Guest Post (and a Giveaway!): Chris Fabry & Lifemark

Please join me in welcoming the incomparable Chris Fabry to the blog today to talk about his new movie tie-in novel Lifemark – and how we can trust God even when life doesn’t work out the way we planned.

LIFEMARK by Chris Fabry
GENRE: Inspirational Contemporary Fiction
PUBLISHER: Tyndale House
RELEASE DATE: August 2, 2022
PAGES: 396

For eighteen years, she tried to believe she had made the right decision—for him.

But if she never saw him again, how could she ever be sure?

Melissa had clung to the thin thread of hope given by the adoption agency that someday her newborn son might want to connect with her. When his eighteenth birthday arrived, she called the agency to simply update her contact information, not expecting a response.

Susan and Jimmy Colton had raised their boy with openness about his adoption. After the heartbreaking loss of two infant sons that marked their early years of marriage, they promised themselves they would try not to hold too tightly to David or hold back any information he wanted about his birth. And so they waited on him.

David was hesitant to talk about the questions and curiosities about his birth story that often haunted him. But as he neared adulthood, his need to know the full story of his life became something he couldn’t shake. Until the call came to the Coltons from the adoption agency, and the first tentative bits of communication and connection set in motion a story that would change all their lives forever.

From the team that brought you the movies Courageous and War Room comes Lifemark, the novelization of the new film inspired by a true story of adoption, redemption, and hope.

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trusting the results to a big God

by Chris Fabry, author of Lifemark

Has your life not turned out like you thought it would? Have you followed some dream only to find that the outcome wasn’t what you expected? You heard whispers of what was supposed to be, but you never fully realized what you hoped and planned. There is a chasm between what you wanted and what you received.

If that’s you, here’s a truth from my reading and writing life: Something bigger is going on, something you can’t fully perceive or understand. The stories that stick in our hearts show this to be true. Those stories echo the truth of God’s involvement in the warp and woof of life, especially for followers of Jesus.

Hebrews 11:13-14 talks about the promises of God and how some people never experienced the full outcome of those promises. Earlier in the chapter we read about some who realized the miraculous move of God, but others, who exercised the same faith, “saw [the things that were promised] from a distance.”

Is that you? Do you feel like what you wanted God to do ended up somewhere in the fog of your life? Take heart. The life of faith is placing your full trust not in the outcome, but in God Himself.

That truth comes alive in the novel Lifemark, based on the film by the Kendrick Brothers. A young woman faces an unplanned pregnancy and is pressured into an abortion. In the clinic, she makes a decision, and then several other decisions that bring life and hope to many. But the young woman, Melissa, has no idea of the outcome of her decisions and her trust that God will show up. She has no idea of the people whose lives will be changed by her actions. But she trusts the results to a big God.

Years later, she is able, by God’s grace, to see some of those results and realize the life-giving outcome of her steps of faith. But in the moment and the intervening years, she had to trust that God really was there and working.

I’ve been reading through the Old Testament and underlining the places where I encounter God at work behind the scenes. His sovereignty is shown throughout the Scriptures. In 2 Chronicles alone, here are a few verses that jumped out at me:

“But Amaziah would not listen, for this turn of events was from God in order to hand them over to their enemies because they went after the gods of Edom” (25:20).

“The Lord put it into the mind of the Philistines and the Arabs who live near the Cushites to attack Jehoram” (21:16).

“‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number, for the battle is not yours, but God’s’” (20:15).

“The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that the Lord might carry out His word that He had spoken” (10:15).

Throughout the recorded history of God’s work in both Testaments, it’s clear that His purposes always prevail. Humans are responsible for their actions, but God is in control of the outcome. He is working out His will in nations, cities, and towns. And He is working out His will in your life. That means that even the difficult things you’re facing are being used to draw you closer to His heart and cause you to trust more fully in Him rather than the outcome or expectations you may have.

Has your life not turned out like you thought it would? Trust Him fully today. There is more going on than you can see.

Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible,® copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible,® Holman CSB,® and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Chris Fabry is an award-winning author and radio personality who hosts the daily program Chris Fabry Live on Moody Radio. He has written more than 80 books for children and adults.

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Tyndale House is offering a print copy of Lifemark by Chris Fabry to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

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What about you? What makes you want to read Lifemark by Chris Fabry?