Christian Love Stories

I've loved love stories for forever, it seems. My sister, who is 10 years older than I, used to love to watch The Late Show on Friday nights--when it was old movies from the 30s and 40s--and I'd sit up with her. It thrilled me to see Clark Gable taking Claudette Colbert in his arms and proclaiming his love, but better than that, the love story that got them to that point. It Happened One Night (I think that's the title) was a favorite. That's the movie where they hang a blanket between the beds in a hotel room for propriety's sake. Then, there was Cary Grant and Somebody in Male War Bride. And Randolph Scott. And Gary Cooper. And Nelson Eddie and Jeanette MacDonald. And An Affair to Remember. Yada, yada, yada. As I'd drift off to sleep at night, I'd be concocting a love story in my mind. Funny, I never thought to write them down. All I wanted to do was serve Jesus and make my life count for the Kingdom. In my spare time from earning As and Bs in school, we witnessed for the Lord--sometimes door to door, attended revival services, visited the sick and underprivileged, sang in the choir, and went to church every time the door was open.

I loved reading too. Bess Streeter Aldrich. Willa Cather. Louisa Mae Alcott. Catherine Marshall's Christy. Ah, Christy. Hidden Pearls by Abbie Benton Bonsteel. In fact, my mother gave me a reprinted copy of that classic when I became a teenager and said, "Please try to be like Marcia." My reading list kept growing. Victoria Holt. Grace Livingston Hill. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Austen. The novel Mrs. Mike. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Yada, yada, yada. Course I read nonfiction too. And the Bible most of all. Memorized it, in fact. In Sunday school, children's church, and the girls' program.

Later, as the years passed, the fiction list grew even more. I was always on the lookout for good, wholesome stories, and I loved it when they included a romantic interest. Francena Arnold. Janette Oke. Jessamyn West. Eugenia Price. How I loved fiction. Once, during the 1980s, Today's Christian Woman magazine asked readers to write and tell them what recent book they'd enjoyed. I wrote and said I loved Tisha, a novel about a young woman who went to Alaska to teach. Some months later, they ran an article on reader responses, and I felt a little embarrassed. Every book was a nonfiction title about growing closer to God! I thought, They must think I'm crazy to have submitted a novel title. Soon, Zondervan came out with some Christian fiction titles, and I devoured them. About that time, I had a great desire to write Christian fiction. A God-ordained desire, as it turned out. For you see, now, I write Christian love stories. I have seven titles, with many more in my heart...