Wow! I’m not sure my feet have landed on solid ground yet. I’m certain my head hasn’t as it is still in the clouds where it has been since my wonderful agent, Wendy Lawton, called me this morning. The good news is…drum roll please… (How fun to say that!)

After 20 years of dreaming and writing and waiting and praying and writing and waiting and praying and writing, the series of my heart – Wives of the King – is going to be published! Revell, a Division of Baker Books, has offered me a three-book contract for Michal, Abigail, and Bathsheba!

There is a story behind this journey to publication for this series that I have to share. I hope you’ll bear with me. :)

Twenty years ago I began to write the story of David’s life, the book I couldn’t find but longed to read. I wrote and rewrote a two-volume epic over the next few years and shopped it to 28 publishers before tucking it under a bed and chalking it up to a learning experience. But the love for David’s life would not die. And one of the publishers who turned me down actually gave me an idea for a new story, one that would not come to fruition for many years. That publisher was Harper & Row in San Fransisco, the editor Lonnie Hull.

Lonnie wrote me a two-page letter about my query asking if I would consider writing a book about David’s first wife Michal instead of David as their publishing house focused on female characters. Long story short, in my naivety I turned her down. At the time, I couldn’t figure out how to write Michal’s story in a way that would satisfy me. Shortly thereafter, Harper & Row discontinued Biblical fiction.

That was 16 years ago. Fast forward seven years. We were homeschooling and I needed to write for my own stress release. I still couldn’t figure out how to write Michal’s story, so I wrote Abigail’s instead. Five years later that book went to committee at a publisher who seemed like a good match. They ultimately turned it down because they too, were no longer doing Biblical fiction.

Move ahead two more years. I could not get Lonnie’s suggestion out of my head, and decided I needed to write Michal’s story whether anyone wanted to buy Biblical fiction again or not. (Only well-established authors seemed able to sell it, but I still loved David’s tale and couldn’t let it go.) I had dabbled in other genres and written several other books in between, but Michal’s story needed to be told.

I wrote and rewrote the story over the next few years and the book got shopped to several places. Finally, in 2006, Wendy Lawton got hold of the story and loved it. She knew it would be a tough sell, but she took me on as a client anyway. She sent it to several places, but Biblical fiction was just not a hot genre. So in spring 2007 she told me we were going to shelve it for awhile.

This past summer of 2007, while Wendy was shopping my suspense book instead, I began to pray. I had loved this series for so long, spent years of my life researching it and writing it. If you could call me an expert on anything it would have to be David’s life. Was it all a waste? My prayer was this – “Are you ever going to use this, Lord? I’ve waited so long.”

In my fantasy world, I imagined an editor coming up to Wendy and asking her if she happened to have any Biblical fiction (which Wendy would later tell me just didn’t happen in real life). But in August, when Wendy was at a conference in Oregon, that’s exactly what happened. The editor at Revell told Wendy that they were going to look for a work of Biblical fiction. And of course, my fantastic agent just happened to have the book for them! :)

Lo and behold, that editor who requested the proposal and full manuscript was the same editor who inspired Michal 16 years before – Lonnie Hull Dupont! The book had come full circle.

When Lonnie told Wendy she loved the story and was sending it on to editorial, I wanted to sing and dance, but there was always that chance that editorial wouldn’t love it. I consoled myself that at least Lonnie got a chance to read the story she inspired, and I was glad she liked it. How cool was that? Maybe that was all God wanted.

Then shortly after my father-in-law’s funeral, Wendy called again to say editorial loved it and Lonnie was taking it to publishing board but I had to wait two more weeks. Waiting was getting harder with every step. But I managed to survive and the day after pub board met, Wendy called again and said the publishing board loved it and wanted to offer a three-book contract, but we had to wait a little longer for the last step to receive the offer.

I wanted SO much to celebrate, but what if I’d imagined it all? It didn’t seem real. Ask my closest friends and you’ll know how I had to hold myself in check – couldn’t really believe it until it was for sure.

But the Lord also used that time to teach me once again that He values patience and perseverance far more than we do – something we won’t really understand this side of heaven. And the joy is all the sweeter for having waited because this morning when Wendy called again, I could truly do the happy dance!

So the wait for the news is finally over! Now a new leg of the writing journey begins. I enter the phase of learning what publishing is like and working with an editor, whom I cannot wait to meet again (I met Lonnie once two years ago for a short time), and to thank her.

The coolest thing in all of this is God’s hand moving in ways I could not see. I asked Him to wow me, to do something more than I could ask or imagine because I was certain I could imagine a LOT! LOL! I journaled a prayer that I looked back on and saw how much He had answered in such amazing ways. This contract – I had nothing whatsoever to do with it except that little prayer of “Are you ever going to use this, Lord?” And then I told him what I dreamed could happen, stuff that just doesn’t happen in publishing, and it DID! I am in awe of Him. He began this work with Lonnie’s suggestion all those years ago and brought it back to her for the final process. I have to believe God gave David’s story to both of us in different ways. I long to show the world the true man after God’s own heart and the women who loved him.

But mainly, I am humbled that God would allow the stories of my heart to at last be contracted for publication. He did have a purpose in planting that dream in my heart 20 years ago after all. The effort to write them well was not wasted. And He truly is a God who hears and answers the prayers of the heart. I stand amazed and worship Him. Look up and see what God will do!