The Bible doesn't sugarcoat pain and suffering; it gives you something to move past it.

I want to offer a word of encouragement to authors: You have to feel called to the message of your book enough that you want people to get that message. When you get to that place, your passion goes through the roof, and then the other stuff happens.

Torn' is hopeful. It's a book that meets you in your pain and shows you how to move forward with life and in your walk with God.

Love the calling you have, not the one you wish you had.

If you don't believe God has forgiven you, you are actually saying that God needs to do more for your forgiveness, and that Jesus' sacrifice was not enough.

I choose to suppress the initial categories I want to put people in - rich, poor, together, not together, druggie, yuppie, rocker, loser, winner, cool, uncool. I choose to remember that I don't know their struggle or their pain. I choose to err on the side of grace because someday I'll stand before God, and I pray He'll err on the side of grace with me.

We normally know Jesus as a humble, loving servant, which He is. But Revelations gives us the bigger picture of who Jesus is, in His glory.