Sure, we can fight God. We can get angry at him for our sufferings or our circumstances or even our consequences. But in the end, we must be like the disciples of Christ, who once witnessed dozens and dozens of people walking away during one of our Lord’s priceless messages. Jesus waited until only the disciples were left. Then he turned to them and said, “What? Aren’t you going too?” They answered the same thing you and I must answer, regardless of our situation: “Where would we go? To whom would we turn?”
Another theme I hope you’ve picked up on in the Redemption series is that God has great plans for your life. He loves you because you belong to him, because he made you. And as such, he knows the plans he has for you. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that, and it’s a truth you can stand on forever.
Things aren’t moving as quickly as you’d like? Ryan knew that feeling in Redemption. Confused about the place God has you in? Landon understood that while he was digging through the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center. Certain that morning will never come again? Peter knew that sort of darkness after Hayley’s accident. Figuring God has forgotten about you? Check in with Reagan and the way she felt raising an infant by herself, a thousand miles from the man she loved. The verdict’s in, the diagnosis is made, the casket’s closed? John knows how it feels to think all of life is behind him.
But the truth is that for each of these—and for each of you—God still has a plan. A good plan, to give you a hope and a future.
From the beginning, when Gary Smalley asked me to consider writing a series of books that might illustrate his teachings about relationships, my hope and prayer have been not only that you would be entertained. Certainly I want you to feel that the Redemption series is good, clean, moral fiction. But my prayer is that these books have been so very much more.
I love hearing from you, so many thousands of you, who have written to tell me that the books in this series have changed your lives. Marriages have been restored, relationships have been healed, love has been brought back to life. And many times you have told me that the Redemption series introduced you to God, or better still, brought you back to him.
Because of your letters, I know God has abundantly blessed my prayers about these books. The end result of the Redemption series is so much greater than I ever could’ve dreamed way back when Gary and I had our first meeting.
On that note, yes, I’ve agreed to write more books for Tyndale, books that will branch off the one you’re holding in your hand. Five of the books will be part of the Firstborn series, and four will make up the Sunrise series. All of them will be set in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Firstborn series will involve Dayne Matthews and his search for meaning in his life, and Katy Hart and her role as director of the Bloomington Christian Kids Theater. New families and situations will be introduced, but Dayne’s search—and other issues facing single people—will stand at the center.
The Sunrise series will involve the Flanigan family, Ryan Taylor’s assistant coach, his wife, and children. This series is very close to my heart because in many ways it mirrors the lessons about love and life I’ve learned in these first fifteen years of being a wife and mother.
Like my own family, the Flanigans have six children, three who are adopted from Haiti. Two of the kids will be involved in the Christian Kids Theater, and Katy Hart, the director, will live in a garage apartment at the Flanigan house. So there will be a tie from the Sunrise series to the Firstborn series. The other four kids will be athletes. Dad is a coach, Mom is a writer, and people of all ages tend to wind up on their doorstep looking for hope and a new life in Christ.
Expect me to deal with situations involving a host of family issues including learning disabilities, teenage eating disorders, children who are picked on by their peers, teens at the beginning of dating and driving, teens who enlist to fight for our country, and the effect these types of issues have on a couple in love with God and with each other.
This is the life I live—and though there will be dramatic plot changes in the Flanigans’ lives compared with my own—it is still my thrill and honor to use my family as a platform to bring you those four books in the Sunrise series.
The Firstborn series will be first, though. Fame, Forgiven, Found, Family, and Forever will be the titles in that series. Then I will bring you the Sunrise series—Sunrise, Summer, Someday, and Sunset.
Please pray for me as God brings the story lines into finer detail, as he makes clear to me the types of situations I should address in each of these eight books. I am truly thrilled and honored by this opportunity. I pray you will find these books as life-changing as my Redemption series.
As always, I would love to hear from you. Those of you who have book clubs, please know that if you choose to read one of my books and would like me to “drop in” at your get-together, e-mail me at [email protected]. I will try my best to arrange a phone conversation with your group at a meeting time that works for all of us (on speakerphone, of course). Or I will e-mail you a response that can be read aloud to your group.
This is one more way that I can stay in touch with you, the reader, the one I have prayed for as often as I have put my fingers to the keyboard.
By the way, my Web site has become something of a ministry. Please visit the Guest Book, the Reader Forum, the Prayer Ministry, or the Dear Karen section so you can share thoughts, make friends, get connected with a prayer partner, and find other people like yourself who are being touched by what God is doing in their lives.
Contact me at www.KarenKingsbury.com, or write to me at my above e-mail address.
Blessings in his light and love,
Karen Kingsbury
A Word from Gary Smalley
Holding a reunion is something most families do from time to time. But have you ever considered why it’s important to get together, to gather in one place for a set-apart time? The reason is honor.
We show that we value our relationships when we make them a priority. That is what honor is all about—making the people we love a priority in our lives. The message Pastor Mark gave the Baxter family at the end of Reunion is one that stands for all of us. We don’t own the people in our lives; rather we borrow them. They are gifts from God that we have for just a moment.
Since they are gifts, it is even more important that we realize how much our special people need to be honored. Yes, reunions can be chaotic. They can be costly, crazy, and sometimes corny—depending on who’s telling the jokes. But the fact is, when people you love grow up and move away, getting together for a reunion is crucial. The following is a brief list of the benefits that can come when you go to the trouble of honoring those you love with a family reunion.
Three Benefits of Holding a Family Reunion
1. Renewed Closeness
One way to honor someone you love is by listening to them. When that person lives far away, phone calls and letters—even instant messages—are rarely enough to maintain a strong bond. It is honoring to a family member to make the time for a family reunion, because then whole days can be spent sharing the experiences that have happened since the last time you were together.
2. Revitalized Memories
Since most reunions involve hours of talking, not only are experiences shared, but memories are brought up. People at reunions tend to take the past, dust it off, and hold it up for everyone to laugh and cry and marvel at all over again. In doing so, this keeps the sense of family alive and well, not only for your generation but for the one to come. It is honoring to everyone in the family to make your memories and your heritage something worth investing in.
3. Rekindled Love
There’s nothing like taking someone in your arms and holding them to let them know they are loved. The best part of a family reunion is the time spent simply being close to the people you care about. Holding hands with your son or daughter, bouncing a grandbaby on your knee, getting reacquainted with an aunt or uncle. All of it shows that you have made family a priority. This is honoring to everyone involv
ed.
Reunion shows the importance of taking time for each other. This, of course, is just one aspect of keeping strong relationships in your family. The other Redemption series books illustrate many others.
If you or someone you love needs counseling or other resources to improve a key relationship, contact us at:
Smalley Relationship Center
1482 Lakeshore Drive
Branson, MO 65616
Phone: 800-84TODAY (848-6329)
Fax: (417) 336-3515
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.smalleyonline.com
Discussion Questions
Use these questions for individual reflection or for discussion with a book club or other small group. They will help you not only understand some of the issues in Reunion but also integrate some of the book’s messages into your own relationships.
Note: Those of you who have book clubs, please know that if you choose to read one of my books and would like me to “drop in” at your get-together, e-mail me at [email protected]. I will try my best to arrange a phone conversation with your group at a meeting time that works for all of us (on speakerphone, of course). Or I will e-mail a response that can be read aloud to your group.
1. How did you feel when you realized Elizabeth Baxter’s cancer had come back? Explain.
2. Describe a time when you received bad news. How did you handle that news?
3. Describe how Elizabeth and John handled the news of her cancer. How did that response change as her disease progressed?
4. What emotional process did Erin and Sam go through as they yearned for a child, and then experienced a failed adoption?
5. Have you ever adopted or do you know someone who has? Why is it wonderful that certain women and girls put their babies up for adoption?
6. Describe the blessing of an adopted child. What are some of the issues that can make adoption both a source of joy and sorrow?
7. How did God lead Erin and Sam through the process of loss and unknown circumstances? What specifically did they do or decide to do that brought them peace and miraculous changes in their situation?
8. John Baxter has been strong through most of the Redemption series. Explain why he was afraid in Reunion.
9. Have you or has someone you know ever grown fearful after being strong, after having an unshakable faith? How did this person deal with the fear?
10. How did John Baxter deal with his fear? How did his emotions and attitude change as Elizabeth’s disease progressed?
11. Elizabeth prayed for a miracle healing; instead God gave her a series of other miracles. Explain these.
12. Describe what you think a miracle is. Do miracles still happen today? Explain.
13. Tell about a miracle that happened in your life. Did you recognize it as a miracle at the time?
14. Ashley has loved Landon Blake for years, but things between them never seemed to work out until Reunion. Describe the highs and lows of their relationship.
15. Have you ever experienced a relationship or a situation where the process of growing closer and more serious took far longer than you expected? Tell about that time, and how God led you through it.
16. Dayne Matthews has everything the world tells us is important: good looks, fame, and fortune. Why wasn’t Dayne happy?
17. Is there someone in your life who is feeling empty about life? Why do you think they feel this way? What can you do to help that person know God’s truth better?
18. Have you or has someone you know lost a parent recently? Describe the feelings you or that person went through during the process and afterwards. What hope does God give us in this situation?
19. Describe a favorite moment from a family reunion. If you can’t tell about one, maybe it’s time to get out the calendar and plan one.
20. What are the greatest lessons you learned from Reunion? Explain what Elizabeth meant in her letter when she said that redemption was their family’s theme.
Table of Contents
What Readers Are Saying about Karen Kingsbury's Books
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Postscript
Discussion Questions
Reunion Page 36