My guest today is Linda Ford, a Canadian author who has written for Heartstong Presents and now Love Inspired Historicals. She’s a sweet lady who has a story of true love. Here’s Linda:

“My mother was a writer. She wrote hundreds of articles, stories and puzzles for Sunday School papers. (One of my goals is to create a collection of some of these into a keepsake book for family members.)

More than that, my mother was one of the strongest women I know. I confess I failed to recognize this until I was raising a family of my own. My mother was raised in a strict home with four sisters and two brothers. She lost one brother over in Germany in WWII and I’m sure that impacted her more than she ever said. She began nurses training but when she got tuberculosis, she had to postpone it for almost two years.

Treatment at that time involved a number of barbaric procedures and complete bed rest. Sometimes the patients went weeks without being allowed to even wash their hair. I have her journals written during that time. She wrote poems that were published in several newspapers. They often reflected impatience with continual inactivity and a struggle to accept God’s hand in this adversity.

Eventually, she was healed in what she always considered a miraculous way. Yearly x-rays the rest of her life confirmed that the disease was completely gone. She finished her nursing training but she longed for more-a husband and family of her own. Having been abandoned by her then boyfriend when she was sent to the tuberculosis sanatorium, she harbored a doubt as to whether any man would find her acceptable.

You need to know that TB was considered a sort of curse in those days. However, a friend took her home to visit and meet their hired man who was a widower with 7 children. Four of them were his wife’s children, three were his from that union. The older four were almost grown though two still lived at home, one caring for the younger children–a girl about 4, and two boys, 7 and 9. They had lost their mother when the little girl was born and were used to managing on their own. I don’t think they much wanted a new mother but that’s what they got and eventually, three younger siblings.

Beneath the surface of our blended family simmered a resentment toward my mother. She was very aware of this yet she did her best to be a loving, providing, caring mother. Every year my parents would make a trip across many miles to visit each of the children, now grown with kids of their own. From reading her journals and reading between the lines of the articles and stories she wrote, I know she strove to be patient and kind despite the challenges of her situation.

She firmly believed the Lord would provide the grace she needed. Despite her health problems (not related to TB) she managed to run a household in sometimes primitive conditions. She wrote. She gardened. She did laundry at a wringer washer. She hauled clean water in and used water out. She canned, made jam and froze produce (after they were able to get a freezer).

Mom didn’t speak about the challenges she quietly faced. She never told me how to smile through adversity, how to overlook slights and unkindness. She never pointed out that trusting God meant trusting Him in difficult circumstances. But she lived it through her life. It brings to mind a verse in 1Peter 3:1. ‘.they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.’ Mother taught me her values without speaking a word about them.

I believe my mother was totally unaware of the strength of character her behavior revealed. I suppose she saw instead the hurt she felt, the words she bit back and the mistakes she made.

In my Sept. 09 release, Dakota Child, I have a heroine who, like my mother, has been hurt by those around her. At first she has allowed it to beat her down but then she finds reasons to overcome the pain and unfairness. She discovers she has strength through her faith in God that enables her face the challenges of her life. Like my mother, she is unaware of how strong she is but her decisions prove it. I hope readers will be encouraged by this overcoming heroine.”–Linda

I think it’s interesting that Linda’s mother didn’t so much give her “words” advice but “actions” advice. Showing unconditional love to those who hurt us intentionally is hard to take. In a situation like this, I usually keep repeating, “Love is patient, Love is kind” in similar situations.

Linda Ford lives in Alberta, Canada. She enjoys her growing number of grandchildren (8 currently with #9 and #10 due this summer), travel (in short spurts), gardening (in theory more than in practice), and home sweet home.

Linda also has a novella included in a special collection, A Prairie Romance Collection, 12 complete favorite stories.

Thanks, Linda, for this great story–Lyn