FINDING YOUR WAY

Every author has a different vision. Some may love the Amish way of life and they want to portray the beauty of these gentle people. Other authors love love! They bring heart-touching stories of love to readers who want to be swept away into romance. There are non-fiction writers with messages they hope will help people through their journey in life.

I started out writing mystery. Then I received my first contract from a large publisher. It was for cozy mystery. I wrote several of them, and loved writing them. They are in the vein of “Agatha Christie” or “Jessica Fletcher” types of stories. (They are all available on Kindle, by the way!)

But then my publisher asked me to write Mennonite-themed suspense. What was that? I wasn’t sure, but I said sure and jumped in with both feet. I wrote three books for them. The series was called “The Road to Kingdom.”

It contained “Simple Secrets,” “Simple Deceit,” and “Simple Choices.” Another publisher approached me to write the same kind of stories for them. So then came “Inescapable,” “Unbreakable,” and “Unforseeable.” After that, another series: Finding Sanctuary. Three more books. Then we switched to just suspense. That brought my “Defenders of Justice” series and has now led to my “Kaely Quinn FBI Profiler” series and my newest series, the “Quantico Files.”

Along the way I’ve been able to indulge my love for cozy mysteries by writing books for Guideposts. (I love these books!) And another cozy from another great publisher. I’ve also had the pleasure of being part of two suspense anthologies.

Why do I bring this up? You can see that my journey has had twists and turns. Different genres, different publishers, but my desire has never changed. Jesus told stories. We call them parables, but they are stories with spiritual meanings. From the beginning that has been the cry of my heart. To touch people for him through my stories. Someone made a comment once when talking about Christian fiction that I want to address.

The question was: “Why do the main characters always have problems? Sad pasts? Why are they broken?” The answer is that most Christian authors are trying to reach the broken with hope. Because their stories are parables meant to bring readers closer to God. I feel that at one time my audience was mostly for people who already knew Christ. But in my last two series I’ve had people on my heart who don’t know God. Can these stories reach across the aisle and affect those who’ve never heard how much Christ loves them? That’s why my stories have changed some, but I’ve never stopped desiring to touch the world for Jesus. My vision has been single.

Has your road changed? Maybe you started out one place and now you find yourself somewhere else. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” If your desire is to bring others to Christ, God will make your path straight. Even if it looks like it’s full of twists and turns, if you listen to Him and stay the course, you will end up exactly where you’re meant to be.

As I close in on writing fifty books for Him, to celebrate I’ll let three of you pick any one of my eBooks.

May God bless your path and fulfill His will in your life!

Nancy Mehl