I’m surrounded by imperfect people. How about you?
Like most of you, I don’t always have a peaceful, easy, simple and carefree kind of life.
Complications and on-the-verge of chaos circumstances sometimes seem relentless. Especially when it comes to relationships. They can be noisy and messy and pesky.
I’m surrounded by imperfect people, just like me.
I became a woman of faith, partly because of the challenges of relationships. Married for four years with two babies, I suddenly realized I didn’t know how to do marriage or parenting. Searching for help and advice, I wondered if really, truly God existed. If so, what was he like? And would he be willing and able to guide a needy gal like me? The drive to know led me to him as my heavenly Father.
Dealing with relationships also shoved me into writing. I had to journal about the drama and the delights. I wrote about being my mate’s best friend, attempts at becoming a good mom, and the challenge of forever friendships.
One thing I know for sure, relationships are the toughest things we do. That is, if we care about them and are serious about making them work. But why? Here’re five reasons to consider.
Down Squash Blossom Road
What Secret Lies Down Squash Blossom Road?
Cowgirl Reba Cahill’s schedule is full. Save the family ranch. Free her mom from a mental institute. Take another road trip. Solve a murder and a kidnapping. Plus, evade a stalker. Can she also squeeze in romance? Reba Cahill thought she could focus on the duties of the ranch, to help out her widowed grandmother. But a crippled Champ Runcie returns to Road’s End in a wheelchair and seeks revenge for the accident that put him there. Meanwhile, a letter from her estranged mom forces her and Grandma Pearl back on the road: I can leave now. Come get me. Love, Mom
When they arrive in Reno, her mother issues a demand and refuses to return to Idaho. They head west instead. In California, Reba’s friend Ginny’s marriage is on the rocks. The family business is threatened. And squabbles turn deadly. Reba must dig deep to find the courage to forge a relationship with her mom and escape a crazed man’s obsession. She also faces an uncertain future even as a horse trainer offers her a new horse to replace Johnny Poe … and maybe more.
Like most of you, I don’t always have a peaceful, easy, simple and carefree kind of life.
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| Janet Chester Bly |
Complications and on-the-verge of chaos circumstances sometimes seem relentless. Especially when it comes to relationships. They can be noisy and messy and pesky.
I’m surrounded by imperfect people, just like me.
I became a woman of faith, partly because of the challenges of relationships. Married for four years with two babies, I suddenly realized I didn’t know how to do marriage or parenting. Searching for help and advice, I wondered if really, truly God existed. If so, what was he like? And would he be willing and able to guide a needy gal like me? The drive to know led me to him as my heavenly Father.
Dealing with relationships also shoved me into writing. I had to journal about the drama and the delights. I wrote about being my mate’s best friend, attempts at becoming a good mom, and the challenge of forever friendships.
One thing I know for sure, relationships are the toughest things we do. That is, if we care about them and are serious about making them work. But why? Here’re five reasons to consider.
- Close relationships, such as marriage, provide the ultimate invasion of privacy. Torn down is the veil of public persona safety. Sooner or later you face the wash-off, no-makeup, tired-beyond-your-limit retorts, promising no-more-superficial-niceties. Loving people up close and personal exposes faults and warts—theirs and yours.
- Working at relationships challenge the core of our me-centered default domain. Becoming other-centered cramps our comfort and relentless, selfish point of view. And challenges our core character. We must learn to give up time, to listen rather than chomp at the bit to tell everything we know.
In every ongoing relationship, two wills bump or align—every time they meet. Even the best of relationships can go through a season when they falter or fail. A distance can develop. A daunting barrier rises. A sincere apology can go a long way.
Thinking of others as good-as or better-than-we-are requires a healthy amount of empathy. And respect. And they can be overwhelming when we have to juggle a number of them. Which should be a priority?
We are all wired differently—in impulses, in the ways we see things, in backgrounds and experiences. Keeping the peace requires making sense of the complexities. We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp. Some are pretty. Some are dull. Some have weird names. All are different colors. But they have to learn to live in the same box.
- We erect resentments because of jealousy. Feeling overlooked. Rivalry at every turn. A lean toward lust. More than a grain of greed. This evolves from a lack of true satisfaction, always wanting more.
- Some folks not only have a nerve, they hit one of ours, every time. Sometimes that’s good. We’re made accountable to aim for better behavior. Or our balloon busts. You’re wearing a new style and feeling full of sassy and she says, “It doesn’t really work, does it?” Truth can hurt, can wound, can seem rude. Not fun.
- It’s hard to forgive some offenses. Betrayal is one. Lies and deceit are another. Or triggers we don’t understand ourselves, such as unresolved issues, habits learned from childhood, past experiences we never worked through. We harbor a deep root of bitterness. Sometimes we carry a thin layer of civility over a volcano of unresolved anger.
Or it can be as simple as, who gets the stuff? The reading of a will and a divvy up of the inheritance tests many families.
The most wonderful feeling in the world is to be free from all double-dealing, to be an open window to the world. To live without regrets of words left unsaid or deeds left undone. But to achieve that in relationships require conscious efforts to care, to persevere, to make bridges over chasms. Or relationships can stagnate or die. Our most trusted support group forms from those relationships we tough out through the lifelong haul of enduring trials and sharing sorrows.
Janet Chester Bly is the widow of Christy Award winning western author Stephen Bly. Together—his, hers, and theirs--they published 120 fiction and nonfiction books for adults and kids (8-12 yrs). Her newest solo adult novel release is a contemporary western mystery with a touch of romance entitled Down Squash Blossom Road, Book 2 in the Trails of Reba Cahill series. Book 1 is Wind in the Wires. Janet and their three sons finished Stephen’s last novel for him, Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot, a Selah Award Finalist. Read the story at the Bly Books blog: http://www.blybooks.com/blog/
NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling author Rachel Hauck said of Book 1, Wind in the Wires: “I love your voice! I love the setting...It’s a great story!”
Download Now! 5 Free Chapters of Down Squash Blossom Road, Book 2! Click here: http://www.blybooks.com/books/squash-blossom/
Download Now! 5 free chapters of Wind in the Wires, Book 1! with a sign up for the Almost Monthly Bly Books News. Click here: http://www.blybooks.com/books/inspirational-books-novel/
Find Janet online here: '
Like' Bly Books on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlyBooks
Friend Janet on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janetchesterbly
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/janetcbly/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/269265.Janet_Chester_Bly Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/blybooks/ https://twitter.com/blybooks/
Follow Bly Books on Amazon Author Page for new releases: http://www.amazon.com/author/stephenbly and http://amzn.to/2epkofq
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| About the Author |
NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling author Rachel Hauck said of Book 1, Wind in the Wires: “I love your voice! I love the setting...It’s a great story!”
 |
| Down Squash Blossom Road by Janet Chester Bly |
Download Now! 5 free chapters of Wind in the Wires, Book 1! with a sign up for the Almost Monthly Bly Books News. Click here: http://www.blybooks.com/books/inspirational-books-novel/
Find Janet online here: '
Like' Bly Books on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlyBooks
Friend Janet on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janetchesterbly
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/janetcbly/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/269265.Janet_Chester_Bly Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/blybooks/ https://twitter.com/blybooks/
Follow Bly Books on Amazon Author Page for new releases: http://www.amazon.com/author/stephenbly and http://amzn.to/2epkofq
Down Squash Blossom Road
What Secret Lies Down Squash Blossom Road?
Cowgirl Reba Cahill’s schedule is full. Save the family ranch. Free her mom from a mental institute. Take another road trip. Solve a murder and a kidnapping. Plus, evade a stalker. Can she also squeeze in romance? Reba Cahill thought she could focus on the duties of the ranch, to help out her widowed grandmother. But a crippled Champ Runcie returns to Road’s End in a wheelchair and seeks revenge for the accident that put him there. Meanwhile, a letter from her estranged mom forces her and Grandma Pearl back on the road: I can leave now. Come get me. Love, Mom
When they arrive in Reno, her mother issues a demand and refuses to return to Idaho. They head west instead. In California, Reba’s friend Ginny’s marriage is on the rocks. The family business is threatened. And squabbles turn deadly. Reba must dig deep to find the courage to forge a relationship with her mom and escape a crazed man’s obsession. She also faces an uncertain future even as a horse trainer offers her a new horse to replace Johnny Poe … and maybe more.
