3. Natalie had two young sons and had suffered through a lot in the past year, including her ex-husband, Keith’s, betrayal. Yet she chose to adopt Grace, the love child of her ex-husband and Linn Caldwell (the “other woman” who had broken up her marriage). If you were in the same situation, what would you choose to do? How would you respond to Keith? to Linn? to baby Grace? Why?
4. Have you (or someone you love) longed to have a baby—and yet been denied that dream through infertility or other circumstances? When you hear about others getting pregnant or adopting a child, what is your first thought? your first emotion? As you wait for a child, what are you doing in the meantime to fill that longing?
5. The inability to conceive drove a wedge between Paula and David—a wedge that widened every day when they shut down and refused to talk about the problem. When your feelings are hurt, how do you respond (with angry words, the silent treatment, by removing yourself from the situation, or . . . you fill in the blank)? Why? From whom did you learn these patterns of communication?
6. Are there any “wedges” in your life right now—between you and a spouse, a friend, or other loved one? What could you do to remove the wedge and open the way to effective communication and healthier problem solving?
7. Have you, like Adam, ever wondered if you were doing the right thing? If you were following the path God intends for your life—whether in career, love, or something else? If so, when? Do you think it’s possible to pinpoint God’s will for any individual? Why or why not? In what ways could you explore God’s will for you?
8. Even though Linn knows she did the right thing in giving Grace life and then allowing her to be adopted into a wonderful family (with half-biological brothers, no less!), she lives daily with a lot of regrets. She has caused so many people so much pain—not to mention the effects on her own relationships now and down the road. Do you live with any regrets for things that you have done? for things that have been done to you? How have these regrets impacted your relationships today? What first step can you take to break the cycle of regret?
9. Imagine for a moment that you are either Deb or Steve Morgan. You have just found out through a blood test that Faith, the sweet, three-year-old girl you brought home from the hospital and have been raising, isn’t your biological daughter as you thought. How would you respond to: the doctor who helped in the birthing? the hospital staff? your daughter? Would you have taken the same risks the Morgans did in trying to find out what happened that day? Why or why not?
10. In Finding Faith Paula has to own up to what she did three years ago and admit that one wrong, selfish decision has caused huge ripples of pain in her own and others’ lives. David has to get past his shock and horror of his wife’s betrayal before he can even think of forgiving her for trying to abort their baby. And Linn has to learn how to forgive herself for tearing apart Natalie’s family. The old adage is true: forgiveness isn’t easy. But do you find it easier to forgive others—or yourself? Why? Whom do you need to forgive—and why? For what act(s) should you seek forgiveness? How would forgiving others and yourself make a difference in your life and in your future decisions?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DENISE HUNTER is the award-winning author of nine novels and three novellas. A voracious reader, she began writing her first Christian romance novel in 1996, and it was published two years later. Her husband, Kevin, claims he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too. She and Kevin live in Indiana with their three sons, where they are very active in a new church start.
You can visit Denise’s Web site at www.denisehunterbooks.com.
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Denise-Hunter
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Our purpose at Howard Publishing is to:
• Increase faith in the hearts of growing Christians
• Inspire holiness in the lives of believers
• Instill hope in the hearts of struggling people everywhere
Because He’s coming again!
Finding Faith © 2006 by Denise Hunter
All rights reserved.
Published by Howard Publishing Co., Inc.
3117 North Seventh Street, West Monroe, Louisiana 71291-2227
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Edited by Ramona Cramer Tucker
Interior design by John Mark Luke Designs
Cover design by David Carlson
www.studiogearbox.com
Cover photo by Stockbyte and Robert Glusic/Photodisc
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunter, Denise, 1968–
Finding Faith: a novel / Denise Hunter.
p. cm. — (The new heights series; bk. 3)
ISBN 1-58229-491-7
ISBN 978-1-9821-0809-0 (ebook)
1. Television journalists—Fiction. 2. Investigative reporting—Fiction. 3. Infants switched at birth—Fiction. 4. Married people—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.U5925F56 2006
813’.6—dc22
2005055030
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, record, or any other—except for brief quotations in reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or publisher.
Finding Faith Page 32
