It was impulsive of me, I know, to go out on a limb and write what I did in that postcard after only two dates with Carla. At the time, however, something inside told me that she was the one. But could I trust that little voice inside? If anything, I should have distrusted it, for I''d only recently broken up with my high school sweetheart. So what did that little voice and I really know? // Can we trust that voice inside that tells us he or she is the one? // Carla far exceeded anyone I had imagined would come my way. Spring term had just ended for us at the university we attended when she left to work at a camp for the summer. I can have a pretty one-track mind and so using a blank postcard that a friend of mine had brought back from a recent trip of his to Hawaii, I jotted a note to Carla along with the cryptic note "82884WWBTAOWD" tucked away in the bottom right-hand corner. It looked like a postal code, and no one but me knew that it stood for "We will be there after our wedding day: 8/28/84." Inside I was sure I knew what I wanted, but outside there wasn''t a chance I would let anyone know. As much as I was drawn to a life together with Carla, I didn''t yet want her to know it! That was pretty bold of me (or maybe psycho), considering it was three years prior to my projected Hawaiian honeymoon.1 But I was so smitten by Carla I could have penned the note with my own testosterone. Rereading that postcard today you can tell that we didn''t know each other all that well, but every encounter I''d had with Carla (all two of them!) left me more captivated by this woman. One of those meetings was at "Rock n'' Roll," one of those crazy guy-girl college functions at a skating rink, where the small group Carla was leading and the group of guys that grabbed me decided to gather. Truth be told, I had looked forward to skating in circles about as much as being chained in front of the home decorating channel. But like most hot-blooded college males, at the time I was willing to make an exception if the prospect of picking up a great woman was involved. As a joke, the DJ played one of those junior high "couples only" songs. It was at that point I realized Carla was the one. Not really the one to marry--just the one to ask to skate. My heart was racing as I built up courage to ask Carla. As trite and cheesy as that may sound, my hands sweat more than an evangelist at a summer tent revival when I''m nervous. So for me to ask Carla--whom I didn''t really know--to skate with me while holding my sweat-slippery hands took some big-time courage. (Don''t laugh. All of us have personal insecurities held over from 7th grade.) I didn''t want to gross her out, but I also didn''t want to let the opportunity slip by, because in the vernacular of the early 1980''s Carla was what my friends and I called a "godly fox." What a stupid phrase. At the time, however, that saying was "off the hook." Carla had me "crazier than a mug," another phrase with the shelf life of about a month. And though the way we say it changes more often than a university freshman changes majors, the experience down through the centuries remains the same: I soon fully believed Carla was the one. She was the most beautiful, most Christ-centered, most amazing woman I had ever met. Put bluntly, I was deeply infatuated with her. Married people often tell singles in that twitter-pated state of mind I was in that spring, "You''ll know whether she''s the one." "But how?" you naturally ask when you begin getting serious. "Oh, you''ll just know." "But how?!" you may think. Often, no one will give you a better answer than "You just know that you know," another stupid phrase that needs to go out with 1980''s parachute pants. Yet in spite of all I didn''t know then, and as presumptuous as my hidden Hawaiian love note was, Carla entered my life somehow as an answer to a question my heart had been asking for years. Something clicked in me when I met her, and I knew that if she was not the girl I would marry, then my future wife would probably be someone an awful lot like her. That much I already knew. If only "knowing that you know" were easier. But that''s precisely the point, we think. Knowing whether she or he is the one isn''t easy for a reason. It''s difficult because the journey God is leading you on is one that will search you to the core. "Knowing that you know" isn''t as simple as browsing the Internet to match your online personality profile with some pre-selected mate. Instead it''s a journey that will challenge your faith, deepen your trust, and refine who you are in the process. You see, this journey isn''t only about seeking a yes or no answer to marriage. It''s about something much larger, where God''s Spirit mysteriously touches our lives and we find God wooing us through our search to "know that we know" into a relationship with Him more beautiful than the very thing you''re seeking by picking up this book. That journey is what this book is all about.

She chose her career over him. He put his family before her. When they get a second chance, will they choose to put each other first? As she climbs the corporate ladder, Sophie doesn't let herself think about what she gave up when she declined Spencer's proposal four years ago. She's never wanted a husband or family, and she tells herself she's exactly where she's supposed to be. So when she's called home to say goodbye to her dying grandmother, she goes out of her way to avoid seeing him. Of course, that means he's the first person she runs into. Much as she fights against it, being near him stirs up old feelings and makes her question old decisions. Leaving college to help on the family farm cost Spencer the woman he loved. But he couldn't turn his back on his family. Now that Sophie's back in town, Spencer's determined to protect his heart. Only he senses something new in Sophie--something that makes him think maybe they could have a second chance. But when his family needs him again, he feels like he's repeating the past. Only this time, he's not sure what choice he should make. Because the more time they spend together, the more they both realize their old feelings have never disappeared. Maybe a future together is the one God had planned for them all along. But soon Sophie is called back to her job in Chicago, and Spencer has to decide what direction his future will take. Can they find the courage to make different choices this time? Or will the heartaches of the past keep them from the second chance they desire? Not Until Forever is the first book in the Hope Springs Christian romance series. If you love emotional stories filled with faith, forgiveness, love, and the promise of forever, then you'll love this touching reminder that it's never too late for a second chance. Buy Not Until Forever to dive into this emotional, heartwarming story today.

The 50 stories contained within Before Forever After all invite the reader to consider important questions and encourages open discussion in order to prompt compelling and empowering conversations about life. How do you want to live your life? Do you have secrets that might hurt loved ones following your death? What medical intervention do you want at the end of your life? What rituals matter to you?

Chloe Stone’s life is a hot mess. Determined to stop being so freaking skittish, she packs up her quasi-famous best friend and heads to Florida. The goal? Complete the summer bucket list to end all bucket lists. The problem? Her hot soon-to-be stepbrother, Landon Jacobs. Landon’s mom will throttle him if he even looks at his future stepsister the wrong way. Problem is, Chloe is everything he didn’t know he wanted, and that’s...inconvenient. Watching her tear it up on a karaoke stage, stand up to his asshole friend, and rock her first string bikini destroys his sanity. But there’s more than their future family on the line. Landon is hiding something—something he knows will change how she feels about him—and she’s hiding something from him, too. And when the secrets come out, there’s a good chance neither will look at the other the same way again... Each book in the A Before Forever series is a standalone story that can be enjoyed out of order. Series Order: Book #1 The Summer Before Forever Book #2 Falling for Forever

A fire killed his best friend and his lifelong dream of being a firefighter. The same fire killed her husband and hopes for a family. Can new dreams replace old? Lucas Vermontez was a proud firefighter like his father. Now, not only has he lost his father and his best friend, Zach, in the fire at the Grove Street homeless shelter, but the devoted rookie can no longer do the work he loves after being crippled in the tragic event. When friendship with his buddy’s beautiful widow turns into more, he wonders, what could he possibly offer Jenna? Jenna Morgan is trying to grieve her husband’s death like a proper widow, but the truth is, she never really loved Zach. His death feels more like a relief to her. But that relief is short-lived when she loses her home and the financial support of her in-laws. Now the secrets of her past threaten to destroy her future. Can the two forget the painful past and discover new reasons to live and love?

Lara Jean is having the best senior year ever! She's head over heels in love with her boyfriend, her dad's getting remarried and Margot's coming home for the summer. But change is looming on the horizon. While Lara Jean is having fun, she can't ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Will she have to leave the boy she loves behind?

Archodial Bragen is in trouble with the truth. A truth related to bones found in a cave on Apollis, a planet on the edge of the galaxy. This truth unravels everything Synthons know about the past, putting Bragen’s life in jeopardy. With the help of an old mentor, zie begins a journey through time that takes zam from zas own dystopian otherworld to a time when children were more than fables. Avoiding lidscans and thought watchers, Bragen races back and forth through time, in the process finding a past that is never over.