the choppy waters of change and build resilience along the way. You will discover important steps to help you bounce can begin again following a crisis as you learn to shift your focus from the problem to the solution. With God’s help, you can begin again as He converts your defeat into victory.

Woven together with the author’s personal life-lessons and reflections are the real-life experiences of other women who, through the healing power of faith and hope, have emerged stronger and more authentic through the unexpected, unwanted changes of life. With a warm mix of humor, wit and no-nonsense practicality, Penny L. Hunt leads the way to a Bounce, Don’t Break mindset and life – even in the toughest of times.

About the author:

Penny L. Hunt is an author, speaker, and wife of a retired career naval officer and attaché. The mother of five (yours, mine and ours!) with twenty-nine moves from the east coast of the USA to Hawaii, Europe, South America and back, she is an expert in dealing with change. A contributor to the Chicken Soup series, Guideposts, and Upper Room Magazine, she is the author of an Amazon.com bestselling children’s book and popular on-line contributor with ChristianDevotions.us A grateful grandmother, Penny lives in the rural, peach-growing region of South Carolina with her husband Bill, two rescue pups, and a loud singing canary called Sunny.