About the Author
There are many things that define our lives and which have a major impact on the people we become. There are at least three that have played a part in making me into the person and writer I am today.
The first is tied up with my very first memory.
In mid-1967 as a two-and-a-half-year-old I contracted meningitis as a complication of rubella. What is usually considered a mild childhood illness caused me to become seriously ill and the doctors were unable to offer my parents any hope for recovery. Death was the likely outcome or if not death, severe brain damage. But my parents refused to accept the doctors' verdict and, along with many others, prayed and God in His grace and mercy answered their prayers.
Not only did He spare my life but He also restored what the illness had threatened to destroy. The only suspected side effect of that illness is partial deafness in one ear. My ability to learn and develop, my thinking, my reasoning (although my husband might disagree!) were not affected. Although there is no specific time in my life when I decided I wanted to be a writer, the fact that I can write is a miracle.
The second happened when I was about five or six. Growing up in a Christian family and attending a Bible-believing Church, I committed my life to Christ at a very young age. I believe that I was saved then although there was a later time in my life (around age eleven) when I felt the need to make a public re-commitment. A year later I was baptised. I am still very much a work in progress. Thankfully our Heavenly Father is very patient.
The third is that God gifted me with a husband who has always supported my desire to write. I doubt that he has always understood it but he has never wavered in his support. And it is because of his example that our five wonderful sons have also been unwavering in their support (even though there are times they can't resist teasing their technologically-impaired mother).
The desire to write has been a long held one but one that was put on hold during the early years of marriage and motherhood, and then again as I entered into part-time study after my youngest child commenced school. But always the desire was there and I was determined that one day I would find out if writing was something I could do and more importantly, if it was something God wanted me to do.
Finally the time arrived when I was able to embark on my writing journey. It has not been the easiest of roads, and there have been many disappointments and set backs along the way. A turning point came when I realised that I had to give my desire back to God and let Him use it as He saw fit. If that meant never writing again, or never being published, then so be it. I had to reach that point of acceptance and realise that I would still praise God - for Who He is - even if He took away the desire of my heart. That He has chosen to use me is extremely humbling.
My prayer is that my novels will bless those that read them. That in some way they will draw the reader closer to God; that they will challenge and inspire and encourage; and, that they will reflect something of His character and love and goodness.
Blessings,
Julianne Jones