But maybe it will help you. So I’m going to tell it.
A few years ago, I was really depressed and discouraged. A friend had lost a beloved pet in a way that traumatized me, because I’m an animal lover, as you know, and September 11 left me reeling, as it did so many of us. The war started and the world seemed upside down and backwards to me, and I’m sure you can relate to that. Things just accumulated, as things will.
Those of you who have followed this blog for any length of time have probably figured out that I am a Christian. I was raised in the church, as a matter of fact, and it wasn’t one of those mean churches, either, the kind that present such a vicious picture of God that one doesn’t really need a devil. It was a good church, so I don’t have an excuse for losing my faith, but I did. Or at least, mostly. I was searching, though. I knew what was missing. I found a new church, one I loved, that swept through my life like a fresh wind. But I was still hurting, and I was still broken.
Can just the title of a book change a person’s life?
I’m here to tell you that it can.
One day, in the church bookstore, I picked up a volume called “Jesus, Personal Coach”, by Laurie-Beth Jones. Nice gig if you can get it, I thought. I was that jaded. So I threw off one of those half-assed prayers you don’t expect to be answered–“Be my personal coach.” That was about all there was to it. Maybe I had the presence of mind to say “please”, but I’m not sure.
Guess what? He took me up on it. Immediately, and in ways that made it hard for even me to doubt. It isn’t an easy process–mountain-moving, after all, is messy work. It can feel a lot like an earthquake, or an erupting volcano. But the work began, and in earnest, the moment I prayed that prayer. I have never even read the whole book, that’s the crazy part.
Other books followed. “Love Without End”, and dozens of others. It was as though someone had thrown open the doors and windows of my mind! (Hint: Someone did.)
To paraphrase one of my now-favorite authors, Max Lucado, once the Master moves in, He’s there to stay. He throws open windows, pulls down cobwebs, sweeps floors. He tears down walls–ones I’ve huddled behind. It’s a scary process, sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I call Him Jeshua, and I dedicated “McKettrick’s Choice” to Him. See for yourself.
What’s my point in baring my soul like this?
Well, I’m thinking you might be discouraged and depressed, too. You might have become jaded, and lost your joy. You might feel unloved, forgotten and left behind, the way I did.
Offer the prayer, if you’re brave enough.
If you’re up for an adventure.
If you’re tired of being stuck.
Go on, I dare you.
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
