The Perfect Couple. Valerie Hansen

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      “What do we do now, Tyler?”

      Kara whispered.

      “I suppose we could claim we were quarreling, like we'd planned.”

      “Even I wouldn't believe that one, and this story is my invention.”

      “Well, what then?”

      Kara pulled a face. “I don't know. Maybe we can…”

      Just then, Tyler saw everyone else rush out of the house. Mark was pointing at them.

      “Go to plan B.” Tyler finished her sentence with a self-deprecating smirk, grabbed Kara and pulled her into a full embrace. As he bent to kiss her, he whispered a warning against her lips. “Hang on. This won't hurt a bit.”

      VALERIE HANSEN

      was thirty when she awoke to the presence of the Lord in her life and turned to Jesus. In the years that followed she worked with young children, both in church and secular environments. She also raised a family of her own and played foster mother to a wide assortment of furred and feathered critters.

      Married to her high school sweetheart since age seventeen, she now lives in an old farmhouse she and her husband renovated with their own hands. She loves to hike the wooded hills behind the house and reflect on the marvelous turn her life has taken. Not only is she privileged to reside among the loving, accepting folks in the breathtakingly beautiful Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, she also gets to share her personal faith by telling the stories of her heart for Steeple Hill's Love Inspired line.

      Life doesn't get much better than that!

      The Perfect Couple

      Valerie Hansen

      Blessed are they that mourn,

      for they shall be comforted.

      —Matthew 5:4

      To Joe, for being a great husband and father and

      also being substitute “daddy” to Whiskers, Harry (also known as Poopsie), Splash, Blackie, Neek, Gypsy, Dumbo, Essence, Dinky, Duchess, Beans, Shady, Big Molly and Little Molly. Thankfully, not all at the same time!

      Dear Reader,

      There are many decisions in life that can help make the difference between success or failure, health or illness, joy or sadness. But in the final analysis, no matter how hard we struggle or how much we scheme, we're still not in charge of the final outcome. We never were.

      Do we always understand why things happen the way they do? Of course not. Maybe that's why it's so easy to get caught up in worrying about our personal problems and forget that we don't have to face any of them alone. Not only does Jesus promise to send the Holy Spirit to comfort us, God also uses perceptive, empathetic people to help us bear our daily burdens. There is no adversity that others have not already successfully overcome, thanks to their faith in Christ.

      Sad or happy, our past is a part of us. It never goes away. There's not a thing we can do to change it. But our future is another story. There, we have a choice. We can spend the rest of our days struggling through life alone, or we can reach out to the Lord, turn our lives over to Him, and be assured He will never forsake us.

      Jesus is waiting to wrap us in His loving arms and heal our broken hearts. All we have to do is let Him.