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Roxanne Rustand is back today to tell us about her mom whom I also love. After all, she loves my books! Here’s Roxanne:

“Strong women, brave stories. What a wonderful theme Lyn has, to carry through all of her novels! I love her books for that very reason–along with the wonderful writing, of course. I think so often of my own mother and grandmother, when I see Lyn’s brand. My mom grew up during hard times, as everyone of that generation did. When the depression hit, her family lost the very rural Kansas farm they’d been living on–which had never prospered at any rate– and they ended up living in a dirt-floored basement. Not a house–because nothing but the basement of this place could be completed, after times got hard.

Mom talks of how my grandmother tried to keep it clean, but how do you keep a home and four small children clean with a dirt floor? During those years, a toddler sister drowned and the beautiful, eldest sister was killed in a car/train accident on Christmas Eve. Life must have been unbearably difficult on many levels, yet my grandmother soldiered on, baking bread every day for the neighbors, bartering it so that her children could have a ride to grade school and have an education. To attend high school, my mother had to move to a distant town and work as a live-in maid.

After that, this girl who grew up dirt-poor gathered the courage to move even farther away, to attend nursing school in Winfield, Kansas, where she became an R.N. Despite her early poverty and hardships, at the age of 93 my mother is still one of the most gracious ladies you could meet. She is still fiercely independent, still maintains her own, beautiful home, and refuses to have regular help despite some physical infirmities that make some days very painful for her. Though it’s more of a challenge for her now, she is still a delightful hostess who loves company and must have everything “just so,” and she still has a wonderfully sharp sense of humor.

She also still has her strong Swedish stubborn streak–inherited from her indomitable mother–though when she digs in her heels, it’s always with a firm smile. Maybe that’s part of the secret to overcoming troubles in life–the tenacity, stubbornness, determination and faith in God to take what comes and to rise above it–along with a dash of humor!

Another reader shares how her mother drove her nuts for her own good. (That’s one of the things we moms hate to do but it’s out job!) Here’s Amber:

“I wanted to tell you a little bit about my mom, the strong woman I have come
to respect more and more as the years go by. My mom and I always “butted”
heads while I was growing up. She was out-going, and I was a book worm who
liked to keep to myself. Over the years, she pushed me past my comfort zone
to become independent and self-reliant. I fought her all the way because I
just didn’t want to have to take responsibility for things that may have
been easier for my mom or dad to take care of. Still, she kept up the
persistence, even when I made it difficult for her with my teenager
attitude.

Now, at 24, I see the sacrifices that my mom made to help me become a
strong, faithful, convicted and respectful woman. I am proud to tell people
I am her daughter. I was never a rebellious child when it came to drugs or
hanging out with the wrong crowds, but I would hurt her with words and
actions of indifference toward her. I know now that my mom and dad could
not have gotten through the difficult growing-up years without their faith
in God and each other.

My husband and I were married last October, and I can only hope that
we are able to raise our children with the same consistency and moral
values that my parents instilled in me and my brother. Now, my mom is the
person I go to when I need that wonderful, motherly advice and she has
never given up on me or made me feel unworthy. She is the strongest woman
that I know.

Thank you, Mom–Amber“

Thank you, Amber, for sharing your story and your mom.

Today, it’s my pleasure to host a dear friend, Elizabeth White. Here’s Elizabeth.

In the course of writing a book about a professional ballet dancer, one of my favorite characters from Scripture came to life-a woman who knew Jesus as friend, teacher and Lord. Mary of Bethany, as best I can discover from studying New Testament commentaries, was the rebellious younger sister of Martha and Lazarus.

We don’t know exactly what sins she had committed, but she knew the forgiving mercy of Jesus of Nazareth to the point that she dumped a pint of priceless nard on His head. She then bathed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, anointing Jesus for the sacrifice he was about to make. Her faith endured testing when her brother Lazarus died-but exploded in joy when he was raised to life by the Teacher.
So what does Mary have to do with my fictional ballet dancer? Well, Gilly Kincade first showed up as a teenager in my 2007 release Off the Record. She had sass, artistic talent, and a passion for sharing Christ-so much passion that she launched a waterfront homeless ministry called “Peanut Butter and Jesus.” I couldn’t resist following Gilly’s career as a burgeoning ballet star in Tour de Force, set to release in early May.

All of us, even strong believers like Gilly, face trials that test us and strengthen us. Often the very thing that makes us unique or favored is ripped away by circumstances or our own mistakes. Shattered dreams can either send us into self-pity or bitterness or they can force us to seek after God. In Tour de Force, Gilly is chosen to dance the lead in a new Christian ballet by brilliant young artistic director Jacob Ferrar. The Sweetest Perfume, based on Mary of Bethany’s sacrifice, seems like the perfect vehicle for Gilly to use her gift of dance in God’s service. But when the gift smashes like an alabaster jar in her hands, she must rebuild her faith and figure out where her attraction to Jacob fits into the mix.

I truly identify with Gilly. More than once my dreams have come crashing down, forcing me to submit to whatever God has planned and trust that He knows best. And time after time I have found Him faithful. Once I thought I would have a career as a singer. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, I mourned for a bit, then shrugged and went on with raising my children, teaching music part-time, and writing fiction for a hobby.


A few years later I sold a novella and realized God had supplied me with a new dream. But the publishing industry is one long lesson in delayed gratification and humility. I’ve learned that all “gifts” ultimately belong to God. Ten years and fourteen novels after that first novella, I’m teaching high school chorus again and wildly happy spending my days with music-crazy inner-city teenagers. My definition of sacrifice, like Mary of Bethany’s and like Gilly Kincade’s, is submitting back to God what already belongs to him. My source of strength. My source of joy.

Today a fellow Wisconsin author, Anna Schmidt, tells about her mother’s heritage.

“My love of history came down to me from my parents — especially my Mom. I truly think she would have been happy to have lived in an earlier time! At any rate although she had less than a high school education, she was an avid reader and loved (as I do) puttering around in antique shops and looking at items with an eye to who might have held them and used them before. She taught me that if we pay attention to what has gone before we can avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Clearly we are two generations of cock-eyed optimists!

But writing GIFT FROM THE SEA (my latest novel for Steeple Hill and the sequel to SEASIDE CINDERELLA) was a pure labor of love. The idea was to bring two people together who would have been natural enemies in the years of WWI — an American nurse and a German seaman caught my heart.

Believe me, my hero and heroine totally took over once I brought them onstage and the exploration of the question of forgiveness became the focus for the story and their ability to find love.

Disagreements between nations are really (IMHO) disagreements between governments. When we are brought face to face with another individual whose ideals, traditions and even faith differs from our own, each of us must decide — do I respect and value this person even thought his or her values and beliefs may differ from my own? And if I do then how to begin a dialogue that will lead to understanding and acceptance and true peace on earth. Blessings to you all.”–Anna Schmidt
PS: Hope you will watch my website www.booksbyanna.com “Stories of Challenges Met with Courage, Faith and Healing” for some exciting new opportunities to win free stuff coming later this summer!!!

Thanks, Anna, my own mother always stopped at any little town museum we passed through and I did the same for my children who also became lovers of history.
Anna has already sent me signed copies of both her books–SEASIDE CINDERELLA and its sequel GIFT FROM THE SEA–which will be included in my MEGA May gift basket drawing.–Lyn

Today, another Love Inspired author shares the story of her mother. Here’s Brenda:

“When I think of strong women, I think of a woman that I didn’t have in my life for long enough. My mom, Rosetta Kasiah, lost her struggle with breast cancer 27 years ago. I was fourteen. As a child I wanted her to fight harder, to not give up. Looking back at her life, I realize now that she fought harder than anyone. My mother not only fought cancer, but she was also a polio survivor. She grew up in the 1930s and 40s, in a family with nearly a dozen children. Life was not easy, not by any stretch of the imagination. But my mother survived. She overcame her disability.

As a matter of fact, growing up, I never realized she had one. She didn’t talk about it. She didn’t let it stop her. She was beautiful, caring, and always busy. She worked our farm, she worked in the school cafeteria and she made a career out of selling AVON. Avon was the place where she shined. She went door-to-door, taking me with her. She knew everyone, and everyone loved her. In the fourteen years that I had her in my life she taught me lessons that I didn’t realize she was teaching me. She taught me to fight for what I wanted, even if it was just an orphaned baby bird or a possum. Yes, a possum.

My room was a menagerie of orphaned animals and bird’s eggs. She was willing to go sledding with me, and to sit outside and watch my latest fantastic bike trick. She taught me to dream. My mother also encouraged my love of books. Each month that we got the form from Scholastic, I would pick out several books. Old Bones the Wonder Horse, Black Beauty, King of the Wind and many more. I still have several of them. One of the sweetest memories is of the two of us on the couch reading ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL out of Reader’s Digest. We loved those stories and we loved watching PBS together. The other thing my mom did for me: she sent me to church. She always felt self-conscious in dresses, so she wouldn’t go. But each Sunday she would wake me up and send me.

I didn’t know until later that her faith included time alone with God, and the blessing of ministries on our local TV stations. My mom was the one of the strongest women that I know, and I wish I could have known her better. Lacey Gould is the heroine in THE COWBOY NEXT DOOR, my May Love Inspired. Like my mother, Lacey had a difficult childhood, but she wanted better and she was willing to work hard to change her life.”

Thanks, Brenda–Lyn