Jamie Janosz

I first heard about Mary McLeod Bethune when I was a student at Moody Bible Institute. She was an early graduate of my college - and an African American woman. I knew she had gone on to become one of the greatest women in our country. She was so well known that she earned the status of being featured on our postage stamps. But I didn't really know much about her. As I researched Mary McLeod Bethune for my book, When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up . I learned a bit more about her remarkable life: She was the 15th of 17 children, born to former slaves. From an early age, she hungered for education. She graduated from Moody Bible Institute with a desire for missionary service to Africa - an opportunity she was denied because of her race. Undeterred, she started a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, that went on to become Bethune Cookman University. She was asked to work with Franklin D. Roosevelt and led many ...

In my guest blogger series, I've asked some of my favorite bloggers to discuss one of the questions found at the end of my book,  When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up .  Today's question is about Emma Dryer.  Women of Emma Dryer's day were expected to marry and devote their life to household work. What are the social expectations for women today? Are they different for Christian women? How has your life conformed to or gone against the expectations of society or the church? Enjoy this essay from my friend, Connie Mann. Connie and I first met in college. Now, she is a boat captain and fellow writer! Also, be sure to pick up a copy of her fiction novel, Angel Falls , an exotic adventure set in Brazil! I’ve spent a good bit of my life feeling like I escaped the island of misfit toys. As a little girl, I dressed the cat in my doll clothes and climbed the neighbor’s tree so I could read, uninterrupted. I wore my hair boy-short, but was mortif...

In my guest blogger series, I've asked some of my favorite bloggers to discuss one of the questions found at the end of my book,  When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up . Today's question is about Sarah Dunn Clarke. Thank you to these fellow writers for participating! Enjoy this essay from my colleague, friend, writer and fellow antiques enthusiast, Kelli Worrall.  Sarah Dunn Clarke was struck by God speaking to her, asking, “What are you doing to decorate your heavenly home?” In our culture, it is not uncommon for women to become obsessed with home décor and cooking. We exchange recipes and crafting ideas on Pinterest and other social media sites. How might our domestic obsessions limit our impact for God? Or can we use them for Him? I made my foray into the world of interior design when I was about four. My mom opened wide the wallpaper book, and I picked a pattern for my room. Pink and blue Holly Hobby dolls for three walls. A coordinating ...

In my first-ever guest blogger series, I've asked writers to discuss one of the questions found at the end of my book, When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up . Today's question is about Amanda Berry Smith.  Thank you to these fellow friends and writers for participating! Enjoy this first response from talented fiction writer and editor, Teryn O'Brien. Amanda Smith felt completely alone following the death of her baby, Will. At that very moment, God sent a friend to give her needed money. Why are women’s friendships so crucial? How have friends ministered to you in times of need? Maybe I’m weird, but I have always seen female friendships as just as essential as a male love interest. In junior high, I remember how so many girls would easily throw away their friendships or betrayed girl friends just to be with the guy they wanted.  I’ve wondered many times if they regretted it later or just stabbed other girls in the back during their climb to m...

I asked you to nominate brave women for my book giveaway. Wow! I am inspired and humbled to hear their stories - and the obvious ways they have nurtured your lives. While my book was about inspiring women who lived in the late 1800s, it is clear to me that God continues to show Himself today (in 2014) through modern-day women, who live quiet, faithful, and generous lives. In my own life, I have watched my sister (Julie Storms Lunt) and my mom (Jan Storms Czapla) go through incredible trials and yet remain strong and loving and beautiful. Julie survived a brain tumor that could have taken her life - but today she is a walking miracle: thriving, married, living in Chicago, and teaching school. My mom faced the loss of her husband (my dad), and her parents in an incredibly short span of time, yet she kept pushing forward, completing a lifetime of teaching and inspiring children - and even daring to find love again. I admire them both deeply and love them beyond words. Let's ce...

Was there a woman in your life who nurtured you? A teacher who told you how great you were at math or writing? The Sunday School teacher who prayed and listened? Your aunt who took you to her workplace? Your grandmother who showed you how to make a recipe? It might be your mom, a best friend, a neighbor, a sister? What woman in your life would you like to honor? I'd like to giveaway two copies of my book, When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up - one to you and one to the woman you admire. Write a comment below, or on my Facebook page , telling about this brave wonderful woman! Also, please share this post or my  Facebook page on social media! On Thursday, May 1st , I will draw a winner and send the book to both the winner and the honored nominee. Let's celebrate the important and wonderful women in our lives!

My pastor once said that God often calls us in our area of weakness, asking us to do the things we most fear. I didn't want to believe that. Just days before, I was invited to speak at a conference. While I was flattered, I fretted about my decision for months since I was not comfortable with public speaking. Why would God ask me to do something that so clearly frightened me? That is the same question that plagued the heart of Amanda Berry Smith. Amanda was born into slavery in 1837. Married at 17, she all-too-quickly became a widow at age 26. She labored as domestic help for minimal wages, raising her children alone. She was so poor she couldn't afford medicine to heal her sick baby. Weeping bitterly when he died in her arms, she realized she had no money to bury him. Amanda Berry Smith Despite personal hardship, Amanda was a resolute believer. She felt that even while doing menial tasks like mending clothes or washing dishes, she was serving God. In her a...

On this snowy, Chicago, Saturday morning, sitting at my kitchen table and still wearing my fuzzy bathrobe, my heart is filled with gratitude for all of the people who made publishing my first book a reality. On this day of my book release, I just want to say that I am tremendously thankful for all of you who helped make this little dream of mine a reality. First, to each of these eight women – Fanny, Emma, Evangeline, Amanda, Nettie, Sarah, Virginia, and Mary - this book is about them and because of them. I want the honor to land firmly at their feet, for they are the ones who walked the long and difficult road of faithful service. They have my utmost admiration. I hope, some day, to be just a bit like them.   Second, I am thankful for my Moody Publishers editor, Holly Kisly. She believed in this project from the start and understood how important it was to tell the next genreation of women these stories. My editor, Karen Waddles, made sure my ideas were clea...

In an interview for my book, the radio host asked me why I wrote about historical women. "Did you always love history?" "Yes," I realized. "I always have." My dad was a junior high history teacher. His focus, for 7th/8th grade, was American history and social studies, but he instilled in me a love of the past. My parents took me to museums and historical monuments. I remember touching the Liberty Bell and wearing a tri-corner hat in Williamsburg, Virginia. For me, the worst part of history in school is the memorization of dates. I was (and still am) horrible at remembering what battle happened when and where, which king replaced the other. To me, this onslaught of information tumbles about in my brain and refuses to stick. I'd be a horrible guest on Jeopardy. But when I see and touch and feel history, I am completely and utterly in love. In those moments, it leaves the pages of the past and comes alive. This also happens when I visit his...

This photo of the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire hangs on the wall of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. On the night of October 8 th , 1871, the Great Chicago fire began. The sight of the flames spreading as far north and south as they could see was both terrifying and awesome. Emma joined her friends at the window where they could watch the blaze coming ever closer. “We saw a veering wind, fearing that the fire might be blown one more point westward, and so destroy the entire city,” wrote Emma. The wind held its northward course and the river helped spare the west side of the city. The devastation, however, was widespread. Among the city’s 300,000 population, as many as 100,000 residents were left homeless by the great fire. Of these, many were the poorest immigrants, already barely able to meet their families’ basic needs before the tragedy. The area of destruction spread four miles and long and nearly one mile wide. One hundred and twenty-five people were confi...

I love a good mystery. I enjoy peering into clues from the past, like my childhood hero, girl detective Nancy Drew, and putting together pieces of a story. My love of research has been useful in my current project. I am writing about the lives of eight women for my book - that now has an offical title: When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Didn't Give Up. These women all lived more than a century ago - so I can't talk to them. I can only read about their lives on dusty old pages and microfilm. They grew up in small towns across the country. Some of them were members of wealthy families - one was the child of slaves. Many of them had tragic events, briefly inserted into reports of their life stories, that certainly impacted who they became. Right now, I am researching wealthy philanthropist Nettie McCormick - wife of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the reaper. While Nettie had all the money she would ever need, she faced troubles with her family. Two of her ch...