Debra L Butterfield's Carried by Grace

About the Book:

 A waking nightmare descended on our lives.

“My twelve-year-old daughter had put a chef’s knife to her chest and threatened to kill herself. Her step-dad was sexually abusing her. I felt swallowed by darkness — like Jonah in the belly of the whale. This can’t be happening.”

A family member... a friend... someone you know has sexually abused your child. Tumultuous emotions buffet you from all sides. You’re feeling lost and confused. Where do you turn for help?

Part memoir, part devotional, author Debra L. Butterfield offers…

• comfort for your heartache

• practical guidance for daily needs

• a biblical path to healing, and

• encouragement and hope along the way.

Let yourself be Carried by Grace as you journey toward restoration.

ISBN: 978-1-936501-24-3

Paperback: $13.99 (April 3, 2015)

E-book: $5.99 (January 2015)

Buy the Book on Amazon

From the Publisher, CrossRiver Media

A Brief Interview with the Author:

Debra, what do you love about this book? Carried by Grace is the next best thing to being across the table to share hope and encouragement with a mother who is hurting. So often when we struggle with a heart-rending issue, we feels no one understands how we feel, and that we’re all alone. In the case of sexual abuse, that aloneness is compounded by shame, whether you are the victim or the mother of the victim. You don’t want anybody to know, not even family members, and so until you are brave enough to open up to someone, you are alone. We have God, of course, but having another woman who has experienced this and really understands the emotional battle and can be there beside you gives you strength. That’s how I designed my book to be, as close to being there in the flesh as possible.

Can you share two things you learned during the writing/publishing process? When you write about a personal journey, the writing of that journey can bring new healing and insight. I thought I had found complete healing, but when I started writing this book, I discovered there were still wounds that had scabs yet to heal. Writing the book was like applying a healing salve to those as yet unhealed wounds.

As far as the publishing process goes, invest in an editor and proofreader. Find the money somehow. It’s very difficult to see your own mistakes. I thought it was pretty clean when I sent it to the publisher, but I found quite a few errors that needed to be fixed after it was laid out and read to send to the printer.  

What do you hope readers will tell other readers when they've finished? I hope readers will be brave enough to tell others this book exists. Because of the sensitive nature of sexual abuse, it’s not one of those books where everyone you meet you say, “I just read the most fantastic book!” I sincerely hope moms who read Carried by Grace will find hope and encouragement for their situation and that they’ll be willing to tell others that this book can help them, too.

About the Author:

Debra L. Butterfield dreamed of being writer since she was a pre-teen. Fulfillment of that dream began when she was forty-five years old and Focus on the Family hired her as a junior copy­writer. In 2006, she stepped into the world of freelance writer. In 2014, she joined CrossRiver Media group as an editor.

Debra is passionate about helping other writers in their journey to publication because for over 15 years, fear and doubt about her abilities kept her from even trying to be a writer. She doesn’t want that to happen to others. She blogs about writing (and marketing—yes that most frustrating aspect of being an author), and does freelance editing and coaching in addition to her editorial work with CrossRiver.

Debra is the author of Carried by Grace and Mystery on Maple Hill (a short story ebook). She has contributed stories to numerous anthologies that include Mira­cles and Moments of Grace: Inspiring Stories of Survival, 2014 Penned from the Heart, and The Benefit Package. Her magazine credits include CBN. com, Susie, Live, The Vision, and On Course online, writer’s newsletters and guest blogs.

Debra is a US Marine Corps veteran, enjoys the outdoors and, oddly enough, likes the smell of skunks. (Her kids always tell her take a deep breath whenever they smell one.) Like most writers, she loves to read, usually not one book at a time either. She has lived as far west as Hawaii and as far east as Germany and lots of places in between. Now living in Missouri, Debra has three adult children and two grand­children.