KAREN KINGSBURY FOREVER FAITHFUL T HE C OMPLETE T RILOGY

Transcription

1 KAREN KINGSBURY FOREVER FAITHFUL T HE C OMPLETE T RILOGY

2 FOREVER FAITHFUL PUBLISHED BY MULTNOMAH BOOKS Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200 Colorado Springs, Colorado All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author s imagination and are not to be contrued as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Excerpts from the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas O. Chisholm 1923, Ren Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. ISBN Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002 by Karen Kingbury Wating for Morning and A Moment of Weakness are published in association with the literary agency of Arthur Pine Associates Inc. Halfway to Forever is published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York. MULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc. The Library of Congress cataloged the original editions as follows: Kingsbury, Karen. Waiting for morning / Karen Kingsbury. p. cm. ISBN: and I. Title. PS3561.I483L '.54 dc Kingsbury, Karen. A moment of weakness / Karen Kingbury. p. cm. (Multnomah fiction) ISBN Custody of children Fiction. I. Title. II. Series. PS3561.I483 M '.54 dc Kingsbury, Karen. Halfway to forever / Karen Kingsbury. p. cm. ISBN X (pbk.) 1. Adoption Fiction. 2. Pregnant Women Fiction. 3. Brain Cancer Patients Fiction. I. Title. PS3561.I4873 H '.54 dc Printed in the United States of America 2011 First Edition

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4 Discussion Questions 1. Was there a time in your life when you felt you were waiting for morning? Describe that time? 2. What did you do to survive? What would you do differently based on what you know today? 3. In what ways did you see God s hand at work during that time? What good has come from it? 4. Which character in Waiting for Morning could you most identify with? Which character could you least identify with? Why or why not? 5. List as many ways as you can remember where God showed His mercy to Hannah in her darkest days. How has God shown His mercy to you in yours? 367

5 Karen Kingsbury 6. Read Lamentations 3: What are the promises these verses deliver? Which one is most precious to you at this point in your life? Describe a time in your life when these promises could have helped or did help you. 7. Jenny thought the answer to her problems was to end her life. What led her to believe that? When has the enemy of your soul whispered wrong solutions to you? What were the consequences? 8. Which character(s) represented for Hannah God s promise that He will never leave nor forsake us? How did those character(s) deal with Hannah s anger toward God? How do you deal with the anger of hurting people? 9. Ultimately the lesson in Waiting for Morning is one of forgiveness. Describe a time when you had trouble forgiving someone. How did you act toward that person, inwardly and outwardly? How did that make you feel? At what point did you, like Hannah, find peace in this situation? 10. Oftentimes God uses outward situations or other people to help us get unstuck from a bad place, whether we need to forgive or obey or draw closer to Him. For Hannah, God used the police officer s delayed message from Tom. What has it been for you? What was/is God trying to tell you about your life? Are you listening? 368

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7 Discussion Questions 1. Read Jeremiah 29:11. How does it make you feel knowing that God has plans for you? 2. Among the characters in A Moment of Weakness, can you most relate to Jade, Tanner, or Doris Eastman? 3. Tell about a special childhood friend you had. What do you remember about that time? Have you kept in touch with him or her? Why or why not? 4. During the years Tanner and Jade were apart, how was God working in Tanner s life? 5. How was God working in Jade s life during those years? 6. Why do you think Doris Eastman was a valuable character in this book? 7. How did you first come to have faith in Christ? Was your situation similar to Jade s? If so, explain. If not, tell about someone you know who has doubts about God, the way Jade did. 8. When have you felt a certainty that God was at work, shaping your future? 9. Religious persecution is a common thing today. Discuss examples or times when you have seen Christians persecuted in the modern-day United States. 10. What religious freedoms do you see disappearing in our country? What can you do to help shore up the freedoms promised to all Americans in the U.S. Constitution?

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9 Readers Guide 1. The strength of Jade and Tanner, Matt and Hannah, was their friendship. Why is friendship important to us all? How is it specifically important to you? 2. Explain how friendship is a tool God uses to bring us closer to Him. 3. We meet up with these characters during a season in their lives when they are all undergoing hardship. Explain those hardships and how they are different from each other. 4. Are you more like Jade, Tanner, Matt, or Hannah when it comes to handling the troubles life sometimes brings? How so? 5. Think of a time when you and a friend shared a difficult season. Describe that time and tell how friendship made a difference. 6. Sometimes when we come against hard times, we re tempted to compromise. Discuss the compromise Tanner considered when Jade s brain tumor was threatening her life. What was his final choice, and why? 7. How did Tanner s determination to stay the course contribute to the way this story played out? 1123

10 Karen Kingsbury 8. In Halfway to Forever, Matt was torn between two struggles. Have you ever felt caught up in a fight for your faith? If so, discuss that time and what you learned from it. 9. Jenny goes through a transformation in this book. Explain that, and share about a time when God allowed circumstances to transform you. 10. Describe the miracle that occurs with Hannah toward the end of this book. Name a time when God worked a miracle in your life. How are the situations similar? 1124