Guest Post by Angela Ruth Strong
This month I’m celebrating my six year anniversary to Mr. Strong. He makes writing romance novels so easy. But there was actually a time when I quit writing romance. I didn’t believe in it anymore. It hurt too much to read about people in love when nobody loved me.
But I was loved. God romanced me like I’d never been romanced before. And when I walked down the aisle toward Jim on our wedding day, it was to the song “How He Loves.” I also went back through the verses God had given me as a single woman and included them in the video montage from our honeymoon. They were a love letter that set the bar for what kind of man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
When you’re single, it’s easy to settle for someone who doesn’t love you the way God wants you to be loved. And that’s really the message I try to express through Finding Love at the Oregon Coast.
So, in case you are anti-romance at the moment and can’t imagine opening one of my novels, I just want you to know you are so loved. Here’s the love letters to prove it:
He rescued me because he delighted in me. –Psalm 18:19b
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. –Psalm 37:4
Redeem us because of your unfailing love. –Psalm 44:26b
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! –Psalm 66:20
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever. –Psalm 100:5a
He heals the brokenhearted. –Psalm 147:3a
This last verse hit me after I was remarried. Because it’s still as true as ever. It’s also my prayer for you no matter where you are at today. May you someday say…
“I stood there saved, surprised to be loved.” –Psalm 18:19b
Angela Ruth Strong was first published by a national magazine while still in high school and went on to study journalism at the University of Oregon. She has won both Idaho Top Author and the Cascade Award for her novels, and she started IDAhope Writers to help others pursue their dreams. She is also a member of Team Love on the Run.
Besides writing, she teaches group fitness classes, travels with her kids on youth group mission trips, and often gets herself into silly situations like hamster ball races or riding on the shoulders of a unicyclist.
Melissa Henderson