What Does Your Favorite Christian Novel Mean to You?

As a Christian author and reader, how could I possibly answer that question?

That would be like asking, “Which one of your four children do you love the most?”

Impossible to answer.

Some novels are like my oldest son. “They start off with a bang (he was born 4 1/2 weeks early) and capture your attention, demanding all your energy and time, even robbing you of sleep.” These are what I’d call thrillers, I love them…in books.

Some novels make you think, like my second son. They’re filled with thought provoking, life challenging prose that sometimes make me want to scream, enough my head hurts. Can’t I get a break? But all the while knowing that this is what I need to hear.

Then there are the novels like my third son. Quiet and steady, like a sweet romance. Not much rocking the boat, but the characters continue on a steady path, growing and changing until the black moment. And then all Hell breaks loose!

Other novels are like my fourth child, my only daughter, filled with suspense and awe. You can see trouble brewing, the choices the character makes putting her closer and closer to danger. But does she listen? No! Still it’s exciting, and the character is unpredictable. That’s like my daughter. Last born. Challenger. Risk taker. Pushing all the buttons, but always finding a way to make me smile in the end.

So how can I choose just one? I love them all for different reasons because they all meet a unique need in me. Whether I need a challenge, a thrill, a break from reality, all my favorite novels give me just that.

Like each of my children, these novels offer what I need, when I need it, whether I like it or not. But most important, like my children (who cause me to see myself at my worst and my best), my favorite novels draw me closer to God. Through the pages of a good novel, I catch a glimpse of God through someone else’s eyes and realize I’m not so different from the characters in the book. And sometimes, if it’s really great book, it makes me want to grow and change and be better than I was before I picked it up.

This article is a submission to the blog challenge sponsored by the devotional team blog, “Laced with Grace.” This challenge is sponsored by Bethany House Publishers