Love's Healing Power

I love the month of April, and the rains that bring flowers in May. I celebrate my birthday, my born-again anniversary, my first book contract, and release of my first book available in print, which arrived on my birthday. God is so good, he renews my soul.

April is also the anniversary of the unsolved homicide of my father. Talk about the healing power of God’s love. Such trauma can change a life forever, if that life isn’t turned over to receive God’s grace, and pass that grace on to others. I’ve been disturbed many times over the years, wondering how a killer could be walking around free. I’ve had to accept God’s answer to this prayer for resolution as “no.”

I would say in the case of my father, God has healed my mind. The unsolved answers could have eaten me up. Instead, I realize that God is God and I am not.

For reasons only God knows, I walked around in constant physical pain for several years. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The leaden, heavy leg and back pain were corrected with fusion. I have learned to live with limitations, and am so very grateful for what I am able to do. At the time of this writing I am not pain free, but most days He enables me to handle the aches.

And because of God’s sovereignty, He chose me to spend eternity with Him. I call that healing of my spirit, which He has healed many times over the years, because I am weak and sin every day.

So when it comes to God’s healing power, I’ve been there, and I hope to bring that awareness to the characters I create. Inner conflict is painful, especially when it comes to spiritual things. In the case of Geneva Carson in Rainn on My Parade, she’s torn between following her dream to make her business a success and her instinct to come to the aide of a special needs child. Toss in the reality of falling for a younger man in a small town where she has lived her whole life.

Rainn Harris has spiritual issues as well. I don’t want to give them away, but he faces guilt, ill feelings toward his father, and taking up Geneva’s time when he knows where her priorities lay.

No relationship is flawless and follows a smooth path. The road is bumpy with hills to climb and ruts to avoid. We are emotional creatures. Our characters need to be as well. So there is a lot of healing that needs to be done during misunderstandings, careless words, thoughts taking over words and actions.

I claim Isaiah 12:2 as my lifetime verse: “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid: For the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.” My goal is for that theme of renewal, that healing of the spirit, to be experienced through my stories.

Love heals. We can see the fruits in our lives. And we can write that happily-ever-after into our romances. Can you think of a specific time of healing in your life? Be it mind, body, or spirit, I’d like to hear about it.