Author Allie Pleiter & Daily Doses of Strength
My guest today is Author Allie Pleiter. She has had a rough year with her son’s illness. Here’s Allie:
“I used to think of strength as something that came in big, crushing waves, sort of like Moses coming down off the mountain. An epic surge that carried our heroes through their trials. I do think strength comes like that, but rarely.
More often than not, strength comes in daily doses. The sheer will to get up and do it all again. Life has taught me that even this kind of strength comes in varieties as well.
When my son was undergoing chemotherapy, I had to draw on the keep-pushing-you-can-endure kind of strength. People ask me how I got though the five months of my son’s aggressive chemo, and the answer is simpler than you might think. I didn’t get through five months of my son’s aggressive chemo. I got through today’s chemo. And then I got through tomorrow’s chemo. And some days, I just got through this hour’s challenges, and then next hour’s challenges. It was the a living lesson in the scripture telling us not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has worries of its own from Matthew 6. My son is doing spectacularly, by the way–full remission and with a long and wonderful future ahead of him. Still, the take-it-day-by-day lesson hasn’t left me. I hope it never will.
My heroine in Yukon Wedding, Lana Tanner, has a different daily dose. Lana has that dig-your-heels-in-never-give-up kind of strength that enables her pay any price to stay in Alaska. She simply will not give in to the massive challenges of the Alaskan landscape. She agrees to marry the last man she’d choose because it is her only chance to achieve her dreams for her son. Some might call it stubbornness, but when you focus stubbornness on a worthy goal, it becomes strength. Tenacity. She may be lace and frills on the outside, but there’s an iron will under that ruffle. The hero, Mack Tanner, may think he’s done his duty to protect this damsel in distress, but in reality God has handed him a life partner that will teach him how to trust. And that’s a lesson Mack needs badly to learn.
Mack and Lana think they are strong in spite of each other, but the true treasure in this treasure-hunt story is that they are stronger because of each other. That’s the power of love.”
Thank, Allie. Your words are heartening. May God bless you and your family in the days to come.
Bio:
An avid knitter, coffee junkie, and devoted chocoholic, Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction. The enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, Allie spends her days writing books, buying yarn, and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie hails from Connecticut, moved to the Midwest to attend Northwestern University, and currently lives outside Chicago, Illinois. The “dare from a friend” to begin writing has produced two parenting books, fourteen novels, and various national speaking engagements on faith, women’s issues, and writing. Visit her website at www.alliepleiter.com or her knitting blog at www.DestiKNITions.blogspot.com
Many of you have found strength through suffering. Please leave a comment for Allie to bless her and her son. Or maybe a prayer.–Lyn
Tweet
