One of the themes in my novels is that our crises can turn into blessings. We can feel like our world has crumbled, but ten years down the road when we look back on that time, we can see God's hand at work. I love writing that theme into my books.
I was divorced when my children were young, so I was a single mother for a while. It's so hard to have to do every little thing yourself and be forced to navigate the rocky emotions of motherhood alone.
I want readers to rehearse that day when everything shatters and think through what they'll hang onto when that happens.
Bad days will come for each one of us, and the more we've thought these things through ahead of time, the better prepared we'll be when tragedy strikes or struggles emerge.
I believed God had wired me as a writer for a purpose, and I was squandering that purpose. I finally repented of doing things my way and told God that, in the future, I would only write books that glorified Him. That meant I had to buy back some of my contracts.
I put ordinary people in jeopardy and give them the opportunity to be heroic. Then there's a great payoff for the reader at the end, when the heroic character gets what he or she deserves. Readers will come back again and again if they feel satisfied at the end.
There is nothing we've done that can't be wiped clean by Christ.
There's nothing heavier than the weight of sin in our lives. It's crushing. What a luxury to know the burden of it can be lifted off our shoulders if we repent and give it to God.
I like to think about the biblical story of the woman at the well and how out of order her life was. Jesus pointed out she'd had five husbands and was living with a sixth. But Jesus chose her to be the one who would take the good news of the Messiah's arrival to her village.
There have been many times in my life when I felt like I'd never pick up the pieces, but God has always given me the power to do it.
