Healing the Hurting

By Brave Author Pat Simmons

Dealing with hard topics in my Christian fiction/romance novels is my ministry. Blame it on my time spent in the newsroom.  When I worked at KMOV-TV in St. Louis many years ago, I was exposed to some hard issues that begged for deeper coverage. I always thought the one minute and thirty seconds given to reporters to tell the story wasn’t enough.

Armed with that background, the Lord inspired me to tell the stories that others wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, I didn’t want to tackle the subject of abortion in my very first Christian romance, Guilty of Love. But it was a story about redemption and forgiving yourself. If i don’t write what God wants me to, then how am I a Christian fiction/romance author?

It’s because of Christ’s compassion toward us that I tell the stories without pointing fingers to shame hurting people but to give them hope to be healed by the Word of God. 

For over fifteen years, I’ve strived to do that and let the criticism come.

One book, The Keepsake, dealt with infidelity, which i didn’t want to write, but God gave it to me three times, so I wrote it for readers to reflect on repentance, redemption, and forgiveness. Not as easy as it sounds for my characters. The Confession also touched on that subject.

What God has for Me was about a woman who moved in with her boyfriend, hoping for a ring. After two babies and no ring, she had the courage to walk away and the blessing was waiting for her.

My upcoming release, Accomplices in Love, which just so happens to be part of the same Jamieson Legacy series as Guilty of Love and The Confession, deals with situations that sparked the #MeToo outcry. Workplace sexual harassment is real, so how should a woman fresh out of college handle an incident when her first job is a dream job. My hope is someone will be encouraged and an overcomer.

Psalm 34:19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

Pat Simmons is a multi-published Christian romance author of forty-plus titles. She is a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth and, a five-time recipient of the RSJ Emma Rodgers Award for Best Inspirational Romance and the 2022 winner of the Leslie Esdaile “Trailblazer” Award.

Pat holds a B.S. in mass communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and has worked in radio, television, and print media for over twenty years. She is on the Christian Book Lovers Retreat (CBLR) board as a publicist. Visit her at www.patsimmons.net.