It seems important to me that I share something that may help others understand why I do not respond to certain blogs or why I might ignore a book. You see, I judge a book not by its cover, but by its title.
When I was a young person I wanted to learn to be the best that I could be. I researched every possible subject relating to living; from time management, raising children, family life, marriage, and personal development. So, you would think that this was a very good thing and that I have turned into the most confident and well-adjusted person on this planet.
WRONG
You see, the thing about my life is that I am not a typical person and I didn’t have a typical family, children, or life. All the books around at the time were for normal people and we are not normal. So, when I applied the formulas presented in the books that I read - and they were many and varied, some even contradictory - the outcomes were always different to what the books said would happen.
Now, when this happened the first few times, I didn’t give up, I ploughed on, I kept trying for years, but eventually, I gave up!!! I just couldn’t do it anymore. No one seemed to understand my circumstances and how my family worked. I didn’t know, so how could they, not realising then that we were unique. I told my mother, during one of our weekly phone calls, that I would never read another Christian book ever again and no, I don’t think she believed me either.
But, true to my word, I stopped reading. I carried on the best way I knew how, I prayed and prayed, worked hard, and took every morsel of grace that God gave me. I watched my family grow, I asked friends to pray, but the minute someone suggested a new strategy, I shut down. It was a long time before I picked up a book again and then it was either an autobiographical work or fiction.
When I started to write, I wanted to encourage people. I wanted them to understand that God loves us each as individuals and designs our lessons to meet us where we are, in the circumstances that we find ourselves. God has taught me, and yes, I want to share those lessons with the world - not to tell people how to do things but to encourage them to keep going even when things are tough and to look to God for the answers to all their problems.
As you read my books, please see the stories they hold, not as “God did it this way and therefore will do it that way for you”, but as “God’s has a personalised solution for each individual”.
May God bless you richly.
Helen Brown
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