Shannon here: Love Inspired author, Lyn Cote shares her real life romance and a chance to win her book: Shelter of Hope. To be eligible, comment and include your e-mail address (stvauthor at yahoo dot com) on any post dated Sept 27 – Oct 2 by Oct 2, 8:00 PM Central. Here’s Lyn:
My dh and I met on New Year’s Eve 1973. An old friend of his invited my future dh to come to a church singles and couples party at a home. It was not love at first sight for me. But he did notice me.
About a month later, he visited our church for a special choral program on Sunday evening. That was the MOMENT I noticed him. Actually I wondered if I were imagining things. Whenever I looked at him, a bright light shone all around him. I kept blinking but the light stayed with him. Was this from God?
Only God knows but that night I spoke to him and invited him to a few more activities with our group. Within a month we became a twosome within the group. Within another month he proposed but we kept it a secret till May when he bought me an engagement ring.
Our mothers both were upset because we were from two different “brands” of Christianity. This was a bit irritating since neither of our mothers attended church. But we decided to visit each other’s church and let God lead us. A good decision. This difference disappeared.
Anyway, that’s our story. On October 5, 2010, we’ll celebrate our 36th anniversary. (Yes, I was a child bride.:-) Our path has not always been smooth–just like all other couples. But whenever we’ve been tempted to stop trying, our anchor has held. BTW, our late mothers came around–especially after we gave them a handsome grandson and beautiful daughter.
My latest book Shelter of Hope is a story of the same kind of love. It starts unexpectedly and is blessed by God. It releases in September through Steeple Hill, Love Inspired. Shelter of Hope is the 1st in New Friends Street series.
Blurb: The House that Love Built
Struggling single mother Rosa Santos is deeply touched when volunteers band together to build her a home. With a waitressing job, community college and church, Rosa barely has time to help, let alone dream about a husband and father figure. But when handsome volunteer Marc Chambers hands her withdrawn young son a little hammer, her heart swells. Suddenly, her son is blossoming. But the closer she and Marc get, the more he pulls away. Why? He’s built her a shelter of hope. One she—and her son—pray he’ll take refuge within….
About Lyn: When Lyn Cote became a mother, she gave up teaching, and while raising a son and a daughter, she began working on her first novel. Long years of rejection followed. Finally in 1997, Lyn got “the call.” Her first book, Never Alone, was chosen by Steeple Hill for the new Love Inspired romance line. Since then, Lyn has had over thirty novels published. In 2006 Lyn’s book, Chloe, was a finalist for the RITA, one of the highest awards in the romance genre. Lyn’s brand “Strong Women, Brave Stories,” always includes three elements: a strong heroine who is a passionate participant in her times, authentic historical detail and a multicultural cast of characters. Lyn also features stories of strong women both from real life and true to life fiction on her blog http://strongwomenbravestories.blogspot.com Lyn also can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. Drop by and “friend or follow” her. Now living her dream of writing books at her lake cottage in northern Wisconsin, Lyn hopes her books show the power of divine as well as human love. To purchase a copy of Shelter of Hope, drop by www.LynCote.net
Come back Sept 28 for links to your top ten posts on the Inkslinger blog from June – August and Sept. 29 for aspiring inspirational author, Lisa Collins’ real life romance.
Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary! God is amazing in how He brings us together! It’s when we stop looking that He provides! Yes, I would love to win a copy of your new book!
Kathy Eberly
authorkathyeberlyatgmaildotcom
Story sounds like a good one. would like to finish it. Hope i win.
Congrats on the upcoming anniversary. I love hearing the ‘how we met and got together’ stories. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hey Lyn, That’s so cool about how you met your husband. So glad things worked out and look at you now. I know you’ve been blessed. Your book sounds great. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks for giving away a copy.
Thanks for your comments and good wishes. But if you want to be entered in the drawing, you need to leave your email address written thus l(dot)cote(at)juno(dot)com.
Please do and I’d also like to invite you to join my LynCote_to_Readers egroup where I send out a monthly note to readers!
Am I too late to be entered in Lyn’s giveaway? Time flies too fast, and I’m sure Lyn will agree. My husband and I will be celebrating our 35th anniversary Nov 1, and this is a second marriage for us both. As Lyn spoke of the many ups and downs, I thought about how this makes the marriage grow stronger. I admire Lyn using the creative God given talent and congratulate her on the success of her writings. Happy anniversary to Lyn and her hubby and I pray God blesses them with many more years of all ups and no downs. Thank you for this giveaway and the chance to win. I hope I do.
Sharing God’s Love,
Barb Shelton
barbjan10 at tx dot rr dot com
I love to hear these real life love stories from the authors – and I hope I win the book :0
babykf(at)hotmail(dot)com
Thanks for being on the blog this week, Lyn. I enjoyed your story.
Sounds like a great book! reneeasmith61 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Lyn I am so glad I checked in to your special site this evening. I enjoyed reading about how you met your husband. God bless you both.
I apprecite Lynn for sharing her story. Barbara Shelton won Lyn Cote’s book.