Discussion Questions

  1. In Two Steps Forward, there is a theme of protecting those who can’t defend themselves. How did you see this theme play out in the novel?
  2. Sylvie was wired for taking on responsibilities. Jimmy? Not so much. Which character changed more throughout this book?
  3. Sylvie was raised in an ultraconservative Old Order Amish church. Jimmy called it “Hillbilly Amish.” How did her past shape her life? Why do we care so much about Sylvie?
  4. How would you describe Sylvie’s faith? How did it grow or change? Compare Sylvie’s faith journey with Jimmy’s.
  5. Edith Fisher Lapp was domineering of her son, yet also protective. What does motherhood mean to her?
  6. Jimmy’s relationship with his mother wavered between avoiding her (off to Colorado for four years) or buckling to her wishes (dinners with Rosemary Blank). How does their dynamic shift after Sylvie leaves Rising Star Farm?
  7. When Jimmy gave David the copy of his great-grandfather’s will, it created a crisis for Edith. Was it the right thing for Jimmy to do? Why or why not?
  8. There’s another theme in this story—the importance of having a father. A loving, steadfast father. Izzy, for example, grew up without a father and keenly felt his absence after she became a mother. At one point, Luke asks Izzy, “Aren’t I enough? Can’t we be enough?” Should it be enough? And if not, why not?
  9. Here’s a sobering statistic: today, more than one in four children live in a home without a father. (https://www.fatherhood.org/fatherhood-data-statistics)
         Is there a child in your life who needs a father figure—a nephew, a niece, a grandson, a neighbor’s child? What can you do to try and fill that void?
  10. While it sounds pretty far-fetched, Rhnull blood is the rarest blood type of all—one that fewer than fifty people in the entire world have—which is why scientists have nicknamed it “golden blood.” The type, whose scientific name is Rhnull blood, was discovered in 1961. Since then, there have been a total of forty-three reported cases. Its rarity and unique properties combine to make it potentially dangerous, should someone with this type ever need a blood transfusion.
         What was the significance of golden blood for Izzy? For this story? How does it symbolize the valuable and costly love God has for each of his children? “How pre    cious are also thy thoughts of me, O God! How great is the sum of them” (Ps. 139:17).
  11. “Words are a funny thing,” David said, when he told Edith she must make a public confession for her deception. “They can make big things little. And they can make little things big.” Discuss some ways in which little things became big in Two Steps Forward.
  12. Edith and Hank Lapp, more than any other characters, play a role in most every book set in Stoney Ridge. Complete opposites, yet happily married. Sort of. Why are they good for each other? And why are readers so drawn to them? Who in your life reminds you of Hank or Edith?
  13. The Easter season is a significant time in the Old Order Amish Church. It’s a time of solemn reflection before the community partakes in the sacrament of Communion, and prepares their heart for the full and complex meaning of Christ’s Resurrection—forgiveness, wholeness, and new beginnings. A good example to us all to take Communion seriously by keeping short accounts, making amends, mending fences, before we accept the symbolic food and drink of the Last Supper. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom. 12:18 NLT). As Easter season approaches this year, which fences need mending in your life?