27. A Soldier's Promise by Cheryl Wyatt

A Soldier's Promise by Cheryl Wyatt

Bk 1 in her 'Wings of Refuge' mini-series, Love Inspired Jan 2008

This is Cheryl Wyatt's debut novel- and I have to say one of the BEST first novels I've read in a very long time.

A book filled with emotion- from the first chapter it caught me with a few tears as I read the letter from a little boy to an agency that handles dreams for children with terminal illnesses. 

Joel- a USAF PJ (pararescue jumper) and Kate- an elementary school teacher.... from the moment they meet there's an instant connection, one they cultivate via email and phone calls.  It's absolutely hilarious the wit and humor these two have. 

She lives in his hometown- one he's resolved never to live in again, a place to avoid at all costs.  Yet he takes the mission to answer the little boy's letter, makes him a promise to return and builds a friendship with Amber.  He's also vowed never to be a father- feeling that he didn't have a great example in his own dad and the closest thing he knows to a father is his uncle. 

In the end, Joel comes to realize that the the creed he lives by as a pararescue jumper, the one he and his comrades live by at work and in their personal lives, is a creed he hasn't done his best to live by in his personal life.  Joel struggles with learning the truth about his past, and is left with a choice- to hold onto the prison his past has made his present, to never return to Refuge and walk away from Amber and Bradley and fight God every step of the way, or run to God for the strength to forgive in order to embrace and live his future.

I haven't had my heart tugged, eyes teary or laughed as hard in quite awhile.  Maybe it's the compassion and understanding that comes from being an Army wife... but I think it's a story that'll touch anyone with a heart.  Enjoy!

  And it's only through the strength and faith in God that one is able to forgive the things that hurt us most.

"Don't be afraid; just believe." Luke 8:50