Sweetheart Suite

What could be better for a romance author than to write a book about Valentine's Day? I was looking forward to writing this book, and I truly enjoyed the story as I wrote it. I loved the characters, the situations, the way the story unfolded. But this story had another meaning for me as well.

Every time someone finds out I'm an author, the next logical question is "what do you write?" When I answer Christian romance the next questions is "What's Christian romance?" The implication is that Christian romance is an oxymoron. They can't co-exist. Because Christianity is all about purity and holiness and romance is all about lust and passion. The surprising thing for me is that a lot of times this reaction is from Christians. That bothers me. If anyone should know what love is (and what it isn't) it should be those who have personally experienced the unconditional love of God. We've so bought into the world's definition of love that we can't even fathom the concept of Christians and romance together. In my opinion (shockingly) they go hand in hand.

God is love. The only reason we can know love is because we are created in His image. And the best way to experience true love - unconditional, sacrificial love - is through His Son, Jesus. When we come to Him then we are better able to reflect His love because of His Spirit in us.

God created the institution of marriage. He wanted us to experience love with one another. He said that it wasn't good for man to be alone and so He created woman for him. (Gen. 2:18)

Earthly marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church. We are called the Bride of Christ. In the Old Testament, God refers to Israel's idolatry as a wife having an adulterous relationship, because He loved her as a husband loves his wife. That's the way Christ feels towards us as well. I believe that He is looking forward to the day when He can come claim His Bride, and that we should be longing for that day just as an earthly bride counts down the days to her wedding.

And if you still don't believe that Christian and romance are compatible, go read Song of Solomon. It's hard to read that and not see that God does put value on love.

It was such a joy to be able to tell the second story in the Holliday Hotel series. It was a good reminder to me of the love that God has for us, and that we should be loving others as He loved us. Who knows what could happen in this world if we loved as He loved us?