Guest Blog with Lauralee Bliss

There is hope for prodigal sons and daughters…

This is the resounding theme within my book, Love’s Winding Path. Writing this novel has been both a spiritual, emotional, and even recreational experience for me. I first conceived the idea about five years ago for a separate collection that didn't pan out. As in everything in our lives, our writing and the publication for that writing is in God’s perfect timing. There are projects perhaps that have sat in a file computer

for ages like seeds waiting in the cold ground to burst into life. Well, this was one of those books. It sat for a quite a long time. Four years. I felt at times it was a lost cause. Until my wonderful editor, JoAnne, bought it out of the blue one cold day in December and when I was going through some tough times in my life. And, ironically, it was one of those very trials that fit into the theme of the book.
Writing a novel based on the prodigal son story in the Bible, I see now why God has a specific time and placement for our books. At the exact time the book was sold, I was dealing with (and still am) a prodigal son. When the contract came, my son had left home and was gone about a week but did eventually return. I knew that deep within him, much like in my character Dan, he was itching to leave and be out on his own. Six months ago my son left for good, abandoning everything including college. Everything we had given to him and done for him, he left behind. He only speaks to us now on rare occasions.
Yes, there is heartache and asking why. Why, when we did everything we thought we should do, did he just up and leave? He was raised in a Christian home. He was homeschooled. He participated in every kind of event boys do – baseball, Scouts, soccer, plays, hikes, boating, musical arts. He and I even hiked the entire Appalachian Trail together.. But still he felt he had to leave. And as parents, though we were crushed, it also became a time of understanding God even more. As an author, I could write this particular book with the heart of one who is going through this difficult time. I can take His wisdom and some of what I have seen and dealt with to add realism to the book. Not that the hero of the book, Dan, is my son by any means.. Yet there are spiritual similarities that a prodigal goes through. That longing deep within for a son or daughter to know God. To know His will for their lives. To want so dearly to succeed on their own, but finding out that success is really found in accepting who God is and what He desires for each of us. And this journey has also brought forth the realization that we are all prodigals in one form or another. That is, until we come home to accept God fully as Lord of our lives. And we are willing to have His perfect plan come about in the way He sees fit. Like the perfect timing for the writing and publication of this book. And the timing for my son to come to the realization of who he is in Christ and return to us.
As for the recreational aspects of this journey, I invite you to check out my guest blog on http://editcafe.blogspot.com/ where I delve more deeply into our adventure. I enjoyed a delightful time with my husband last summer researching this three book series. We rafted, explored the beauty of Utah’s numerous national parks, drove up into the Wasatch Mountains, and reveled in this unique and fascinating state.
We can take all aspects of our life and our journey into the craft of writing. Most of all, we can trust in God with the perfect timing for all that we do. The way is never easy, but we can have faith that His way is the right way. I pray this book ministers to those with a prodigal or who may have been a prodigal at one time or another. For all of us, the message is clear. With God there is hope!

Question for you: Have you been to a national park, and if so, what one was your favorite?

Drawing of prodigal son and father provided by flikr.