Back story of Redeeming Love

Some of you may know that I started writing in the general market in the early days of the historical romance boom (mid 70-80s).  My first book was a combination of the genres I enjoyed reading: western-gothic-historical romance.  I became hooked on writing.  It seemed to be the one area of my life where I had “control,” an illusion, of course, though I had a successful career with strong sales and lead position (for promotion).  

Upon surrendering my life to Jesus, my writing died a swift death–not because I chose not to write, but because everything I wrote made no sense.  I struggled.  Writing was my “safe place,” it was my “identity,” or so I thought.  It took three years for the Lord to get through my thick skull and show me how my priorities were upside down.  I could almost hear Him saying, “You say you love Me, but you don’t even know who I AM.”  Sadly true.  For most of my life, I longed for a Savior, but I didn’t want a LORD.  I never bothered reading the Bible.

So I began reading Genesis and continued on through each book.  As I immersed myself in Scripture, my death grip on my writing loosened.  Finally, I let it go completely and without the least regret.  Jesus became the center of my life–and my marriage. 

And then, of course, as God often does–HE changed my goals.  Our home Bible study turned to the Minor Prophets, and, eventually, we came to the book of Hosea.  This book broke through the last walls of resistance.  I could see how I had been like Gomer (a harlot) for years–always turning to other things (like writing) to “fulfill” myself.   I felt God nudging me to begin writing again, this time, His story, so that readers who had followed my career and had been asking why I had stopped writing would see what God had done in my life.

Redeeming Love is the book of my heart.  It is my confession of how I viewed and treated God before I knew Him, my yearning for a Savior and my deepest, life-long need for a loving, all-knowing LORD to direct my steps.