The End-or the Beginning

Sometimes we think, It’s all over.

A good time. A relationship we thought would last. A plan for the future.

So, we say goodbye to the person, place, or thing.

But many of us have a hard time accepting the end, especially if we ourselves caused something to end badly.

That’s how it is for Wendy, the main character in 6 Dates to Disaster, third volume of the Bird Face series.

In the final months of ninth grade, Wendy has a few goals:

1. To make money to travel to Alaska to see her former neighbor, Mrs. V, and her newest friend, Mrs. V’s grandson Sam.

2. To strengthen her relationship with David, who has all the best qualities for a boyfriend.

3. To finish the spring semester in top form and inch closer to acquiring a college scholarship.

One poor decision ruins all of Wendy’s plans, creating the worst possible ending for the school year. She admits her mistakes and suffers the consequences. Still, accepting the end of everything she wanted for the future is hard.

But people in our lives have a way of appearing at the right moment—some we never would have expected—to show us that all is not lost.

What we think is a bad ending might just be the start of a new beginning.  

“… but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Romans 5:3-4 ESV Catholic Edition

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About the author: Cynthia writes for tweens and teens because she wants them to know how wonderful, powerful, and valuable God made them. Her novels employ hope and humor to address some of the serious issues young people encounter. She is a member of Catholic Writers Guild. Her books have won a number of awards, including a Catholic Press Association Book Award, two Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, as well as have been finalists for other awards. She is the author of The Other Side of Freedom, a coming-of-age historical novel for boys and girls age ten or older, and the Bird Face contemporary series for girls, which includes 8 Notes to a Nobody, 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status, 6 Dates to Disaster, and 3 Things to Forget. 

All her published novels have received the Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval. She is also a short-story contributor to Secrets: Visible and Invisible, an anthology from Catholic Teen Books. Cynthia has a passion for rescuing dogs and studying the complex history of the friendly southern U.S., where she resides with her husband and several canines.

Image from Pixabay by vdnhieu