Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

What Goes Around, Comes Around

by

Hi. My name is Connor Hamelin, and I think the title quote is dumb. Or, at least, I always did. Is karma a thing? Really?

I’m looking at you, readers of Inspy Romance. My author tells me most of you are Christians, so you probably are more into believing God orchestrates people’s lives than thinking karma is real.

See, I once would have laughed at karma, too. But now I’m not so sure. Of course, I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a Christian, either. Two of my brothers (well, half-brothers) are, but that’s always seemed like a lot of weird mumbo-jumbo to me.

A God who created the world, created human beings, then turned them loose and watched them wreck their lives? How is that loving?

Rhetorical question. No need to pelt me with rotten eggs. Seriously.

Back to the karma question. When I was in high school, I figured I was pretty much invincible. Is that just a guy thing, or did you feel that way, too? My author tells me most of you are women. I know very little about how females think, but I guess that becomes obvious…

Anyway. Me. Teenager. Invincible. Until my girlfriend got pregnant. A quiet abortion would be good, right? No one would need to know. But she wouldn’t go along with that. And after the baby was born, she decided to keep him.

What sixteen-year-old does that? Oh, and her father highly encouraged me to sign a piece of paper he shoved in front of me absolving me of any rights or responsibilities. Heck, yeah. Sign me up for pretending that never happened.

I dropped out of school, and a few years went by. I worked fishing boats in Alaska and ski hills in Colorado and bummed around in between. I couldn’t figure out much reason for living. Then I landed up in Kansas, far from where I’d grown up in Spokane, Washington, and found myself in another nest of Christians.

My boss, an otherwise decent man, prayed for me, if you can believe it. Maybe you can. Do you pray for people to ‘know Jesus?’ And he went a step further. See, he’s a market farmer, and he offered me a place and wages through the winter if I’d try out for the passion play in town. Whatever. I used to like theater class until I starred in my own drama, you know? How hard could this small-town gig be?

Two things happened. One, the girl I kept running into was a single mom whose boyfriend had wanted her to get an abortion, and she’d refused. Talk about flashbacks to my younger days! But getting to know Zoey and her little girl, Wren, made me think about all that I’d given up with Dafne and Gavin. I wanted to punch out Wren’s father, but he was already dead, so instead, I kind of had to face myself in the mirror. I didn’t much like what I saw.

Which leads me to the second thing. I tried out for Judas in the play and got Jesus. Didn’t they know or even care that I wasn’t so sure Jesus had ever existed, let alone that He was God? The whole thing is a little farfetched, but no one asked me that. They just handed me a script and told me to get into my character’s head.

Me. Connor Hamelin, playing Jesus and falling for a woman far too much like my son’s mother. Could life get any weirder?

Turns out it could. I guess you’ll have to read my story to find out how. My author says it’s coming to Kindles everywhere on February 28th, so you can pre-order it now if you’re into that sort of thing. Or make a note to borrow it in KU that day, if you’d rather.

My author says two of you can win an advanced reader copy of Her Unlikely Hero (that’s me, I guess…) by commenting on this post — she’ll draw names on Saturday the 25th and email you if you’re a winner. All the usual terms apply. You know, the whole “you must be 18 or older and live somewhere it’s not illegal to win an ebook” (is that really a thing?).

Every comment is an entry, so why don’t you tell me about something in your life (or some other story you heard — I’m not picky) about a coincidence that was so strange it had to be real? You know, something that made you believe God was in control?

Valerie Comer (341 Posts)

Valerie Comer is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner who writes where food meets faith and fiction. She injects experience laced with humor into her green clean romances. Her life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily-ever-afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.


Comments

  1. I enjoyed reading about your book. It sounds so interesting and I want to know how things s turn out.

  3. Oh, I really want to read this one!! I did read an ARC for another author’s book in this series, and would love to win a copy of yours!!

  7. This sounds like a great book would like to read it.my sister in law is due Thursday with baby number 3 and it’s her third girls so she could have it any day now she will have 3 daughters 2 and under so my family is waiting for her to have her baby.

  8. The more I read about your new book, the more I want to read it. It sounds so amazing. I have a story that certainly showed me that God was looking after me. When I was a little girl, maybe around 7 or 8 which would put the date in the late 1950’s, my mom sent my down the road to get bread or milk at the little store across the highway. While I was waiting to cross the street, a car stopped and this man offered to take me to the store. I thought he was crazy since the store was just across the street. But when I think about how he could have just grabbed me and taken off…well, God was definitely there with me that day.

  11. Good morning, Wow, your book sounds like such a really good read! Well, a little over a year ago I found out that my 5 siblings and I have and older sister, and it was a shocker to all of us. Our mom was on her death bed and it wasn’t by her that we found out about it.

  12. wow thanks for sharing your life with us. this was fascinating. Living on a farm, a lot of weird thing happen. One night our bull got out, he smelled another bull and yup you guessed it, we were all in for a bull fight. A huge Short horn with horns and a huge Brahma. Well we had all kinds of men stupidly getting between them (like that was going to stop these two bulls intent on harming each other) Mom had all of us women and kids praying for the men’s safety and that both bulls would not fight. Oh we could feel the earth shaking and the bellows from those two bulls. But strangely enough both bulls stopped and went back to their own pens. The owner of the Brahma bull moved him down way far away from where we lived so they could not smell each other much at all. God was so in control of all this. And He let all of us know that He was the one in total control. All we had to do was call on Him daily and keep common sense alive. This was many years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Goose bumps while I am remembering and typing this. Talk about raw power on the loose.

  14. We have farmed for many years and had a bull for most of that time. There is definitely a lot of raw power and blind rage packed into one of those bodies, let alone two! Yikes.

  15. I_m really looking forward to reading this, and the rest of the series, it sounds great!

    I don’t think I’ve experienced any big co-incidences, just the little day to day things , often it’s looking back and realising something I was really angry or upset about at the time really turned out to have a meaning or lead me somewhere I wasn’t expecting, things like that remind me to trust more in God’s plan for us and remind myself His timing, not mine is the important thing.

  16. I’m really excited to read this story! I love a good redemption story and this one I’m already invested in since I’ve read your other books.

  17. This book sounds so intriguing! I haven’t seen many books set around Easter time.

    Many years ago we were looking for a house to buy. We’d looked at several and nothing clicked. One day my husband took a totally random (?) way home from work and saw a sign for a new subdivision. He got the number and called. There happened to be a house that would be available in a couple of months that was just what we were looking for and in our price range. We purchased it and later we found out the leaders of our church congregation there had been praying for members to move in the area. We lived there for 30 years and had experiences and opportunities there that I believe we’d never have gotten had we moved elsewhere. We also made so many lifelong friends that we still connect with even though we’ve been gone for over 20 years. We definitely felt God’s hand in our lives.

  18. Oh boy, Connor sure sounds like such a jaded character. Now I’m really intrigued and can’t wait to read his story!

    Back when we were teenagers, my brother and I took the wrong bus and ended up near a seedier part of town. We didn’t have any more change, our phones had died, and we were some 30-40 blocks away from home. We decided/ended up walking our way home. We learned a lot of things that night, but mostly about God and His love and protection for us.

  19. 14 years ago I was told I had to find somewhere new to live renting via an agent was going to be almost impossible and finding somewhere wasn’t easy. Then I thought of the lady I cleaned for. Her father passed away 6 months prior and I knew the house was empty. I had told her what was happening on this day I had been thinking about his house and mentioned it to her. She had been thinking the same thing. I knew it wasn’t empty of stuff and she said she would need one room for a storeroom and when I moved in two would be full of his stuff. It had to be God’s leading as there weren’t any other rentals I could afford and it helped her. almost 14 years later there is still stuff in the storeroom. Which I am packing up for her to get transported to where she now lives.
    I am looking for a similar miracle right now.
    Don’t enter me as I have the book on pre-order

  25. My daughter came back home because she’s felt that God had urged her in her spirit. My sister died in May and my mother died in June. She was there to help me with everything— funeral to handling the estate. It would have been very difficult to have to handle it myself. God was in control and He helped me deal with everything also.

  27. I know there have been times when it has been very clear that God is in control in my life but I can’t think of any specific times now. I’d like to read Her Unlikely Hero.

  28. In 2018, my granddaughter, her husband, and their two children were in a very bad wreck. A car ran a red light and t-boned them causing their vehicle to roll over six or seven times. My granddaughter was the only one who was injured pretty badly. The jaws of life had to be used to get her out of the vehicle.

    Praise the Lord, He was watching over them.

  31. The morning a fire broke out in the unit next door, our dog would not let me sleep. He kept nudging the bed. I told him I was not going to let him out. It was too early. He would not let up. I finally got out of bed. I went to the bathroom. My Bible and devotional books were on the hamper. I went started reading. In the meantime, our dog who was part German shepherd had managed to get between my legs. Our bathtub was right in front of the toilet. I finished the devotions and headed back to the bedroom. There was smoke in the hall. I hurried to the bedroom. I changed into my sweats which were right there. I had tennis shoes there too. The dog never left my side.

    In the meantime, my Mom who lived across the street was being awakened by a gentleman who called her by name. He told her that her daughter, Debbie, needed her. She needed to get up. By the time that she made it to the door to look out the peep hole, he had his back turned to her and leaving the porch.

    We came downstairs. There was no smoke or fire so I knew I had a few minutes. We went to the kitchen. I grabbed the dog’s leash. He sat down for me to put it on. I put on my coat and grabbed my purse. We left the apartment. As I left our porch, I noticed a man walking down the street to the corner. My Mom was at the door as we came across the street. She asked what was going on. I told her about the fire.

    Later in the day, we talked about the gentleman. No one else had seen him.

  39. I’ve had lots of little instances where things just came about in such a way that I know it was God’s handiwork. There’s just no other way it could’ve happened.

  43. God-instances happen in our lives but sometimes we don’t realize the magnitude of it…
    I’ve been in a car accident and looking back I realize that the seconds later – and outcome might be much worse. Praise the Lord for being always present and holding us on the Palm of His Hand!

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