Author: Janet Weiler
Located in: Canada
Submitted: April 25, 2022
Tell us a little about yourself. I'm a mother of six and former foster parent of many. As a social worker, often in direct care positions, I've worked in a variety of settings and supported people of all ages. Now retired, my desire through my writing, is to bring stories that show God's light shining on broken lives in a broken world.
What was your motivation behind this project? I've always had stories in my head. As I've aged some of those stories have settled in my heart. When March 2020 arrived the coronavirus locked us down. I found myself with lots of spare time. It was time to write. My youngest son had passed away less than a year before. That personalized something that I already knew. There are many hurting people in this world: young and old, rich and poor, loved and hated. In this novel I sought to challenge the reader to take a new look at God's unchanging love and grace; to accept it for themselves, and extend it, through Him to others in their lives.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? I hope the reader will finish this book knowing that there's more to the story. My main character, Joe, experiences an almost unbelievable happy ending. I say almost, because I know people who have left a life of drugs and crime behind as they found new life in Christ. In the book the gospel message is clear. The other important thing I hope springs from the novel is the realization that God uses His people to draw others into His kingdom. Joe's family, Christians he encountered in the past, and those he meets throughout the book, all have an impact on him. He finds a place of security in the midst of other believers. I Know this doesn't always happen in our churches, but really... shouldn't it be the norm?
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? I mentioned that my youngest son, Phil, died less than a year before I began the novel. He was twenty-three. I thought about writing a true story about him, but at the time, and now almost three years later, it's still just too hard. I have another son. He's much older than Phil. Enough Grace to Make Things Right is loosely based on his story... except that his story has yet to reach the happy ending stage. As I wrote this novel, and now as I consider how I'm been impacted by it, I've revisited things that happened in both my boys' lives. It's a good thing to go back sometimes. We need constant reminders to do what the Lord requires of us.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: child abuse and neglect... family breakdown... crime... sin... depression... addiction... grief... discouragement... loneliness
I'm not going to leave you with this list and tell you all these things trickle into this novel. You might not want to read it. So I won't leave you there. I can't tell you there aren't sad parts in the story...but the uplifting even joyful parts overshadow them. Throughout this novel you will see the reality of our persistent God working in the lives of many different people. On the back cover of Enough Grace to Make Things Right there's a picture. There's a big dark hole and off to the side of the hole, in the darkness, is a grate with light shining through it. If you look closely, you can see a word, faintly illuminated. The word is Grace. And that is what our Lord does... as we sit in the darkness of so many unknowns He sends His grace. Sometimes it's like a blast of sunlight, and sometimes like a little candle. We just need to remember: it is from Him, and it is enough.
