COTT: A Bridge Unbroken by Cathy Bryant Wins Clash

by Cathy Bryant

The question I get asked most often as an author is:”What’s the story behind this particular story?” For A Bridge Unbroken, a Christian romanticsuspense and the latest Miller’s Creek novel, the inspiration came from three very specific areas.

My hubby and I seem to have a penchant for buyingfixer-uppers. Usually I enjoy the process, but this time? Not so much.

We moved to the Santa Fe, New Mexico area in the spring of2013 for my husband’s work as a pastor of praise and worship. Since I’m acountry girl at heart and like to have my critters–in this case, chickens,rabbits, and a 75-pound German Shepherd who thinks she’s a Chihuahua–we founda cabin in the lovely

Sangre de Cristo mountains. To keep it short, let me justsay that this house has been the fixer-upper of all fixer-uppers. While we’veaccomplished the most difficult tasks, like kitchen
and bathroom fixes, westill have a long way to go. (You can see pics HERE.)

So when I took time off from the renovation to write A Bridge Unbroken, I knew a houserenovation would be part of the storyline. In the story the heroine, afrightened runaway on the run from an abusive boyfriend, co-inherits herlate-grandfather’s farm and dilapidated farmhouse with a man responsible for scarson her heart. Unusual conditions are attached to the inheritance, and the twomust work together to renovate the farmhouse. (You can watch the book trailer HEREand read a sample chapter HERE.)

I love to write–to plot out scenes, develop characters, andwrangle with words until I find just the right one. I also love interactingwith reader friends. My career as a writer had hit an all-time high and my booksales followed suit…

…until we moved to our remote mountain location where ittook us months to get internet service.

I made weekly trips to McDonald’s to try to stay on top ofthings, but it wasn’t enough. I watched in dismay as my book sales plummeted.To make matters worse, I had no time for writing because of the homerenovation.

It was a natural leap to make Dakota (the heroine of A Bridge Unbroken) a writer. I couldliterally feel her angst at needing to keep her writing career afloat whilerenovating a
broken-down heap of a farmhouse. Yeah, that was easy to write.

When I began praying about the spiritual theme of the story,the answer that came immediately was forgiveness. Quite frankly, I wasn’telated. I often struggle with forgiving others. I’ve always been verysensitive, the kind who wears my heart on my sleeve. And anytime you leave yourheart on your sleeve for any length of time, someone will come along who thinksit’s their job to rip into it.

Then something interesting happened. Everywhere I looked Ifound messages of forgiveness–a devotional magazine, my scripture reading forthe day, a social media post–they were everywhere! I delved into scripture,quickly reminded of things I’d known since childhood, but had chosen tooverlook. Things like: forgiveness isn’t an option or a suggestion, forgivenessis an act of the will, forgiveness is an act of obedience, and more.

I realized during this process that much of the world’steaching on forgiveness had crept into my belief system. And I wasn’t alone!Friends had many of the same ideas, none of which were anywhere in God’s Word.
Worldlymessages like: forgiveness is something you do for yourself, forgive andforget, and forgive if…

I’m always amazed at how much the Lord teaches me through mywriting. Between penning A BridgeUnbroken
and its companion Bible study, TheFragrance of Crushed Violets, God managed to get me back on track inthe matter of forgiveness.

So to answer the question of the story behind this story, itall boils down to three things: home renovation, writing, and most importantly,forgiveness.

Cathy Bryant is the author of the popular Miller’sCreek Novels, set in the fictional back-roadscountry town of Miller’s Creek, Texas…where folks are friendly, the iced tea issweet, and Mama Beth’s front porch beckons. Her passion is to tellheart-stirring stories about God’s life-changing grace. A native Texan, Cathycurrently resides in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern
NewMexico with her minister husband of over thirty years. When she’s not spinningtales about the fine folks of Miller’s Creek, you can find her rummagingthrough thrift stores, hiking through the wilderness, or up to her elbows inyet another home improvement project in the mountain cabin she calls home. Youcan find more about Cathy and her books at CatBryant.com.Cathy also likes to interact with reader friends in the following places: