I’ve known many courageous men and women. My father fought cancer with boldness and humor. My friend Julia lives with fibromyalgia, yet seizes life with joy. Joanna has spent most of her life in a wheel chair, but has lived as if she’s never known a day of disability. These people and many others have taught me it’s possible to confront challenges bravely, confident God will prevail. When tragedy barreled into my sister, her life became one more example of what it means to be heroic. Although she’d walked through many dark valleys, on September 7th 2005 she was thrown into the deepest and darkest of them all. At 4:30 AM Myrn and her husband, Steve, were awakened by a police officer who said, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your daughter, Crystal, was in an accident . . . and she didn’t make it.”

One sentence and Myrn’s world changed . . . forever. In the early days we learned the details—things we didn’t want to know. Crystal had been drinking and so had the man who’d been driving the car. The death was more than a tragedy—it was an offense to life. Crystal shouldn’t have died. The first week passed in a blur—people coming and going, the phone ringing, arrangements to make, the memorial service and . . . the funeral. My sister grieved mightily, yet her strength and trust in God was striking and unshakable. The very day we discovered the horrible truth of Crystal’s death, one of the kids who’d been in the group apologized for his part in what had happened.

My sister shared the gospel with him—more concerned with his eternity than her grief or anger. Myrn kept a journal, which she shared with me. She was transparent, unwilling to dress up her sorrow. I cried as I read. With each entry my admiration for my sister grew. Her journey was littered with anguish, questions and outrage. But overriding her agony was faith, hope and love. Myrn is still healing, learning to go on without her Crystal Belle.

She lives victoriously, but there are days when sorrow and despair reach up in an attempt to drown her faith. Strength from her Heavenly Father keeps her standing firm. Nothing about this is fair—not the loss of a young woman, a court system’s failure to mete out justice, nor the loss of dreams. There is much to be bitter about. My sister chose a better way. She could have held up a fist to God. She could have walked away from the church. She could have disappeared into a black hole of sorrow and shut herself off from the world. Instead she chose faith and hope.

Today, she and her husband live in a tiny town in Alaska. They gave up there home to serve where God had called them. They love their neighbors and share Christ as God allows. My sister has trusted and found that God is bigger than her sorrow, greater than her fears, and powerful enough to overcome life’s greatest sorrows. Fifteen minutes after she and Steve received the news, they looked at each other and said, “God is good all the time.” Today they still believe God is good all the time.”–Bonnie

Enduring Love

http://www.bonnieleon.com/index.html

Blurb: Just when things seem to be looking up for John and Hannah Bradshaw, their world is turned upside down.

Years ago, when John was in prison, he was told his first wife, Margaret, died. So how is it that she shows up in Sydney Town looking to pick up where they left off?

Hannah is distraught. Her marriage is now null and void, and she and John feel they must separate to allow John’s first marriage to continue.

But is Margaret hiding something after all? And just what will she do to get what she wants?

The suspenseful, romantic conclusion to the Sydney Cove trilogy.

Reader Reviews:

“Leon plunges readers into the conclusion of the Sydney Cove series as Hannah and John again fight to preserve their faith and, ultimately, their marriage. Leon does an incredible job of giving readers a front-row seat into the emotions and chaos that drive the story. It’s clear that each word is painstakingly chosen to deliver the power of love, faith and hope.”–Romantic Times 4 1/2 Star Review

Bonnie, Thanks for that amazing story.–Lyn