Why It Had to be Eden

I’ve spent years standing on the sidelines, in bitter cold, rain, sleet, gloom of night . . . and that’s just football. Add in hours in the gym bleachers, and then miles and miles in the car driving to track meets. More hours in the rain and cold, then hot sun . . . cheering. 

I’ve been known to run down the bleachers, cheering my son on as he runs for the finish line. Sometimes, on a Friday night, you can hear my voice above the crowd when cheering for the team.

I love being a fan.

I have to admit, however, that when my football player son #1 (Thankfully I have two!) packed up and went to college, I felt left behind. All those years of commitment, and suddenly I wasn’t a blip in his radar. He went thirteen days into football camp without calling me, four months before coming home.

I felt forgotten . . .

. . . and so very equipped to step into the skin of my character, Eden.

Eden Christiansen is a woman trying her best to keep up with her amazing siblings. She’s the oldest girl, a journalist with the heart of a servant. But she’s not athletic, so in order to keep up, she’s assigned herself to the role of head cheerleader and babysitter to her brother, superstar hockey player, Owen.

With her job in Obits for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune heading nowhere (and her love life in deep freeze), she has nothing else. She appoints herself as Owen’s babysitter (whether he needs it or not) and excels at her job. Until . . .

One night Owen suffers a game-changing injury, and suddenly Eden has nothing.

Or does she? What Eden doesn’t know is that God has to take away what she’s clinging to in order to show her just how valuable she is. Only she possesses the power to save the day.

I love her best in this moment, talking with the hero:

He looked up at her. “Do you ever feel like you don’t really belong in the Kingdom of God? Like, you’re loved, but not liked? Saved, but not favored? ”

She sipped her coffee, stared out across the lake. “I guess sometimes I feel like I’m not necessarily God’s favorite. I look at my family and wonder what happened. Everyone else got the talent, and I got . . .”

Obits. She sighed. “I don’t know what happened with my life, exactly. I always thought I’d be a great writer, a reporter. But I didn’t land the job of my dreams out of college, and since then, I can’t seem to find footing. And yet, I don’t really have a reason to complain.”

“Yeah, that’s it. You feel like there should be something more waiting for you, but at the same time, you’re grateful for the life you do have.”

Do you ever feel like that? Saved, but not favored? Then this book is for you.

[Tweet “Do you feel saved, but not favored? @SusanMayWarren’s #ItHadToBeYou is for you.”]

Join Eden on journey to discover just how much God delights over her in my new book, It Had to Be You. You can enter to win one of five copies from Goodreads! Enter below.

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