Kennedy Blaine, heroine of Love Find You in VALENTINE, Nebraska, is a strong woman. Life’s circumstances gave her no choice. An only child, at Kennedy twenty-six, loses both of her parents. She is alienated from her other relatives because of an age-old feud between her maternal and paternal families. Added to this, Kennedy inherits a multi-million dollar fortune.

While most might think that this inheritance would be a boon to a successful and happy future, for Kennedy that wasn’t the case. Her inheritance includes the Circle Cross, a family ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska. In the process of settling her father’s estate, Kennedy travels to Nebraska. There she encounters situations that call into use the strength and determination she’s inherited from her forbears.

Although Kennedy didn’t suspect that she had an enemy in the world, suddenly she becomes the victim of harassment. Is it designed to scare her away from the Circle Cross or does it have another more dangerous purpose? And most distressful of all, for the first time in her life, Kennedy is tempted to give her heart away – to Derek Sterling, the manager of the Circle Cross. And Derek has no intention of marrying anyone. Only her strength sustains Kennedy when at last she finds something that money can’t buy.

Kennedy is one in a long list of my heroines, all of whom have displayed notable strength. I couldn’t write about a heroine who wasn’t strong, and I attribute this to the fact that I consider myself a strong woman. Perhaps there’s a difference in being strong and strong-willed, but in my life I’ve dared to do many things that took strength. I take no personal credit because, in my own right, I’m a very weak person. However, all of my life I’ve been sustained by the strong hand of God. In many endeavors, He’s given me the strength to take the first step and has walked with me every step of the way.

I grew up on a farm in rural West Virginia. My education started in a one-room school when I was four-years-old. Due to double-promotion, at the age of fifteen, I graduated from high school, the first of my family to do so. That isn’t as easy as it sounds. We lived sixteen miles from the nearest high school, and the closest bus route was almost three miles from our home. We didn’t have an automobile. During my four years, I walked each day to the bus route. During the winter months, I left home before daylight and didn’t get home until after dark. Still, I had a high attendance record. I didn’t graduate with high honors, but after my ninth-grade-year, I was on the Honor Roll all of the time.

Because of monetary issues, my age and a fifty-mile-distance from a college, higher education wasn’t an option. I found a job soon after I was sixteen, eventually married, and after being out of high school for several years, I started to college. This also took strength. We still lived fifty miles from a college or university, and we had only one car. I drove back and forth to college alone. But with sacrifices from both my husband and me, I graduated 4 ½ years later with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, (French and Social Studies), holding a 3.82 GPA. I started teaching and taught for 23 years at a local Junior High School. Going to school during the summer, I was awarded my Master’s Degree in History 4 years later with a 4.00 GPA.

During this time, I had never forgotten my childhood call to become a writer. After I earned my MA degree in 1970 I told myself, “You are now a writer.” I started writing, submitting manuscripts and attending writers’ conference, but my first books weren’t published until 1984. Only the strength provided by God kept my dream alive during those disappointing years.

From the time I became a Christian until now, I’ve always considered that God had priority on my life, and I’ve attempted to put His work first. I’m still active in our local Baptist church, where I became a member when I was eleven-years-old and was teaching a class of my peers by the time I was fifteen. I’ve taught in our church since that time. To list the things I’m doing/have done through the local fellowship of Believers would take the glory away from God and focus on me, so sufficient to say that I’m still actively serving in the church.

As for affinity with a strong biblical character, I’ve always considered myself a “Martha.” She was a “doer,” and so am I. She was strong enough to carry the burdens of her family, which I have done. However, there are characteristics of Martha that I don’t admire, and I often like to think that I’m a mixture of Martha and Priscilla. Although we don’t find much in the Bible about Priscilla helping to establish the early church, there is enough information to indicate that she was a strong and brave woman. This is exemplified in her many journeys throughout the Roman Empire with her husband, Aquila, as they supported the Apostle Paul.

Priscilla was a friend and encourager, which I try to be. In her book, Women of the Bible, Frances Vander Velde wrote, “Priscilla’s home was devout and peaceful, a place to which Christians gladly came and where they shared great spiritual experiences. Priscilla was no half-way or part time Christian. She was consistently energetic and loyal in the work of the Lord all her life long.”

God leading, I pray those words will someday be my epitaph.

Many thanks, Irene! To find out more about Irene’s latest book, LOVE FINDS YOU IN VALENTINE, NEBRASKA, drop by her website http://www.IreneBrand.com and view her book trailer. You can also buy the book from her site. Thanks again, Irene, for telling us so candidly of how you faced life’s challenges and achieved your dreams with God’s help.