Reading my own words

"Christmas Blessings" was my first attempt at a themed book, and I am very proud of how this story turned out. If you read my last post, you know this has been a hard week for me.

I was thinking about this book this morning, and the message it tries to convey. I'll share an excerpt here, these words come from Sister Dorothy, as she talks to Lacey, the main character in the story:

“Maybe, just maybe, Lacey, God has been trying to protect you, trying to bring you to your best life for many years now. The best way I can explain God’s love is usually through a parent’s love, but I think I can do it for you using a child’s love.

“Didn’t you try everything you could think of to stop your mother’s drug use? Try to take her off of her path of self-destruction? But you could only do so much, your mother had to decide to accept your help, and her disease didn’t allow that. I believe God has continually tried to help you, and you have taken that help, with the end result being you are here with Bessie and I today, learning about how much God loves you.”

This was just the reminder I needed this morning. God loves me. He has led me to this place, and He will lead me through the darkness of grief into the light of His love again. The grief must be processed. I have to experience all the sadness and the loss to heal from it. But God is with me. As long as I trust in God's love, and allow God to help me carry and heal from this grief, I will be fine.

So many people who have read "Christmas Blessings" see themselves or people they love in Lacey. That is the highest compliment a writer can receive, that their characters are real and relatable. I think one of the reasons Lacey touches so many people is that she is lost, and feels so alone. All of us feel that way at times. But none of us are alone. God is with us.

I hope Lacey's story helps everyone who reads it to feel God's eternal love for them. And I hope the knowledge of that love carries them through their own personal darkness and back into the light of His love.