by Tracie Peterson
A Truth Revealed, which is book 3 in my Heart of Cheyenne series, released last month and I’m really excited for the readers to get this book. The story deals with action, adventure and romance set in historical Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the 1860s. But, while the story is fiction and historical, the themes included are very relevant to our lives today. One of the main focuses is why do bad things continue to happen, even when we’re serving God and answering His call?
This topic came to mind when talking to a group of women who ranged in duties from being a pastor’s wife to Sunday School director, music ministry worker, missionary, and Bible study teachers. Each woman was seeking God’s will for her life and serving Him to the best of her ability, so why were so many things falling apart? Why were they meeting constant obstacles? One woman related that she knew she was doing everything she was supposed to be doing, but that everywhere she turned she was constantly facing problems.
Keeping those women and their trials in mind with my own, I wanted to create a story that dealt with the fact that bad things do happen to God-fearing, God-serving, God-devoted people and that we needn’t be surprised by this. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I’ve overcome the world” (John 16:33 NIV).
In my story, Pastor Wilson Porter is a fifth-generation preacher with a calling to work with the native people in the Wyoming Territory. This is all he’s dreamed of most of this life. He wants to serve God and reach the lost with the gospel. There’s government interference, issues with the location and the people involved, financial trials, etc. But all of that has been anticipated to a degree. What isn’t expected are the personal conflicts and loss that come Wilson’s way. Where is God in all of this? He struggles with a crisis of faith for the first time in his life, and it shakes him to the core.
My other main character is a young woman, Laura Evans. Laura has been separated from her father for most of her life. She’s attended boarding school since the death of her mother, and now as an adult, she is finally able to be reunited with him. Through her life, she’s built her father into a hero of great proportions. However, when she comes face-to-face with him, nothing is as she had thought it to be. She’s spent a lifetime clinging to her Heavenly Father because her earthly father avoided the job. Now she must deal with the truth of who her father really is and how God figures in all of this.
These difficult truths were the inspiration behind the story, but they’re also something we face in our life journey. My heart’s desire is that in A Truth Revealed, the reader will find these difficulties relatable, as well as the solutions. We do have trouble in this world, just as Jesus promised, but we also have the One who can resolve our problems and guide us safely through difficult truths. My hope is that the reader will be encouraged by this story, as well as entertained and educated about the times and events of 1860s Cheyenne. Soli Deo Gloria!
About the Author
Tracie Peterson is the bestselling author of more than one hundred novels, both historical and contemporary, with more than six million copies sold. She has won the ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award and the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Her avid research resonates in her many bestselling series. Tracie and her family make their home in Montana. Learn more about her at TraciePeterson.com.
About the Book
Laura Evans, a spirited young woman with a deep-rooted faith in God, returns home from college to her father—unaware of his dark secrets. Determined to live by her faith while respecting her father's contrasting views, Laura's world shifts when she crosses paths with a devoted preacher.
Did You Know?
Until President Ronald Reagan signed the Women’s Business Ownership Act into law in 1988, women could not legally own a business in the United States under Federal law. While the suffrage movement had spent more than a hundred years trying to permit women to participate fully in society, this one seemingly unimportant aspect—business ownership—had not been addressed.
Before World War II, most women worked in the home. But when educational opportunities expanded to include more women in colleges and universities, employers soon realized what an asset women could be to the workforce. The following are some other facts you might not know:
Prior to 1988, no government at any level in the US provided funding for a woman-owned business, including denying grants, loans, and mortgages.
Before 1988, if a woman needed funding for any reason, she had to have a man co-sign the loan for her.
Women-owned businesses now represent 42% of all businesses in the US, employing over 9 million people and generation revenue of $1.9 trillion.
The growth of women-owned businesses is still increasing at a rate more than twice the overall average. Women bring different strengths to the ownership table than men, and they aren’t lacking in knowledge, expertise, or logic, as was often argued in the past when the subject of a woman running her own business came up.
-Donna Schlachter, A Sleigh Ride for Ruby
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