My First Love Inspired Sale & An Unexpected Answer

Answers come in unusual ways sometimes. Several Christmases ago I travelled all by myself to three different African countries to visit some amazing non-profit workers and see some of the innovative and life changing work they were doing. When I got back home, I wrote down stories about some of the people I’d met and the experiences I’d had. These stories grew into a very long and beautiful story, that rambled on and on for hundreds of pages. I knew I loved it and had poured my heart into it. I also knew it was unfocused, too long and wasn’t publishable.

I mailed it to my editor Emily Rodmell and a few weeks later I got “the call” telling me that Love Inspired Suspense was going to publish it.

Years later I started reading Love Inspired Suspense books and wanted to write my own. But I didn’t have a story. I prayed and searched my memory for anything I could turn into a book. Suddenly the people I’d met in Africa and their stories came flooding back to me. I pulled the old stories out and rewrote them entirely into a fun and tense book called Killer Assignment, about a plucky reporter named Kate who was being pursued by ruthless criminals and a daring charity worker named Mark who was hiding a huge secret about his past.

I’d been walking through the park when the call came in. I’d been both praying and crying while I walked, because what I was going through was so hard it felt insurmountable. And that was the moment my prayers were answered with the unbelievable phone call that changed my life.

My tenth Love Inspired Suspense book, Undercover Holiday Fiancée, is out in stores right now. My heroine, Chloe Brant is a detective who had a small walk on role in that first book. Then Chloe reappeared three years later in Headline: Murder where she teamed up with roguishly handsome and determined undercover detective Trent Henry. Even back then I could tell they had a complicated relationship, but I had no idea just how complicated their relationship would become.

Now Chloe is back, working alongside Trent and posing as his loving fiancée, even though she promised herself she’d never work with him again because of the confusing and infuriating things he does to her heart. It’s one of my favorite books and I hope you like it too.

What was the most unexpected answer to prayer you’ve ever received?