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.