Authors: Susan May Warren
Tags: #FICTION / Christian / Romance, #FICTION / Romance / Contemporary
W
HAT DO YOU
do when you love someone who seems bent on self-destruction? Worse, when they seem incapable of listening to reason?
Pray. Hope. Love anyway.
I came upon this story idea after hearing about a woman who had inadvertently walked into an abusive relationship. She didn’t exactly know how she got there
—just that one day she opened her eyes to the truth. But she’d told herself so many lies that tracing her path toward this abuser seemed almost natural. She accepted abuse because of her inability to believe she was worthy of anything else.
Those outside the horror warned her. Wanted
—tried
—to wave her off. And watched with torn hearts as she entwined herself in a situation that nearly cost her and her children their lives.
Eventually the abuser hurt someone else
—someone less afraid, less intimidated, less willing to believe lies
—and was imprisoned. Justice finally.
So often, believers are like this woman: we stand in our mistakes, our sins, our regrets, and determine that we don’t deserve
love. So we accept less
—even abuse
—because we can’t lift our eyes off ourselves and onto truth.
Jesus stands outside the lies, waving at us to stop our self-destruction, to believe Him for freedom, to reach out for His love, to trust His justice. And He asks us, as Christians, to stand in the darkened pathways and shed light.
I wanted to write a story about a man who couldn’t escape the pull of love God had for the broken, the lost
—and yet depict the agony of seeing them run away into destruction. Just as God must feel when we push Him away and stubbornly head into darkness. Casper seemed exactly the right person to shoulder this task . . . even though it could have cost him so much.
That kind of love cost Jesus even more . . . cost Him everything.
But Jesus, like Casper, is a treasure hunter who has come to seek and save the lost. I love the fact that He believes we are worth the search.
And Raina
—who lived always looking behind her
—had to learn to look ahead, outside her comfort zone, into faith. I love the message that when we look at ourselves, we get afraid. After all, it’s true: how can such a wretch be redeemed? We can’t if we depend on ourselves. But if we depend on God . . .
Well, as John Christiansen says, “What does love do? Forgives. Comforts. Protects. Saves. Renews.
Loves.
”
Friends, look forward, your face to the wind, and live large in God’s love. Jesus says you are worth the search, worth His outrageous, unwavering love for you, despite the cost.
Thank you for reading Raina and Casper’s story. With Casper off to find Owen . . . well, it’s time for Amelia to come up with an answer, don’t you think? Can she forgive the man who broke her
heart? More, will she choose her high school sweetheart, Seth, or this European blue blood? Which would you choose?
In His grace,
Susan May Warren
S
USAN
M
AY
W
ARREN
is the bestselling, Christy and RITA Award–winning author of more than forty novels whose compelling plots and unforgettable characters have won acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. She served with her husband and four children as a missionary in Russia for eight years before she and her family returned home to the States. She now writes full-time as her husband runs a resort on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota, where many of her books are set.
Susan holds a BA in mass communications from the University of Minnesota. Several of her critically acclaimed novels have been ECPA and CBA bestsellers, were chosen as Top Picks by
Romantic Times
, and have won the RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice contest and the American Christian Fiction Writers’ prestigious Carol Award. Her novels
You Don’t Know Me
and
Take a Chance on Me
were Christy Award winners, and five of her other books have also been finalists. In addition to her writing, Susan loves to teach and speak at women’s events about God’s amazing grace in our lives.
For exciting updates on her new releases, previous books, and more, visit her website at
www.susanmaywarren.com
.
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