UP FROM DUST - Heather Kaufman - One Free Book
Bio: Heather Kaufman is the author ofmultiple books and devotions, praised by Kirkus Reviews for writing “acharming and well-crafted tale” (Loving Isaac). She delights inhighlighting the goodness of God through storytelling. When not reading,writing, or accumulating mounds of books, Heather can be found exploring newparks with her husband and three children near their home in St. Louis,Missouri.believes each of our stories is a part ofthe larger, beautiful story that God is telling, and she strives to highlightthe goodness of God through her own storytelling.
Making her Bethany House publishing debut with Upfrom Dust, Kaufman reimagines the story of Martha of Bethany in the launchof her new Women of the Way series.In each installment, Kaufman highlights a different influential woman of theBible and the Savior who pinpointed their pain, met them in the middle of theirmess, and lifted them up. Perfect for fans of Angela Hunt, Jill Eileen Smith,and the TV series The Chosen, readers of Up from Dust willexperience for themselves the life-changing power of a true encounter withJesus of Nazareth.
About the story: Martha of Bethany is a womanof dust, undone and unseen in her hurt and her loss—until everything changes inthe presence of Jesus of Nazareth.
Martha of Bethanyis no stranger to adversity. After her mother’s untimely death, Marthashoulders the responsibility of raising her siblings—quiet and studiousLazarus, and wild and rambunctious Mary. She finds solace in friendship and thebeginnings of first love, but just as Martha begins to imagine a new future,hardship strikes again, and her dreams crumble into dust.
Ten years later,Martha’s friend pleads for the new teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, to come and healher husband. When Martha discovers that the carpenter-rabbi is connected to herpast, she’s not sure she can trust him with her future. But as he continues toperform miracles, the invitation to believe becomes harder to resist, renewingMartha’s hardened heart, even as she faces an unknown future.
Welcome to my blog, Heather. Up from Dust is the first novel in your new series, Women of the Way. Can you please tell usa little bit about this book and the connecting element between the otherinstallments? Up from Dust presents a fictional backstory of Martha of Bethany, the sister ofLazarus and Mary. The story traces all the “many things” that worried andtroubled Martha’s heart and the Christ who pinpointed her pain, met her in themidst of it, and lifted her up. We watch Martha come of age as she worksthrough her mother’s death and the heavy responsibility of raising hersiblings. We journey with Martha as she experiences first love and learns toshoulder the mantle of womanhood, even while coping with a father who is stuckin his loss. When grief comes to Martha’s own heart, she is presented with achoice. Will she cling to her hurt more than to Adonai, the way her father hasdone? Or is there a better way forward?
Each book in the series focuses on a femalefollower of Christ, presenting a “before” picture so that when the book touchesupon events in Scripture, we feel like we know these women andunderstand their choices and reactions in a fresh way. In our familiarity withcertain Bible stories, we can gloss over names like Martha’s. I’ve begun tolinger, to let myself wonder what their lives were like and what they mighthave felt when experiencing the power of Jesus Christ. These people didn’tencounter Christ in a vacuum. They were living full, complicated, nuanced lives. . . and then Christ came, gloriously breaking into their mundane andcompelling them to respond.
Can you share with us why the book is named Upfrom Dust? What significance does this have to the story? Dust represents the bookends of life—both humanity’s humble originand destination. In the Bible, dust is an image of death and the grave, as wellas humanity’s own frailty. Throwing dust on the head was an image of deepmourning, and sitting in the dust was a sign of affliction. In the book, Marthaexperiences soul-crushing sorrow that brings her “down to the dust” (Ps 44:25).She needs a Savior who understands her and who doesn’t hold her humanityagainst her. She needs the mercy of God to find her and raise her up from dust(Ps 113:7). This is the trajectory of our new life in Christ! Dust is no longerour inevitable destination. Spiritual, physical, and emotional graves can nolonger contain the life that is transformed by Jesus. He is the firstfruits,and He continues to come to people of dust, generously lifting them up to newlife.
Why focus solely on biblical women as yourprotagonists? What role did they play in the Bible’s greater redemption story? If there was anyone who understood the worth of women, it was the Sonof God, the Word of God who fashioned her being! When Jesus walked onto thescene, the Jewish people had been sitting beneath several centuries of teachingfrom the influential Rabbi Ben Sira—teaching that greatly devalued women. InChrist’s interactions with women, He affirmed their equal worth, value, anddignity over and over again. He welcomed them as His disciples, included themin His teachings, and benefited from their service. When we see Christ in Hiscultural context, His tremendous heart toward women comes clearly into focus asHe lifts them up, restoring the dignity that was theirs from the verybeginning. From Eve’s faith in the seed that would crush the serpent, toHannah’s song that prophesized a coming King, to Mary’s Magnificat, the Bibleis full of faith-filled women—spiritual mothers whose stories are worth tellingagain and again. Like man, woman is made in the image of her God, and she wasmade to reflect His glory. By focusing on female followers of Christ, I hope tohighlight His extraordinary heart for women and how God has always delighted inusing both men and women to further His kingdom.
Your female protagonist is a recognizableone—Martha of Bethany from the New Testament. What led you to start the seriesoff with her story and her interactions with Jesus? I’ve always resonated with Martha but thought I had to temper my“inner Martha” with a healthy dose of “Mary.” During an Easter sermon in 2016,however, I was deeply struck with a new admiration for Martha and realized thatfar from diluting my inner Martha, I wanted to be more like her! Morelike the woman who took Jesus’ words to heart when He tenderly invited her tothe “better portion.” More like the woman who confessed Christ as theresurrection and the life while her brother was in a grave. When Christ bluntlyquestions her, He essentially looks her in the eye during her lowest momentwhen she is deeply disappointed in Him and asks her to confess with hermouth what she knows to be true. He is inviting Martha to come out of her fearand uncertainty and into the stability of His identity. Instead of takingoffense, Martha delivers one of the strongest confessions of Jesus Christ inthe Gospels. I want to be more like this startling woman of faith! The nexttime we see Martha, she’s doing what she’s always done: serving. But now wedon’t see a frantic Martha, and when Mary anoints Jesus, we don’t see a jealousor reproving Martha. What a beautiful, soul-lifting trajectory Martharepresents! It was seeing Martha’s growth that sparked my curiosity andsolidified her as the woman I wanted to write about.What do you hope to portray to readersthrough these books? You are seen, known, and valued by God, andyou have an important part to play in His kingdom work! God put His feet on theground in the person of Christ and empowered ordinary people of dust to walk inHis footsteps. He did it then, and He continues to empower His people to doextraordinary things today. Will we shrink back in fear or push forward intrust? Will we cling to old patterns of thought and ways of being or fullyembrace the new life He offers? He is worthy of our trust and our best, and He continuesto come to His children, meeting us in all our frailty and weakness with all ofHis sympathy, power, and strength.
How does Martha’s story mirror our ownstories today? As hard as it was to write, I wanted todepict Martha learning to live in the tension between God’s goodness and theincredibly hard circumstances He allowed into her life. She doesn’t receiveconcrete answers about certain things that happen to her, and this was anintentional choice on my part. Certainly, Martha experiences personal growthand can trace God’s goodness and faithfulness, but she really doesn’t receivean answer to her burning question: “Why?” And I think most Christians, ifthey’re honest, live in this tension too. We sing songs on Sunday affirmingGod’s goodness and then we go back to lives that sometimes don’t feel so good.There’s that one tender spot that makes no sense. And I think we can feel thispressure to put on a happy face that looks like a trusting face. Almost like wewant to “protect” God’s image by downplaying our own pain. So, we slap Romans 8:28on our wounds and paste on a smile.
But God is not honored by our denial. God ishonored when we come—like Martha—barreling down the hillside, overflowing withall our pain, pouring it out at His feet. Christ doesn’t want a “good Christianversion” of us—something that looks spiritual on the outside. He wants us.And maybe He won’t give us what we think we need. We may never know why certainthings happen. But He will give us Himself. Faith involves accepting thetension between our sovereign God’s goodness and our deep pain. It’s choosingto believe God despite feelings and circumstances. Until we can stand on the hillsidewith Martha, surrendering our understanding, our right to know why, as we clingto who He is.
What other themes present themselves throughoutthe novel? Family dynamics figure prominently in thisbook. Martha, Lazarus, and Mary both rely upon and frustrate one another, andeach has their own unique experience with their father. It can be tempting tofilter our family members’ actions through our own personal frustrations withthem rather than slowing down to truly see those closest to us.
Female friendship is another strong themethroughout the book. Martha and Gilah’s friendship is “forged in the fires ofloss and need, fertile ground that had given [their] relationship deep roots.”But as each woman’s story unfolds in different directions, the friendshipunravels and is only put back together as each is humbled in her own way.
The book presents varying responses to painand disappointment as dreams become shattered like shards of broken pottery. Oneresponse sees love as a thief, and pain as something to cling to out ofself-preservation. The other response sees love as a gift, and pain as acatalyst driving us closer to God. The question remains: Will we cling to ourhurt more than to Adonai?
Worry and fear are presented as bundled uptightly in the human heart. The disruption of God’s winnowing fork is needed tofling high all the chaff and leave behind that one necessary thing—closercommunion with Christ.
This biblical fiction story is your firstpublished novel in the genre. As a newcomer to the genre, how did you approachwriting this kind of story? With muchfear and trembling and prayer! I’m grateful for faithful commentaries and themounds of scholarship that exists on Jesus’ cultural setting. I began—quitesimply—with the Bible. I read and reread the book of John, taking the time toconsult commentaries along the way. Then I moved to a bird’s-eye view of thecultural setting, getting a feel for what everyday life was like at the time.With the broad strokes in place, I was able to begin writing and, as I wrote,fill in the many gaps in my understanding. This was where the “nitty-gritty”research came into play. I began wide and telescoped inward, all while keepingin focus a heart of worship. Any head knowledge I ever acquire about the Bibleshould compel me to worship. And then it’s from that place of personal love formy Savior that I write. During the process, I was keenly aware that I wastouching upon sacred things. Martha is my sister in Christ, and she is alivewith Him at this very moment. Even though this book is ultimately a piece offiction, the seriousness and weightiness of the topic was never lost on me,which is why I kept running back to God in prayer!
What do you hope readers will take away fromthis story? My heart behind this story is for readers tofall in love with the Word and the One the Word points to—Jesus Christ. I praythat readers will throw down my book and pick up their Bibles with renewedpassion. The God of the Bible is the same God today, and He loves His kids withthe gut-level love of a parent. We can give ourselves over to that loveeven—and perhaps especially—when we don’t understand His ways. I hope Martha’sstory encourages readers to reframe their wounds, to see their pain points asaccess points for God’s strength. There are many things that can bring us “downto the dust,” that make us keenly aware of our own need. We all have heavinessthat we carry, burdens we bear in silence, and we feel our own “dustiness” deepin our bones. I pray this story helps us all believe that God is good not ifor when but now, right here in the heaviness of our hurt, andthat we will not be disappointed when we expect Him to be faithful.
Whatcan readers look forward to in Book 2 of the series? The scope of Book2 is sweeping, and the research took me in surprising directions! I won’t giveaway who the main character is, but let’s just say it’s a lady who doesn’treceive nearly as much attention as she deserves. Book 1 took us to thecountry. Book 2 whisks us into the city. Get ready for political intrigue,family secrets, a marriage of convenience that blossoms into more, and manygrand-scale moments where the heroine must choose between safety and boldfaith.
Finally,how can readers connect with you? My website (hmkstories.com) is the bestway to find me! Once there, readers can fill out my contact form to message medirectly and sign up for my Stories and Sundries MiniMag—a monthly-ishnewsletter full of book recs, product recs, giveaways, and more! I’m alsoacross socials with the handle @hmkstories. I love connecting with readers . .. because I’m a reader myself, and I’ll gladly “talk shop” any day!
Thankyou, Heather, for sharing Up fromDust on my blog. The idea for the story intriguedme. I know my blog readers will want to read it.
Readers, here’s alink to the book.
Leave a commentfor a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow theseinstructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at leastthe state or territory or country if outside North America. (Commentscontaining links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void whereprohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering thegiveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the entererin accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The onlynotification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure tocheck back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 2 weeks fromthe posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re readingthis on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, pleasecome to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in thedrawing. Here’s a link: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
