Joy Comes in the Morning
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In a small town in southwest Michigan, several lives are being transformed. They are learning that they can’t solve all their problems by themselves; it’s God who is in the solving business. Four characters – Emily, Tom, Katie, and Franklin – tell the story.
*** Emily is a divorced high school English teacher who has just come to know God in a personal way; the memories and problems with her ex-husband, however, are still haunting her and getting in the way of a new relationship with Franklin.
*** Tom is Emily’s oldest child. At twenty-two, he has had his life turned upside down by a spoiled young wife who divorces him soon after his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease. He has become a Christian, but wonders how he’ll cope, alone, with his uncertain future.
*** Katie is Emily’s youngest child; she is twenty years old and in college. She rebels against religion and church, feeling that a caring God would not have treated her brother as He has. She struggles with depression and has made some unfortunate choices in her young life. Will any of the young men now interested in her catch her attention and turn her life around?
*** Franklin is a high school social studies teacher. Although never married, he carries with him the traumatic memory of being rejected in college by his one true love. Now he is determined that any future wife must be a solid Christian and definitely have no hang-ups about an ex-husband.
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About the Book
In a small town in southwestern Michigan, four lives teeter on the edges of happiness and despair. Emily is a divorced high school English teacher. She has a personal relationship with God; she knows He is a loving, forgiving father. Despite her relationship with Him, Emily can’t seem to move beyond the past and a painful divorce that haunts her present, as problems with her ex-husband interfere with her current budding relationship.
Her son, Tom, is twenty-two and was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Because of this, his young wife has left him. Although he has become a Christian, he wonders how he will cope with his uncertain future by himself.
His younger sister, Katie, is twenty and in college. She wants to have faith in God, but she rebels because a caring God would not give her brother Parkinson’s. As she struggles with depression, only time will tell whether anyone can help her turn her life around.
Franklin works with Emily at the high school as a social studies teacher. His faith in God is strong, but due to rejection by the person he believed to be his true love, his faith in people is not. He wants to make things work with Emily, but her past may keep them apart. These four people struggle to fix things, but what they must realize is that while they can’t solve their problems, God can.
About the Author
Carolyn A. Spangler received degrees from New York University and Western Michigan University. She has taught high school English and creative writing and has published short stories and articles. She currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.