Welcome to Songs of Salvation!
Join Christian authors as they share their "Songs of Salvation" to uplift and encourage believers and glorify God.
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And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
Revelation 12:11 NLT
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”’ (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).
This verse helped me keep going when I didn’t know what the future would hold.
Like many people, I’ve experienced some pretty rough seasons in life. My marriage ended after twenty years. Because of divorce, I lost friends, and some relatives were so angry with my decision (because they couldn’t understand at the time) that they didn’t speak to me for over a year. Friendships and family relationships were later healed, but it was deeply painful at the time. I was also trying to take care of two daughters who were hurting.
My now husband and I are very open about our personal journeys. After both of us experienced failed marriages, we met when our two oldest daughters were graduating from high school. I’d told God I would never marry again unless I was convinced he wanted it. Six months after meeting Sonny, he proposed, and there was no doubt that I heard God’s voice telling me to say “yes.”
Eighteen months later we married. All four daughters participated in the wedding—a joyous occasion. Although thrilled to begin our lives together, we didn’t experience our happily-ever-after.
Two months later, we lost his nineteen-year-old daughter in a freak car accident.
Nine months after her death, while we were still grieving, my husband was laid off from work, along with thousands of other employees. Two years of unemployment passed until the same company called him back to work. I believed all would be well. But, after four months, he confessed to being a closet alcoholic. He admitted himself into a thirty-day treatment facility and has been sober for thirteen years.
During those first three years of marriage, I raised my hands to the heavens, questioning God. Why had he put me in a relationship that would bring so much hardship? Believing God knew what was best kept me going during all the turmoil. I had to believe that good would eventually come out of all that pain.
I was right. Blessings fill my life. I enjoy a wonderful marriage with a true partner. God brought us through trials with renewed strength—as individuals and as a couple. We are a close family and now have three beautiful grandchildren with another due this December.
God has indeed fulfilled his promise to give me a life filled with so many things to look forward to in my future. And I hope the stories I write encourage readers to believe God can and will bring them through their own difficult times.
About Dawn Kinzer
Dawn Kinzer is a freelance editor and author, and her own work has been published in various devotionals and magazines. She also co-hosts and writes for the Seriously Write blog, which is devoted to encouraging and equipping Christian writers.
Her passion is fiction because she believes in the power of story to comfort, challenge, and inspire. Sarah’s Smile is the first book in her historical romance series The Daughters of Riverton, Hope’s Design is the second, and Rebecca’s Song completes the trilogy.
A mother and grandmother, Dawn lives with her husband in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Favorite things include dark chocolate, good wine, strong coffee, the mountains, family time, and Masterpiece Theatre.
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