April 1, 2024 • 33 mins
In this episode of Christian Book Blurb, host Matt McChlery interviews author Georgie Tennant about her book 'The God Who Sees You.' The book is a devotional that speaks to those who feel unseen and draws inspiration from biblical characters who may have felt the same way. Georgie shares her personal experiences of loss and grief and emphasizes the importance of vulnerability and finding identity in God. She also discusses the value of recognizing God in the ordinary aspects of life and addresses the topic of doubt. They also chat about Georgie's love of reading her Kindle in the bathtub, enjoying chocolate mug cake and Marvel movies with her family and meeting friends in cafes. Listen now.
Links
This episode was kindly sponsored by Michael T Gowen's book series 'Daniel: Being distinctive in uncertain times' and 'Daniel: being faithful in uncertain times'
Help keep this podcast on the web by simply buying me a coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattmcchlery
Get yourself a copy of The God Who Sees You from St Andrews Bookshop
Sponsor an episode of this podcast Click for Advertising info
Visit Georgie Tennant's Facebook Page
Visit Matt McChlery's website mattmcchlery.com
Takeaways
The God Who Sees You is a devotional book that speaks to those who feel unseen. Vulnerability and weakness can be sources of strength and authenticity in our faith. Recognizing God in the ordinary aspects of life can deepen our faith and appreciation for His presence. Doubt is a natural part of the Christian journey and can be addressed through honest reflection and seeking support.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Sponsor 00:30 Introducing The God Who Sees You 01:27 Target Audience 04:12 Living with Weakness 05:46 The Value of Vulnerability 07:36 Recognizing God in the Ordinary 09:28 Self-Image and Finding Identity in God 11:51 Knowing God Sees Us in All Circumstances 13:16 Dealing with Doubt 15:39 Structure and Format of the Book 22:20 Encouragement for Those Feeling Unseen 25:09 Getting to Know the Author 30:05 Future Projects 32:21 Conclusion and Sponsor
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Christian Book Blurb brought toyou by author and songwriter Matt McChlery
Get a behind -the -scenes glimpse into thelives of some of your favourite Christian
authors, hear about their books and faith.
Also, why not check out my website,mattmcleary .com?
This episode is sponsored by Michael T.
Gowen's book series, Daniel, and includesDaniel being distinctive in uncertain
(00:26):
times and Daniel being faithful inuncertain times.
get your copies from your local Christianbookshop or from malcomdown .co .uk.
Well, hello and welcome to The ChristianBook Blurb, the podcast that likes to
encourage you in your discipleship onebook at a time as we meet some amazing
(00:46):
Christian authors and learn about theirbooks, their lives, and their faith.
Well, I'm your host, Matt McChlery.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
And on today's show, I'm going to betalking about the
God Who Sees You with the author GeorgieTennant.
Hello Georgie, welcome to The ChristianBook Blurb.
(01:07):
Hi, thanks so much for having me on theshow.
It's really good to have you here andtoday we're speaking about a devotional
you've written called The God Who SeesYou, which is of course the title of this
episode.
Primarily then, who is the book for?
(01:27):
That is a really interesting question.
I think I had a rough idea of who I wantedit to be for before I wrote it, but I
think it's ended up in a best reaching awider audience, which is always good news,
isn't it?
So yeah, I intended it for, I thought,male or female.
I think I was fairly specific that Iwanted it to be both genders because I
(01:49):
didn't want it to be girly.
That was the only thing I knew about this.
First I didn't want it to be girly.
I wanted it to appeal to everybody.
So yeah, I suppose adults and Christiansthat are walking in their faith, but
perhaps struggling a little bit, some ofthe last knots and things.
That has finally gone on.
It's been really nice to see that non-Christians are picking it up and reading
(02:12):
it, and teenagers are picking it up andreading it.
And yeah, I suppose vulnerable people arethe edges that I wouldn't necessarily
thought of as.
intended audience.
So it's really exciting to see it spreadfurther than my initial intentions it
were.
That's interesting.
Especially when you say you weren'texpecting it to reach sort of people who
(02:36):
were quite vulnerable, because I foundreading the book myself that it is a very
personal and vulnerable book, filled withscripture, but it points towards
those, there's so many examples that youdraw out of the biblical narrative of
(02:56):
characters who are feeling fragile orunloved or unseen and in the book you give
some indication of how this reflects someof your own life.
So what can you tell us about this?
I think in my life I've had quite a lotof, I suppose you might say, big
(03:17):
things that happen like, um, appointments,grief.
Um, so the first major one in my lifebeing losing a baby at 25 weeks, that was
about 14 years ago now.
Um, and then the second one was losing mysister's cancer six years ago when she was
only 35.
And I just think sometimes that theChristian world as such, the church isn't
(03:41):
always very good at sort of speaking to.
loss, grief, we rightly encourage peopleto push forward to hope and encouragement
and we like to have good stories ofsuccesses and healings and that kind of
thing.
So when you're living in a fairly darkplace or a far part of your journey, if it
be really hard, lots of people kind ofunseen or not really understood or your
(04:03):
experience not embraced or represented inthe church and Christian life.
So I think that would definitely be one ofthe places that sprung from at the time.
finds my way, or find us a way of livingwith that tension of loss and
disappointment.
That reminds me of a conversation I had inthe previous podcast, the one that came
(04:24):
out just before this one, with JohnHindley about his book Weakness, Our
Strength, where it's this whole idea of,you know, we want to be strong, we want to
be successful, but actually there'ssomething about this vulnerability and
this weakness that we have and...
finding God in that and through that andnot having to feel that you have to be
(04:49):
strong or you have to be perfect or youhave to be, I don't know, whatever, all
the time.
Yeah, no, really good.
Definitely.
I think that people actually value thatvulnerability, that weakness, because so
many of us want to put on a race face andbe sort of all together.
Not that we should go around, you know,weeping away all the time and crying with
(05:12):
everybody that comes across our path, butI think a bit of vulnerability is really
encouraging for others.
I've had so many people through my lifesay, thank you for your vulnerability.
You know, the fact that you're so openabout things enables me to process my
challenges and my weaknesses or...
know, not have to hide and people haveeven said things like, you can hang on to
(05:33):
amazing gods and so can I.
That's amazing how this conversation iskind of tying all sorts of other ones I've
had recently together.
Because you're quite right.
It's that.
Being willing to be vulnerable also givesan authenticity to what you're saying.
And Steve and Claire Musters, who wroteGraceful Marriage, are up on the next
(05:57):
podcast after this one.
So that's coming up and they're alltalking about being very vulnerable and
open about marriage and relationships inthat particular context.
But one of the things they found, and Iguess in quite a few Christian books, not
just
marriage ones or whatever, is thatsometimes they're a bit too theoretical,
(06:23):
or sometimes it's just like, oh, this isthe teaching and this is how it should be.
And it all becomes quite textbook and youkind of think, oh, well, I don't meet this
mark.
I don't meet the standard of being theperfect Christian or living the perfect
life or having the perfect relationship orwhatever it is.
(06:43):
So it's actually,
quite freeing in a way when, when peopleare vulnerable and are authentic and are
brave enough to say, yeah, life's tough.
Yeah.
Life is hard.
And what you were saying in your book, um,you know, in your book, the God who sees
you that, you know, you can be vulnerable.
(07:05):
You can be feeling unloved.
You might be feeling unseen, but God doessee you.
So, you know, that's really, really.
Good, so thank you for writing in thatvery vulnerable, open way.
Now, several chapters deal with seeing Godand Him seeing us even within the
(07:25):
ordinariness of everyday life.
Why is it important for us to recogniseGod at work within the ordinary as well as
the extraordinary?
I just think so many of us are so focusedon the extraordinary stuff in our lives,
then that generates disappointment becauseso much of our life is lived in the
(07:46):
ordinary.
We are human beings, we are dealing withwork and tiredness and kids and all those
different kind of things and feelinghungry and those sort of things.
And I just think if you only face theextraordinary, you've only got very few
testimonies every so often of an amazingthing that God's done.
the issue I always think that in churchthere should be an opportunity for what I
(08:09):
call untestimilies.
I like that.
So, in the hope of the testimony, the all-out testimony slots, I think there should
be a chance that untestimilies, whichwould be the experience of God didn't
quite answer our prayers as we expected,but somehow, you know, we grew or we kept
going or we swung on to faith despite itor some of those kind of things, you know,
I managed not to shout at my husband whenhe ate the last piece of cheese in the
(08:33):
fridge, you know, that kind of thing.
You can imagine the church being stood upand put those kind of things there.
But yeah, I just think in the Bible aswell, there's salient examples of ordinary
things.
For example, Elisha has a great share ofordinary miracles like purifying water for
a community or making an axe head float.
It was so important for some people tohave their hats sent back or using herbs
(08:57):
to un -poison the stew that had been put.
There's lots of these sort of...
food and drink, miracles in the Bible.
And we don't always see those kind ofordinary provision things as miracles.
And I think it just boosts your faith thanyou expect to see that.
Well, so much you can start to see God atwork in the very ordinary things of life,
the conversations, the talk around thedinner table where you're perhaps so
(09:18):
seated in children's lives or youropportunities at work to go alongside a
colleague in angry and support them.
You know, all of those ordinary things areserious acts of God.
know, bringing the kingdom into everydaylife, so we don't see those and celebrate
them in us.
That's really good, thank you.
Self -image is another topic you touch onin your book, The God Who Sees You.
(09:43):
Is this something that you've struggledwith?
Yeah, I have.
I think just generally through life, I wasalways a sort of high achiever at school,
you know, I was a classic kind ofperfectionist.
I mean, student that wants, you know, yougot eight, eight stars.
Oh, you.
And that's why I can't.
In my dreams.
(10:03):
It's not the thing these days.
If eight denies these days, so that theyouths quite understand what eight, eight
stars mean.
But yeah, I want that high flyer.
I think I put pressure on myself and thenI think as a Christian as well, I do come
from a Christian background.
So for me, I try to sort of work out as Ipull along, you know, how do I do a
(10:24):
Christian?
How does all of this work?
And.
often sort of compare myself to others andfind myself not measuring up.
But I just think it's so important to workon those kind of things and not let those
kind of things drag you down and, youknow, spoil your mental health, your
peace, your faith.
There's so much in the Bible about, youknow, who you are in Christ.
(10:46):
There's a brilliant series called Freedomin Christ that I spent some time working
through.
It just reminds you of all those greatverses about how your God's masterpieces.
You're fearfully and want to be made andyou're called, you're chosen, you know,
how to kind of be tossed and turns on theways of self doubt and, and self
-convince.
So yeah, having that sort of strong anchorin those things.
(11:06):
And I guess that that's what you're sayingin the book as well as that.
God sees you, but he kind of sees you ashe has made you rather than maybe how you
see yourself.
And.
Finding our self -image in God and what Hesays.
(11:28):
I mean, you've touched on some of thegreat verses there that we can find about
it.
I mean, the Bible is a really importantthing to do.
How does knowing that God sees us in allstages of life, in every circumstance we
face, how does knowing this help us andour discipleship?
(11:51):
I think it really helps us because we allhave this sort of false concept that if
life isn't going well, it's circumstancesthat aren't in our favour, then what's the
point that?
It's the kind of thing that does cause usto doubt our faith and causes a lot of
people to walk away from their faith.
So I think knowing that God sees us andunderstands us and guides us and is with
(12:12):
us in all of our circumstances, not onlythat, but you can turn them around and
bring good from them.
Just helps us to be less anchored.
I think it makes our faith less at the endof the circumstances.
It helps our roots to go deeper.
We just sort of are able to trust that hewill bring good on it somehow.
We trust him rather than the circumstancesaround us.
(12:33):
I just think it is such a difficult thingto grasp as a new Christian that, you
know, life isn't always going to beamazing.
It isn't always going to be perfect, butyou can trust God within and despite the
circumstances, your faith can go Justzooming in on something you said there.
You mentioned doubt.
What do we do with doubt?
(12:53):
Is it okay for a Christian to doubt or dowe just pretend it isn't there?
If we are experiencing doubt and doubtingour faith or doubting God or whatever it
may be, what can we do with that?
How should we handle that?
Where can we go?
I think yes, absolutely it's okay to doubtand express our doubts.
(13:16):
And
I think it's so important to do that.
So in what I said, I preached once, I toldthe story of my husband who accidentally
one day left the lemonade bottle in thefreezer overnight.
You'll see the link in a minute.
And as I was in the kitchen with my thenthree -year -old son, and all of a sudden,
the freezer door blew open, shatteringbits of freezer and ice and lemonade all
(13:39):
over the kitchen.
And yeah, he's only intended to leave itin there for a couple of hours or an hour
to cool down, left it in for overnight.
And the result was such a huge explosionthat it blew the whole thing to all.
So I just think that's a greatillustration of what happens if we don't
deal with those sounds.
That fills up of how the tear and angerand all of those things just blow and
(14:02):
implode or explode at some point.
And that's when we walk away.
If they're able to deal honestly withthose doubts, if they're able to perhaps
talk to a trusted friend, get some prayer,have some counselling, read some fantastic
books that are some brilliant books onthis subject, you can't like you're
recommending them if you obviously.
I just think you can sort of try and finda bit of theology of kind of, well not
(14:27):
ideology of doubt, but theology for whenthings go wrong.
And then you can sort of walk with thattension of doubt and fear and wanting
things to be better.
but not enclosed.
It's just got processing it and findingthings that help you to process it.
Tell us one of those books, one of ourlisteners might really benefit.
Well, I think one that everybody wouldhave heard of is called A Mute by Pete
(14:48):
Gray.
It talks a lot about unanswered prayer.
He's got his unanswered prayer courseonline as well.
That's brilliant.
The other one as well too, impactally, areboth by Jerry Sitzer, which are one is
When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayers, andone is A Grace Disguised.
Jerry Sitzer lost his wife, daughter andmother, I think it was in the same fart
(15:10):
crash.
when you read the details, you think, wow,this is the man that's walked there, he's
been there, he's lived the hard stuff andhe's still a man that's still going to
God.
So things like that, reading things likethat sort of helped me find a way in my
own doubts and disappointments as well.
Yeah, thank you for that.
Coming back to your book then, The God WhoSees You, it's broken up into sort of
(15:34):
short, bite -sized chapters, I guess isthe best description.
Because it's intended to be like adevotional, isn't it?
You could take it on holiday and read iton the beach, I suppose, but I don't think
that's the intention behind it.
So are you hoping people to kind of tryand engage with this daily or sort of
(15:56):
fairly regularly?
And, you know, how is the structure of itset up to work in your mind?
I think it's set up as a starchy namedemotional.
by explaining the introduction I wanted tobe able to access at their own pace
wherever they want to.
So I told the friends that I was doing aSNA devotional but without dates because
(16:19):
when I start a new one, every O Jesus orany other ones on the market at the moment
or our day risk and by the fifth of MarchI'm still on the third of March, then by
the tenth of March I'm still on the fifthof March, that kind of condolation kind of
creeps in.
And she joked at the time, oh good, everyother day with Jesus, I was wanting
someone to write one of those.
(16:39):
We had a bit of a giggle about that.
But you know, it's not intended to makepeople spend time with God less far from
it, but it's intended for people to accessit at their own pace, in their own way.
And the devotionals are meaty enough thatyou could just read the one verse that
I've written at the top and then thedevotional, or you could read the whole
passage, or you could read, you could doit all in one go if you wanted, but
(17:00):
basically there's a verse, there's a...
reflection, I dig quite deeply into thephysical character I'm talking about, I
look at it as my own life.
And then after that, there's somequestions, people reflect and there's a
song at the end of every devotional thatI've recommended.
A lot of people said they really love thesong and it's quite helpful, it's quite
(17:21):
unusual, it's devotional.
And people have said that when you've gotthat song there in your head for the rest
of the day or the rest of the week, itjust helps you to reflect and keep
ruminating or whatever God has said.
to you through the reflection.
They've had a lot of comments about howmuch people really enjoy that unique
factor of the devotional.
And when they buy the books directly fromme, they get a little bookmark or a
(17:41):
postcard with a link to the playlist onboth Spotify and YouTube so they can just
buff it in and out that playlist directlyrather than searching for the songs every
day.
That's really interesting.
So the best thing is to buy the book fromyou and then they get the little bookmark
with the link on it.
I was just going to say it might beshowing my age, but I remember.
Um, when I was younger, you couldn't justfind a song, you know, you had to buy the
(18:06):
tape or buy the CD.
And then, then, then you only got the 12songs that were on that particular
recording and you didn't have all theothers.
So these days it's great because you couldjust give the artist's name and the title
of the song and you, you type it inwhichever platform you use and ping there
(18:26):
it is, or there's 40 different versions ofthe same song by different artists or
whatever.
Absolutely.
That's really good.
It's so much better.
I know that's interesting.
I had one of the older ladies to mychurch, she started reading my book and
then after about, oh, she got a half bit,her daughter bought her a smartphone.
She called me over and excited me up withher music one day, to tell me how excited
(18:47):
you were that she could just put it in herphone and the song came out.
I just thought how sweet, we're taking thetape for granted anyway, of this
generation.
Yeah, yeah, they're very good.
It was weird.
Some, some children, my, my daughter'sage, well, my daughter's grown up in my
house, so she knows what a CD is, but somechildren, my daughter's age, um, saw some
(19:11):
of my CDs and they were like, what isthis?
You know, what's the strange circularthing?
You know, what is weird, the shiny thing.
And I had to try and explain that, youknow, that's the way music is recorded.
It made me feel so old.
I know.
Anyway, there we go.
The world is changing at a fast.
face.
That might be a topic for another anotherepisode.
(19:33):
Anyway, there we go.
We digress.
So back to your book, how did the bookbegin?
Where did the initial idea or inspirationcome from?
Well, the whole thing actually started inthe first lockdown.
And I think like, many people, it justfelt so strange to have everything ripped
(19:54):
away from you.
So I'm a teacher.
And say, I have a busy job, you know, mykids do loads of activities, you know, in
the church and so on.
So, suddenly have all of those thingsripped away from you, just on your own at
home, you know.
I just found that really, really hard.
I felt as if I was unseen and all thosethings that gave me identity and purpose
and sort of disappeared for a time.
(20:16):
And so, yeah, one day I literally sat inthe garden in the sun, but it was nothing,
that looked down so much.
And I just read the story of Hagar.
And I made some notes, I do journal of itsometimes and I read the Bible.
So I just made some notes and I just cameaway from that.
I suppose it's been a bit better, like Godsees me, this is okay, we're in this
(20:36):
together, you know, it's been a, it'll useit for good.
And I actually then spiked it up as a kindof reflection of it, like the ones in my
book.
And I shared it with our pastor and hefelt that it was good to encourage people.
So it was sent around as a PDF orwhatever, or WhatsApp and people read it
and.
And then I wrote a second one and a thirdand fourth of this.
(20:58):
So it's your hey dance for real David.
And they all went out and then looked downCarrodall and I got busy because teaching
came back a lot.
It is different things I never wroteanymore.
And then some time later, and I'm a memberof the Association of Christian Writers,
as you liked, and chatting to someone inthe garden at our.
(21:22):
I'll say shortly works for the children'sbit of Kevin Mayhew, who published The God
Who Sees You.
And I'll just tell you about my wife'sbook.
And she basically encouraged me to pitchit to Kevin Mayhew, you know, see whether
it was something they would want, etcetera, et cetera, things for motivational
and publish.
So yeah, the wheels of these things allturn extremely slowly, but eventually, you
(21:45):
know, have a Zoom meeting with KevinMayhew and they said, yes, they like the
idea.
You know, well, I write it in Deadlines.
Like, there's a tail -base in thatmeeting, like, really exciting, but also
petrified, and I've got to write the other25 sections of the thing.
Oh, interesting.
I always love to hear how books come tobe.
That's great.
(22:05):
Just before our little break, your book isspeaking to those who feel unseen,
speaking about characters in the Bible whomight have felt that as well.
What advice or what...
words of encouragement might you have forany of our listeners who might be feeling
(22:28):
unseen?
I think it's just good to ask God for thatrevelation that you are seen, that you are
loved, that you are understood, that youaren't alone.
Because when you can get that deepconviction in your heart, you just feel
like things are worth probably on boardeven when it doesn't feel like it.
So it's all about this.
Take it to God, you know, asking him likehe did to me with Hagar in the garden on
(22:51):
that lockdown, sunny day, you know, justGod revealing it.
I reference to your heart, so that yourpurpose and your, um, identity comes from
him rather than from all the things thatare going on around you.
I mean, that's so important.
That's great.
Thanks, Georgie.
And we'll be back chatting some more withthe author Georgie Tennant, um, after
these messages.
So join us on the other side of these.
(23:16):
The book of Daniel in the Bible waswritten over two and a half thousand years
ago, yet it remains highly relevant for ustoday.
Daniel and his friends were transported toa society where their future was uncertain
and where they encountered hostility tothe practice of their faith.
Their response gives us important pointersas to how we can maintain our
(23:38):
distinctiveness and enjoy God's protectionin similar situations.
Michael T.
Gowans' series of reflections
are found within his book series calledDaniel.
The first of these is Daniel beingdistinctive in uncertain times that looks
at the first three chapters of this bookof the Bible.
(23:59):
And chapters four to six are covered inhis second book, Daniel being faithful in
uncertain times.
Get your copies today from malcomdown .co.uk, your local Christian bookshop, or
from Amazon.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast,you can help keep it on the web.
(24:20):
All you've got to do is buy me a coffee.
Head over to buymeacoffee .com slash MattMcChlery to make a donation.
There is a link in this episode's shownotes.
So go on, buy me a coffee today and helpthis podcast to keep supporting Christian
books and authors.
(24:42):
Welcome back to Christian Book Blurb, thepodcast that likes to encourage you in
your discipleship one book at a time.
We have been chatting with author GeorgieTennant about her book, The God Who Sees
You.
Now, Georgie, after the break, we like toget to know the author a little bit
better.
We've heard quite a bit about your book,which sounds fantastic.
(25:03):
It is great.
I've read it, but we want to find out alittle bit more about you.
So.
Who are you?
Where are you?
What do you do?
No, there's too many questions at once.
Let's start off with, um, what do you dofor fun?
Well, what do I do for fun?
Um, I think I'm still at the stage of lifewhere most things are about children.
(25:25):
work and running them around but I do havea spare moment and I do really enjoy going
for walks and copies of Friends, thatsounds very little age doesn't it, but
that is something that just yeah restillsmy tank you know I try and go for a walk
for most Mondays with a Friend, we just goaround the village and you know just catch
up and get a bit of exercise at the sametime and I think the other thing I love to
(25:45):
do for myself is just to go for a reallylong bath with my chin full which I can't
drop at any point but I never have yet soit's just...
Just having my little toothies just relaxand read a good novel.
I just think it just makes me feel likeI've really, really had some knee time.
And speaking about coffee with friends,what is your favorite coffee shop?
(26:08):
Oh, um, I'd say Costa.
It's bit of a shame, but you know, youscream whenever it's not often.
I like going for a nice cappuccino thereand then some of their Christmasy coffee.
Oh, what flavor Christmasy coffee?
The gingerbread one.
Gingerbread latte.
Yeah, the gingerbread ones are reallypretty good.
The marshmallow ones as well, aren't they?
(26:28):
I'm not too sure about those ones.
Anyway, good.
And so you've kind of mentioned being ateacher as well.
So is that your main job?
Is writing your main job or, you know,where you're at in terms of all of that?
Yes, I teach part time.
So I teach two days a week, but anybodythat's ever been a teacher or known a
(26:49):
teacher will know that never actually twodays a week.
So that's a sensor spread into the rest ofthe week a little bit as well.
So I teach, I'm in Kingsland in Northbeck,so I teach secondary English.
I'm in an 11, 16 school, so I teach up toDCSC at the moment.
I've felt more up to A level in the past.
See, I teach part time, which is a lovelyluxury that enables me then to do other
(27:12):
things like have a passion.
or which, which includes the writing.
Um, and also I volunteer for care for thefamily size.
I spend a bit of time doing somebereavement support stuff with care for
the family, which enjoy is probably thewrong words, but I do enjoy it in a weird
sort of way.
Cause again, it's that sort of briefing tothe broken is that similar sort of thing.
Interesting.
(27:33):
And you've got, um, a young family.
So let's talk about, um, TV.
Do you enjoy anything or is it anythingyour family's particularly enjoying
watching together at the moment?
Well, we've got to the stage in life whereone's 15 and one's 13 and they've both got
(27:56):
quite different tastes.
So it's quite hard to find something weall agree on these days, but there are a
few things we like watching.
We all love a good Marvel series.
Any of the Marvel series, the Disney Plus,we're all there having a chocolate mulled
cake, which the boys have mastered makingand watching that.
And then we love it.
Cheese on a Saturday night.
So we all do rather enjoy the white macand cheese show.
(28:17):
We all do all that other stuff.
That's great.
That's wonderful.
Have you got anything coming up soon innow?
It could be another book idea that youmight have been thinking of.
Some authors that I asked, they kind ofgo, no, I can't reveal any secrets.
(28:40):
But some are quite gracious without givingus sort of the major plot line or
anything, just sort of a very generaloutline if you've got anything coming up,
but it may not be a book.
It could be, I don't know, anythingreally, anything that you've got going on.
Oh, I've always got things fumbling awayin the background.
It's kind of how to actually get them somebubbling to actually do the work in
(29:00):
progress and tricky things.
So, I think I've got a few differentideas.
So quite a lot of people have said,
when does the God who sees you too comeout?
So I'm not sure yet whether that is theright thing.
I have started gathering some ideas ofbiblical characters that I could use.
I've just thought I could next take myphone.
I've just been swiping down Bible verses,characters, songs.
(29:23):
If I do decide that's the right thing,I've got an outline that I could pitch to
somebody, whether they can make you haveit or not.
We'll see.
But yeah, I've got ideas for that.
I've got various things in the backgroundthat I've written that
which was me collecting something again,something devotional -ish.
I was really lost to writing morespecifically about grief and loss, so I
(29:44):
had so much experience with that and itties in with my care for my family staff.
So yeah, lots of ideas and I've got betterand I do a bit of speaking as well.
So that's my next thing.
I've got a local and they start writingthose things.
Yeah, there's always something to justsqueeze in on my day lost.
That's great.
(30:04):
Thank you.
And speaking of speaking and possiblebooks coming out and indeed the book that
you do have out already, have you got anysort of social media accounts that people
can find you on or where can people findyour books to buy them?
Have you got a website, anything likethat?
I have not yet become professional.
I'm a website staff, people quite knowthat as well.
(30:25):
But yeah, I'm on Twitter and Facebookand...
recently on Instagram, I'm still gettingto grips with that much to discuss my 30
year old self, who thinks I should beconversant already.
So yeah, I'm easily findable, although I'mjust Georgie Tennant, although it's really
easy to find me.
And then I have my own blog as well, whichagain, not updated for a while, but
(30:48):
there's lots of historic stuff on there,there's grief and love, I write a bit of
poetry as well as the devotional, which Ihave included bits of that in the
devotional.
But yes, you can find that, that card isprovided at sunpoemsbygeorgie .blogspots
.co .uk.
You do have to do a bit of a deeper Googleto find that.
And where can people buy your books?
(31:10):
So anywhere, books are sold really,Amazon, if they're allowed to say that
anywhere, or lots of Christian onlineretailers have it, kidding me, he directs
themselves, or of course, lots ofChristian bookshops, they're amazing.
Um, so you can just go to your localChristian bookshop and just ask them to
get it in for you in Melody and for users.
(31:31):
Plenty of places you can get it.
A quick Google, come up with lots ofoptions for you or direct from me.
You know, if you want to contact me onsocial media, we can, we can sort that out
and you get the copy with your bookmarkand please.
So what we'll do, um, for the benefit ofour listeners is we will put a link to,
um, your most favored social media profilein the show notes of this episode so that
(31:54):
they can.
click through, find you and find out howto order a book with that very valuable
bookmark with the links on it to the musicand the songs.
So we'll pop that in there for them.
Yeah.
It just leaves me really to say thank you.
Thank you very much for this great halfhour we've spent chatting together all
(32:16):
about your book, The God Who Sees You.
And yeah, it's been a pleasure having youon the show.
Well, thanks so much for having me on.
I've enjoyed myself too and reallyappreciate it.
A very big thank you to the sponsor ofthis episode, Michael T.
Gowan and his series of books calledDaniel.
Do go and grab yourself a copy frommalcomdown .co .uk or wherever good
(32:39):
Christian books are sold.
Go check it out.
And thank you as well for listening tothis episode of Christian Book Blob.
Don't forget the podcast comes out twice amonth on the 1st and the 15th.
So do join us again for another episodewhere I'll be chatting with another
Christian author about their books, theirlife and their faith.
So do join us again really soon.
(33:00):
Thanks for listening.
Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to Christian BookBlurb with your host, Matt McChlery.
Do give it a like, give it a share and letyour friends know all about it.
We do hope to see you again soon onanother Christian Book Blurb.
This is Christian Book Blurb brought toyou by author and songwriter Matt McChlery
Get a behind -the -scenes glimpse into thelives of some of your favourite Christian
authors, hear about their books and faith.
Also, why not check out my website,mattmcleary .com?
This episode is sponsored by Michael T.
Gowen's book series, Daniel, and includesDaniel being distinctive in uncertain
(00:26):
times and Daniel being faithful inuncertain times.
get your copies from your local Christianbookshop or from malcomdown .co .uk.
Well, hello and welcome to The ChristianBook Blurb, the podcast that likes to
encourage you in your discipleship onebook at a time as we meet some amazing
(00:46):
Christian authors and learn about theirbooks, their lives, and their faith.
Well, I'm your host, Matt McChlery.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
And on today's show, I'm going to betalking about the
God Who Sees You with the author GeorgieTennant.
Hello Georgie, welcome to The ChristianBook Blurb.
(01:07):
Hi, thanks so much for having me on theshow.
It's really good to have you here andtoday we're speaking about a devotional
you've written called The God Who SeesYou, which is of course the title of this
episode.
Primarily then, who is the book for?
(01:27):
That is a really interesting question.
I think I had a rough idea of who I wantedit to be for before I wrote it, but I
think it's ended up in a best reaching awider audience, which is always good news,
isn't it?
So yeah, I intended it for, I thought,male or female.
I think I was fairly specific that Iwanted it to be both genders because I
(01:49):
didn't want it to be girly.
That was the only thing I knew about this.
First I didn't want it to be girly.
I wanted it to appeal to everybody.
So yeah, I suppose adults and Christiansthat are walking in their faith, but
perhaps struggling a little bit, some ofthe last knots and things.
That has finally gone on.
It's been really nice to see that non-Christians are picking it up and reading
(02:12):
it, and teenagers are picking it up andreading it.
And yeah, I suppose vulnerable people arethe edges that I wouldn't necessarily
thought of as.
intended audience.
So it's really exciting to see it spreadfurther than my initial intentions it
were.
That's interesting.
Especially when you say you weren'texpecting it to reach sort of people who
(02:36):
were quite vulnerable, because I foundreading the book myself that it is a very
personal and vulnerable book, filled withscripture, but it points towards
those, there's so many examples that youdraw out of the biblical narrative of
(02:56):
characters who are feeling fragile orunloved or unseen and in the book you give
some indication of how this reflects someof your own life.
So what can you tell us about this?
I think in my life I've had quite a lotof, I suppose you might say, big
(03:17):
things that happen like, um, appointments,grief.
Um, so the first major one in my lifebeing losing a baby at 25 weeks, that was
about 14 years ago now.
Um, and then the second one was losing mysister's cancer six years ago when she was
only 35.
And I just think sometimes that theChristian world as such, the church isn't
(03:41):
always very good at sort of speaking to.
loss, grief, we rightly encourage peopleto push forward to hope and encouragement
and we like to have good stories ofsuccesses and healings and that kind of
thing.
So when you're living in a fairly darkplace or a far part of your journey, if it
be really hard, lots of people kind ofunseen or not really understood or your
(04:03):
experience not embraced or represented inthe church and Christian life.
So I think that would definitely be one ofthe places that sprung from at the time.
finds my way, or find us a way of livingwith that tension of loss and
disappointment.
That reminds me of a conversation I had inthe previous podcast, the one that came
(04:24):
out just before this one, with JohnHindley about his book Weakness, Our
Strength, where it's this whole idea of,you know, we want to be strong, we want to
be successful, but actually there'ssomething about this vulnerability and
this weakness that we have and...
finding God in that and through that andnot having to feel that you have to be
(04:49):
strong or you have to be perfect or youhave to be, I don't know, whatever, all
the time.
Yeah, no, really good.
Definitely.
I think that people actually value thatvulnerability, that weakness, because so
many of us want to put on a race face andbe sort of all together.
Not that we should go around, you know,weeping away all the time and crying with
(05:12):
everybody that comes across our path, butI think a bit of vulnerability is really
encouraging for others.
I've had so many people through my lifesay, thank you for your vulnerability.
You know, the fact that you're so openabout things enables me to process my
challenges and my weaknesses or...
know, not have to hide and people haveeven said things like, you can hang on to
(05:33):
amazing gods and so can I.
That's amazing how this conversation iskind of tying all sorts of other ones I've
had recently together.
Because you're quite right.
It's that.
Being willing to be vulnerable also givesan authenticity to what you're saying.
And Steve and Claire Musters, who wroteGraceful Marriage, are up on the next
(05:57):
podcast after this one.
So that's coming up and they're alltalking about being very vulnerable and
open about marriage and relationships inthat particular context.
But one of the things they found, and Iguess in quite a few Christian books, not
just
marriage ones or whatever, is thatsometimes they're a bit too theoretical,
(06:23):
or sometimes it's just like, oh, this isthe teaching and this is how it should be.
And it all becomes quite textbook and youkind of think, oh, well, I don't meet this
mark.
I don't meet the standard of being theperfect Christian or living the perfect
life or having the perfect relationship orwhatever it is.
(06:43):
So it's actually,
quite freeing in a way when, when peopleare vulnerable and are authentic and are
brave enough to say, yeah, life's tough.
Yeah.
Life is hard.
And what you were saying in your book, um,you know, in your book, the God who sees
you that, you know, you can be vulnerable.
(07:05):
You can be feeling unloved.
You might be feeling unseen, but God doessee you.
So, you know, that's really, really.
Good, so thank you for writing in thatvery vulnerable, open way.
Now, several chapters deal with seeing Godand Him seeing us even within the
(07:25):
ordinariness of everyday life.
Why is it important for us to recogniseGod at work within the ordinary as well as
the extraordinary?
I just think so many of us are so focusedon the extraordinary stuff in our lives,
then that generates disappointment becauseso much of our life is lived in the
(07:46):
ordinary.
We are human beings, we are dealing withwork and tiredness and kids and all those
different kind of things and feelinghungry and those sort of things.
And I just think if you only face theextraordinary, you've only got very few
testimonies every so often of an amazingthing that God's done.
the issue I always think that in churchthere should be an opportunity for what I
(08:09):
call untestimilies.
I like that.
So, in the hope of the testimony, the all-out testimony slots, I think there should
be a chance that untestimilies, whichwould be the experience of God didn't
quite answer our prayers as we expected,but somehow, you know, we grew or we kept
going or we swung on to faith despite itor some of those kind of things, you know,
I managed not to shout at my husband whenhe ate the last piece of cheese in the
(08:33):
fridge, you know, that kind of thing.
You can imagine the church being stood upand put those kind of things there.
But yeah, I just think in the Bible aswell, there's salient examples of ordinary
things.
For example, Elisha has a great share ofordinary miracles like purifying water for
a community or making an axe head float.
It was so important for some people tohave their hats sent back or using herbs
(08:57):
to un -poison the stew that had been put.
There's lots of these sort of...
food and drink, miracles in the Bible.
And we don't always see those kind ofordinary provision things as miracles.
And I think it just boosts your faith thanyou expect to see that.
Well, so much you can start to see God atwork in the very ordinary things of life,
the conversations, the talk around thedinner table where you're perhaps so
(09:18):
seated in children's lives or youropportunities at work to go alongside a
colleague in angry and support them.
You know, all of those ordinary things areserious acts of God.
know, bringing the kingdom into everydaylife, so we don't see those and celebrate
them in us.
That's really good, thank you.
Self -image is another topic you touch onin your book, The God Who Sees You.
(09:43):
Is this something that you've struggledwith?
Yeah, I have.
I think just generally through life, I wasalways a sort of high achiever at school,
you know, I was a classic kind ofperfectionist.
I mean, student that wants, you know, yougot eight, eight stars.
Oh, you.
And that's why I can't.
In my dreams.
(10:03):
It's not the thing these days.
If eight denies these days, so that theyouths quite understand what eight, eight
stars mean.
But yeah, I want that high flyer.
I think I put pressure on myself and thenI think as a Christian as well, I do come
from a Christian background.
So for me, I try to sort of work out as Ipull along, you know, how do I do a
(10:24):
Christian?
How does all of this work?
And.
often sort of compare myself to others andfind myself not measuring up.
But I just think it's so important to workon those kind of things and not let those
kind of things drag you down and, youknow, spoil your mental health, your
peace, your faith.
There's so much in the Bible about, youknow, who you are in Christ.
(10:46):
There's a brilliant series called Freedomin Christ that I spent some time working
through.
It just reminds you of all those greatverses about how your God's masterpieces.
You're fearfully and want to be made andyou're called, you're chosen, you know,
how to kind of be tossed and turns on theways of self doubt and, and self
-convince.
So yeah, having that sort of strong anchorin those things.
(11:06):
And I guess that that's what you're sayingin the book as well as that.
God sees you, but he kind of sees you ashe has made you rather than maybe how you
see yourself.
And.
Finding our self -image in God and what Hesays.
(11:28):
I mean, you've touched on some of thegreat verses there that we can find about
it.
I mean, the Bible is a really importantthing to do.
How does knowing that God sees us in allstages of life, in every circumstance we
face, how does knowing this help us andour discipleship?
(11:51):
I think it really helps us because we allhave this sort of false concept that if
life isn't going well, it's circumstancesthat aren't in our favour, then what's the
point that?
It's the kind of thing that does cause usto doubt our faith and causes a lot of
people to walk away from their faith.
So I think knowing that God sees us andunderstands us and guides us and is with
(12:12):
us in all of our circumstances, not onlythat, but you can turn them around and
bring good from them.
Just helps us to be less anchored.
I think it makes our faith less at the endof the circumstances.
It helps our roots to go deeper.
We just sort of are able to trust that hewill bring good on it somehow.
We trust him rather than the circumstancesaround us.
(12:33):
I just think it is such a difficult thingto grasp as a new Christian that, you
know, life isn't always going to beamazing.
It isn't always going to be perfect, butyou can trust God within and despite the
circumstances, your faith can go Justzooming in on something you said there.
You mentioned doubt.
What do we do with doubt?
(12:53):
Is it okay for a Christian to doubt or dowe just pretend it isn't there?
If we are experiencing doubt and doubtingour faith or doubting God or whatever it
may be, what can we do with that?
How should we handle that?
Where can we go?
I think yes, absolutely it's okay to doubtand express our doubts.
(13:16):
And
I think it's so important to do that.
So in what I said, I preached once, I toldthe story of my husband who accidentally
one day left the lemonade bottle in thefreezer overnight.
You'll see the link in a minute.
And as I was in the kitchen with my thenthree -year -old son, and all of a sudden,
the freezer door blew open, shatteringbits of freezer and ice and lemonade all
(13:39):
over the kitchen.
And yeah, he's only intended to leave itin there for a couple of hours or an hour
to cool down, left it in for overnight.
And the result was such a huge explosionthat it blew the whole thing to all.
So I just think that's a greatillustration of what happens if we don't
deal with those sounds.
That fills up of how the tear and angerand all of those things just blow and
(14:02):
implode or explode at some point.
And that's when we walk away.
If they're able to deal honestly withthose doubts, if they're able to perhaps
talk to a trusted friend, get some prayer,have some counselling, read some fantastic
books that are some brilliant books onthis subject, you can't like you're
recommending them if you obviously.
I just think you can sort of try and finda bit of theology of kind of, well not
(14:27):
ideology of doubt, but theology for whenthings go wrong.
And then you can sort of walk with thattension of doubt and fear and wanting
things to be better.
but not enclosed.
It's just got processing it and findingthings that help you to process it.
Tell us one of those books, one of ourlisteners might really benefit.
Well, I think one that everybody wouldhave heard of is called A Mute by Pete
(14:48):
Gray.
It talks a lot about unanswered prayer.
He's got his unanswered prayer courseonline as well.
That's brilliant.
The other one as well too, impactally, areboth by Jerry Sitzer, which are one is
When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayers, andone is A Grace Disguised.
Jerry Sitzer lost his wife, daughter andmother, I think it was in the same fart
(15:10):
crash.
when you read the details, you think, wow,this is the man that's walked there, he's
been there, he's lived the hard stuff andhe's still a man that's still going to
God.
So things like that, reading things likethat sort of helped me find a way in my
own doubts and disappointments as well.
Yeah, thank you for that.
Coming back to your book then, The God WhoSees You, it's broken up into sort of
(15:34):
short, bite -sized chapters, I guess isthe best description.
Because it's intended to be like adevotional, isn't it?
You could take it on holiday and read iton the beach, I suppose, but I don't think
that's the intention behind it.
So are you hoping people to kind of tryand engage with this daily or sort of
(15:56):
fairly regularly?
And, you know, how is the structure of itset up to work in your mind?
I think it's set up as a starchy namedemotional.
by explaining the introduction I wanted tobe able to access at their own pace
wherever they want to.
So I told the friends that I was doing aSNA devotional but without dates because
(16:19):
when I start a new one, every O Jesus orany other ones on the market at the moment
or our day risk and by the fifth of MarchI'm still on the third of March, then by
the tenth of March I'm still on the fifthof March, that kind of condolation kind of
creeps in.
And she joked at the time, oh good, everyother day with Jesus, I was wanting
someone to write one of those.
(16:39):
We had a bit of a giggle about that.
But you know, it's not intended to makepeople spend time with God less far from
it, but it's intended for people to accessit at their own pace, in their own way.
And the devotionals are meaty enough thatyou could just read the one verse that
I've written at the top and then thedevotional, or you could read the whole
passage, or you could read, you could doit all in one go if you wanted, but
(17:00):
basically there's a verse, there's a...
reflection, I dig quite deeply into thephysical character I'm talking about, I
look at it as my own life.
And then after that, there's somequestions, people reflect and there's a
song at the end of every devotional thatI've recommended.
A lot of people said they really love thesong and it's quite helpful, it's quite
(17:21):
unusual, it's devotional.
And people have said that when you've gotthat song there in your head for the rest
of the day or the rest of the week, itjust helps you to reflect and keep
ruminating or whatever God has said.
to you through the reflection.
They've had a lot of comments about howmuch people really enjoy that unique
factor of the devotional.
And when they buy the books directly fromme, they get a little bookmark or a
(17:41):
postcard with a link to the playlist onboth Spotify and YouTube so they can just
buff it in and out that playlist directlyrather than searching for the songs every
day.
That's really interesting.
So the best thing is to buy the book fromyou and then they get the little bookmark
with the link on it.
I was just going to say it might beshowing my age, but I remember.
Um, when I was younger, you couldn't justfind a song, you know, you had to buy the
(18:06):
tape or buy the CD.
And then, then, then you only got the 12songs that were on that particular
recording and you didn't have all theothers.
So these days it's great because you couldjust give the artist's name and the title
of the song and you, you type it inwhichever platform you use and ping there
(18:26):
it is, or there's 40 different versions ofthe same song by different artists or
whatever.
Absolutely.
That's really good.
It's so much better.
I know that's interesting.
I had one of the older ladies to mychurch, she started reading my book and
then after about, oh, she got a half bit,her daughter bought her a smartphone.
She called me over and excited me up withher music one day, to tell me how excited
(18:47):
you were that she could just put it in herphone and the song came out.
I just thought how sweet, we're taking thetape for granted anyway, of this
generation.
Yeah, yeah, they're very good.
It was weird.
Some, some children, my, my daughter'sage, well, my daughter's grown up in my
house, so she knows what a CD is, but somechildren, my daughter's age, um, saw some
(19:11):
of my CDs and they were like, what isthis?
You know, what's the strange circularthing?
You know, what is weird, the shiny thing.
And I had to try and explain that, youknow, that's the way music is recorded.
It made me feel so old.
I know.
Anyway, there we go.
The world is changing at a fast.
face.
That might be a topic for another anotherepisode.
(19:33):
Anyway, there we go.
We digress.
So back to your book, how did the bookbegin?
Where did the initial idea or inspirationcome from?
Well, the whole thing actually started inthe first lockdown.
And I think like, many people, it justfelt so strange to have everything ripped
(19:54):
away from you.
So I'm a teacher.
And say, I have a busy job, you know, mykids do loads of activities, you know, in
the church and so on.
So, suddenly have all of those thingsripped away from you, just on your own at
home, you know.
I just found that really, really hard.
I felt as if I was unseen and all thosethings that gave me identity and purpose
and sort of disappeared for a time.
(20:16):
And so, yeah, one day I literally sat inthe garden in the sun, but it was nothing,
that looked down so much.
And I just read the story of Hagar.
And I made some notes, I do journal of itsometimes and I read the Bible.
So I just made some notes and I just cameaway from that.
I suppose it's been a bit better, like Godsees me, this is okay, we're in this
(20:36):
together, you know, it's been a, it'll useit for good.
And I actually then spiked it up as a kindof reflection of it, like the ones in my
book.
And I shared it with our pastor and hefelt that it was good to encourage people.
So it was sent around as a PDF orwhatever, or WhatsApp and people read it
and.
And then I wrote a second one and a thirdand fourth of this.
(20:58):
So it's your hey dance for real David.
And they all went out and then looked downCarrodall and I got busy because teaching
came back a lot.
It is different things I never wroteanymore.
And then some time later, and I'm a memberof the Association of Christian Writers,
as you liked, and chatting to someone inthe garden at our.
(21:22):
I'll say shortly works for the children'sbit of Kevin Mayhew, who published The God
Who Sees You.
And I'll just tell you about my wife'sbook.
And she basically encouraged me to pitchit to Kevin Mayhew, you know, see whether
it was something they would want, etcetera, et cetera, things for motivational
and publish.
So yeah, the wheels of these things allturn extremely slowly, but eventually, you
(21:45):
know, have a Zoom meeting with KevinMayhew and they said, yes, they like the
idea.
You know, well, I write it in Deadlines.
Like, there's a tail -base in thatmeeting, like, really exciting, but also
petrified, and I've got to write the other25 sections of the thing.
Oh, interesting.
I always love to hear how books come tobe.
That's great.
(22:05):
Just before our little break, your book isspeaking to those who feel unseen,
speaking about characters in the Bible whomight have felt that as well.
What advice or what...
words of encouragement might you have forany of our listeners who might be feeling
(22:28):
unseen?
I think it's just good to ask God for thatrevelation that you are seen, that you are
loved, that you are understood, that youaren't alone.
Because when you can get that deepconviction in your heart, you just feel
like things are worth probably on boardeven when it doesn't feel like it.
So it's all about this.
Take it to God, you know, asking him likehe did to me with Hagar in the garden on
(22:51):
that lockdown, sunny day, you know, justGod revealing it.
I reference to your heart, so that yourpurpose and your, um, identity comes from
him rather than from all the things thatare going on around you.
I mean, that's so important.
That's great.
Thanks, Georgie.
And we'll be back chatting some more withthe author Georgie Tennant, um, after
these messages.
So join us on the other side of these.
(23:16):
The book of Daniel in the Bible waswritten over two and a half thousand years
ago, yet it remains highly relevant for ustoday.
Daniel and his friends were transported toa society where their future was uncertain
and where they encountered hostility tothe practice of their faith.
Their response gives us important pointersas to how we can maintain our
(23:38):
distinctiveness and enjoy God's protectionin similar situations.
Michael T.
Gowans' series of reflections
are found within his book series calledDaniel.
The first of these is Daniel beingdistinctive in uncertain times that looks
at the first three chapters of this bookof the Bible.
(23:59):
And chapters four to six are covered inhis second book, Daniel being faithful in
uncertain times.
Get your copies today from malcomdown .co.uk, your local Christian bookshop, or
from Amazon.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast,you can help keep it on the web.
(24:20):
All you've got to do is buy me a coffee.
Head over to buymeacoffee .com slash MattMcChlery to make a donation.
There is a link in this episode's shownotes.
So go on, buy me a coffee today and helpthis podcast to keep supporting Christian
books and authors.
(24:42):
Welcome back to Christian Book Blurb, thepodcast that likes to encourage you in
your discipleship one book at a time.
We have been chatting with author GeorgieTennant about her book, The God Who Sees
You.
Now, Georgie, after the break, we like toget to know the author a little bit
better.
We've heard quite a bit about your book,which sounds fantastic.
(25:03):
It is great.
I've read it, but we want to find out alittle bit more about you.
So.
Who are you?
Where are you?
What do you do?
No, there's too many questions at once.
Let's start off with, um, what do you dofor fun?
Well, what do I do for fun?
Um, I think I'm still at the stage of lifewhere most things are about children.
(25:25):
work and running them around but I do havea spare moment and I do really enjoy going
for walks and copies of Friends, thatsounds very little age doesn't it, but
that is something that just yeah restillsmy tank you know I try and go for a walk
for most Mondays with a Friend, we just goaround the village and you know just catch
up and get a bit of exercise at the sametime and I think the other thing I love to
(25:45):
do for myself is just to go for a reallylong bath with my chin full which I can't
drop at any point but I never have yet soit's just...
Just having my little toothies just relaxand read a good novel.
I just think it just makes me feel likeI've really, really had some knee time.
And speaking about coffee with friends,what is your favorite coffee shop?
(26:08):
Oh, um, I'd say Costa.
It's bit of a shame, but you know, youscream whenever it's not often.
I like going for a nice cappuccino thereand then some of their Christmasy coffee.
Oh, what flavor Christmasy coffee?
The gingerbread one.
Gingerbread latte.
Yeah, the gingerbread ones are reallypretty good.
The marshmallow ones as well, aren't they?
(26:28):
I'm not too sure about those ones.
Anyway, good.
And so you've kind of mentioned being ateacher as well.
So is that your main job?
Is writing your main job or, you know,where you're at in terms of all of that?
Yes, I teach part time.
So I teach two days a week, but anybodythat's ever been a teacher or known a
(26:49):
teacher will know that never actually twodays a week.
So that's a sensor spread into the rest ofthe week a little bit as well.
So I teach, I'm in Kingsland in Northbeck,so I teach secondary English.
I'm in an 11, 16 school, so I teach up toDCSC at the moment.
I've felt more up to A level in the past.
See, I teach part time, which is a lovelyluxury that enables me then to do other
(27:12):
things like have a passion.
or which, which includes the writing.
Um, and also I volunteer for care for thefamily size.
I spend a bit of time doing somebereavement support stuff with care for
the family, which enjoy is probably thewrong words, but I do enjoy it in a weird
sort of way.
Cause again, it's that sort of briefing tothe broken is that similar sort of thing.
Interesting.
(27:33):
And you've got, um, a young family.
So let's talk about, um, TV.
Do you enjoy anything or is it anythingyour family's particularly enjoying
watching together at the moment?
Well, we've got to the stage in life whereone's 15 and one's 13 and they've both got
(27:56):
quite different tastes.
So it's quite hard to find something weall agree on these days, but there are a
few things we like watching.
We all love a good Marvel series.
Any of the Marvel series, the Disney Plus,we're all there having a chocolate mulled
cake, which the boys have mastered makingand watching that.
And then we love it.
Cheese on a Saturday night.
So we all do rather enjoy the white macand cheese show.
(28:17):
We all do all that other stuff.
That's great.
That's wonderful.
Have you got anything coming up soon innow?
It could be another book idea that youmight have been thinking of.
Some authors that I asked, they kind ofgo, no, I can't reveal any secrets.
(28:40):
But some are quite gracious without givingus sort of the major plot line or
anything, just sort of a very generaloutline if you've got anything coming up,
but it may not be a book.
It could be, I don't know, anythingreally, anything that you've got going on.
Oh, I've always got things fumbling awayin the background.
It's kind of how to actually get them somebubbling to actually do the work in
(29:00):
progress and tricky things.
So, I think I've got a few differentideas.
So quite a lot of people have said,
when does the God who sees you too comeout?
So I'm not sure yet whether that is theright thing.
I have started gathering some ideas ofbiblical characters that I could use.
I've just thought I could next take myphone.
I've just been swiping down Bible verses,characters, songs.
(29:23):
If I do decide that's the right thing,I've got an outline that I could pitch to
somebody, whether they can make you haveit or not.
We'll see.
But yeah, I've got ideas for that.
I've got various things in the backgroundthat I've written that
which was me collecting something again,something devotional -ish.
I was really lost to writing morespecifically about grief and loss, so I
(29:44):
had so much experience with that and itties in with my care for my family staff.
So yeah, lots of ideas and I've got betterand I do a bit of speaking as well.
So that's my next thing.
I've got a local and they start writingthose things.
Yeah, there's always something to justsqueeze in on my day lost.
That's great.
(30:04):
Thank you.
And speaking of speaking and possiblebooks coming out and indeed the book that
you do have out already, have you got anysort of social media accounts that people
can find you on or where can people findyour books to buy them?
Have you got a website, anything likethat?
I have not yet become professional.
I'm a website staff, people quite knowthat as well.
(30:25):
But yeah, I'm on Twitter and Facebookand...
recently on Instagram, I'm still gettingto grips with that much to discuss my 30
year old self, who thinks I should beconversant already.
So yeah, I'm easily findable, although I'mjust Georgie Tennant, although it's really
easy to find me.
And then I have my own blog as well, whichagain, not updated for a while, but
(30:48):
there's lots of historic stuff on there,there's grief and love, I write a bit of
poetry as well as the devotional, which Ihave included bits of that in the
devotional.
But yes, you can find that, that card isprovided at sunpoemsbygeorgie .blogspots
.co .uk.
You do have to do a bit of a deeper Googleto find that.
And where can people buy your books?
(31:10):
So anywhere, books are sold really,Amazon, if they're allowed to say that
anywhere, or lots of Christian onlineretailers have it, kidding me, he directs
themselves, or of course, lots ofChristian bookshops, they're amazing.
Um, so you can just go to your localChristian bookshop and just ask them to
get it in for you in Melody and for users.
(31:31):
Plenty of places you can get it.
A quick Google, come up with lots ofoptions for you or direct from me.
You know, if you want to contact me onsocial media, we can, we can sort that out
and you get the copy with your bookmarkand please.
So what we'll do, um, for the benefit ofour listeners is we will put a link to,
um, your most favored social media profilein the show notes of this episode so that
(31:54):
they can.
click through, find you and find out howto order a book with that very valuable
bookmark with the links on it to the musicand the songs.
So we'll pop that in there for them.
Yeah.
It just leaves me really to say thank you.
Thank you very much for this great halfhour we've spent chatting together all
(32:16):
about your book, The God Who Sees You.
And yeah, it's been a pleasure having youon the show.
Well, thanks so much for having me on.
I've enjoyed myself too and reallyappreciate it.
A very big thank you to the sponsor ofthis episode, Michael T.
Gowan and his series of books calledDaniel.
Do go and grab yourself a copy frommalcomdown .co .uk or wherever good
(32:39):
Christian books are sold.
Go check it out.
And thank you as well for listening tothis episode of Christian Book Blob.
Don't forget the podcast comes out twice amonth on the 1st and the 15th.
So do join us again for another episodewhere I'll be chatting with another
Christian author about their books, theirlife and their faith.
So do join us again really soon.
(33:00):
Thanks for listening.
Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to Christian BookBlurb with your host, Matt McChlery.
Do give it a like, give it a share and letyour friends know all about it.
We do hope to see you again soon onanother Christian Book Blurb.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.