God Loves Bristly Characters

Kristen here. Watch Your Back turns one year old this month! Perfect timing, it is now available on audiobook, narrated by the fabulous Sandra Huston. Whether you prefer paperback, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, or audiobook, my Crossroads Suspense series has you covered.

Recently, I had the privilege of chatting with Kelly Jo Wilson on The Christian Romance podcast about Watch Your Back, and the word bristly came to mind when she asked me to describe my heroine, Avery. (Enjoy our full conversation here.)

I just couldn’t think of a better word than bristly to describe Avery. She’s a self-made private investigator with a lot of hardened edges. As a child, she was abandoned by both her parents and eventually aged out of the foster care system. Is it any wonder she has a hard time building relationships and struggles to believe that a heavenly Father could be worth trusting?

This is a spoiler-free blog post, so I won’t reveal how her story unfolds, but I want to pause for a second and reflect: What are the “bristly” parts to our own stories? I think we all have them, in one way or another. Perhaps you felt overlooked when someone received the promotion you deserved, and you had to fight against pride. Perhaps there are difficult parts of your family’s story, or perhaps God hasn’t given you the family you prayed for, and you've struggled with bitterness. 

The truth is, we all have bristly sides to our stories, because we live in a world broken by sin. The real question is: Are we willing to let God refine our rough or wounded edges? 

But Kristen, you don’t know about my bristles.

You’re right. I don’t. But God does, and He is in the business of redeeming even the most bristly people. Consider Saul in the New Testament. The man’s sole aim in life was to persecute Christians—men and women. Then one day, God revealed Himself to Saul on the Damascus road and replaced Saul’s bristly heart with a soft heart, dedicated to relentlessly telling others about Jesus. (See Acts 9). God literally replaced Saul's "heart of stone" with a "heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26).

You see, radical transformations aren’t just the plotlines of fiction. God can and does redeem the most bristly, broken, real-life stories and turn them into beautiful testimonies of His grace.

Turns out, God loves bristly characters. He just wants us to surrender our lives to Him and watch Him redeem what feels hopeless. 

Today, I’m giving away one audiobook copy of Take My Hand, book one in my Crossroads Suspense series. You’ll meet Avery in that story, and I hope you’ll get your copy of Watch Your Back, where her story takes center stage.

Simply leave a comment on this post, along with your email address, to be entered into the giveaway.