Maggie’s husband died. The stock market crashed. Her little boy was kidnapped by his grandfather. How can she find the strength of faith to go on?
That’s from my novel, In High Cotton. I drew on my life’s darkest moments for Maggie’s emotions. I interviewed friends for their hardest time of trusting God. A mother whose twenty-one-year-old son was leaving for a three-month missionary tour went fishing with his father a couple of hours, before he had to board his plane. He slipped on a rock, hit his head, and drowned in three inches of water. Where was God?
Hindsight is 20/20
As each story unfolded, one thread was common to all. God showed up in the form of good friends to help them through. When we look back at our darkest times, we see how God brought people alongside us to help—to be our Aaron and hold up our arms, when we had no strength left.
What about your heart’s desire?
We can trust God with our heart’s desire. All my life, I wanted sisters. My brother and I were both adopted. While our childhood was idyllic, for some reason, I longed for sisters. When I was sixty-two years old, I discovered my birth sisters. I won’t go into that whole story here. You can read it on my website. The point is God showed up. He was faithful with my dreams when I left them at His feet.
When my friend sees what came after her son died, she can praise God. At his funeral, fourteen teenagers gave their hearts to Jesus. Since then, scores have found God through her book—many more than would have been saved had he gone on that 3-month missionary trip.
Showing God in fiction
People let down their guard when they think they’re being entertained. We bring stories to life before their eyes. Then when they least expect it, our words reach out, touch hearts, and change lives.
In my story of Maggie, she didn’t see God stop the bad things. When she wondered where He was, she only needed to look at those “angels” closest to her. He surrounded her with four strong women to help her.
That’s why I write fiction.
Southern women may look as delicate as flowers, but there’s iron in their veins.
While the rest of the world has been roaring through the 1920s, times are hardscrabble in rural South Georgia. Widow Maggie Parker is barely surviving while raising her young son alone. Then as banks begin to fail, her father-in-law threatens to take her son and sell off her livelihood—the grocery store her husband left her. Can five Southern women band together, using their wisdom and wiles to stop him and survive the Great Depression?
Ane Mulligan has been a voracious reader ever since her mom instilled within her a love of reading at age three, escaping into worlds otherwise unknown. But when Ane saw PETER PAN on stage, she was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. She submerged herself in drama through high school and college. One day, her two loves collided, and a bestselling, award-winning novelist emerged. She lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and The Write Conversation.