Potential readers often ask me about the faith content of my books. I do the same when considering other authors’ books. If you’re going to spend money on a book and invest time in reading it, you want to be sure you aren’t wasting your resources, right?
So let’s dive into faith content, how it appears in my stories, and what it looks like.
My Beliefs
As far as my beliefs, I firmly hold that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and contains all we need for knowing Him. I serve a God who is three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All mankind are sinners who are born separated from God, but because of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus, fully God and fully man, we can be reconciled to God. Salvation is received by faith and repentance.
“Sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone)”–The Five Solas of the Reformation
The Faith in My Books
I never consciously plan how much faith content I’m going to work into a story. I don’t even try to put it in. It just flows out onto the pages (hopefully in a natural way).
Some of my books have an overt Gospel message on the pages, while others focus more heavily on the aspect of living as a Christian. In either case, all my books rely heavily on the Bible and its teachings.
Sometimes this involves struggle, doubts, and lies. The pathway of following Christ isn’t easy in real life, so my characters must battle as well.
In the end, truth prevails and shines all the brighter because of the conflict.
Character qualities provide lots of opportunities to do as Philippians 4:8 says and focus on “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.”
Sacrifice is an element I love weaving into my stories. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice by His death for us and our sins. When characters have to suffer and lay down what they hold dear, it creates a mini-echo of that ultimate sacrifice.
Lastly, during my plotting process I pick one theme to focus on. In A Bargain to Keep, the theme was trust. A Choice of Love was selfless love.
And here’s a little tease for the next book: A Time of Proving has a theme of loving your family through tough times.
If you who haven’t had a chance to read my books, let me share a piece from my book A Choice of Love:
Excerpt from A Choice of Love
Silence stretched between them, and Sadie spoke again. “God uses imperfect people, Emily.”
“But Matthew isn’t even a Christian.” Emily folded her arms across her chest. “He didn’t want to come to church today.”
“Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian.”
“No, but there are other signs. He doesn’t like to pray or read the Bible. And he swears. He has never even claimed to be a believer.”
Sadie took Emily’s hands in hers. “If that’s true, then it sounds to me like he needs you. He needs you even more than you need him. Your problems are only physical, but his are spiritual. And we both know that a soul is more important than anything on this earth.”
Emily stared at her. She’d never thought of Matt as needing her and the children. He was a strong, self-sufficient man. The idea seemed preposterous. And yet, maybe he did have needs that he kept out of sight.
Emily lowered her head. “I’m afraid I haven’t been doing a good job of being a Christian this week. If anything, he’s probably decided that Christians have short tempers, snap at everything, and shove Bibles down people’s throats.”
Sadie smiled and squeezed Emily’s hands. “Good thing it’s never too late to make a fresh start.”
“I still don’t like having him here.”
Sadie’s lips curved. “Too bad. It doesn’t seem like you’ll get rid of him any time soon.”
Excerpt from A Choice of Love
If you like faith content and think my books are up your alley, you can check out my book list here.
And to hear about how I began my own faith journey, you can find that here.
I like hearing from readers, so if you still have questions, reach out. I’m happy to help you in any way I can!