Robin Lee Hatcher talks about her latest release - The Heart's Pursuit
An interview
with Robin Lee Hatcher,
Author of The Heart’s Pursuit
Q: What is the spiritual thread that
runs through The Heart’s Pursuit?
Forgiveness,
justice and trust.
Q: Both of the main characters are
out for revenge against people who have taken something from them. Why do you
think readers will be able to relate to those feelings?
Everybody
has been hurt by someone in their lives. Some wounds go very deep, others stay
on the surface, but they still affect the heart.
Part
of my nature is a strong desire for justice to be done. Not only justice for
myself but for the world around me. But there is a fine line between fighting
for justice and the yearning for revenge upon those who are unjust. We must
learn to leave such matters to God, to let go of the hurts and forgive and to
trust God with the outcome.
Q: We can all think of people who
have wronged us. What is the effect of anger and bitterness on our hearts and
lives?
It
is my opinion that most often we hold onto anger and bitterness because we have
the mistaken notion that it will somehow hurt the person who hurt us. The truth
is, that person probably isn’t giving us a single thought and may not care at
all about what they’ve done. Holding onto anger and bitterness isn’t hurting
them; it’s hurting us. Anger and bitterness are like a poison spreading in our
hearts, and they will consume us if we don’t let go. Forgiveness isn’t really
about the person who offended us at all. It is about us. We are made better,
healthier and cleaner when we forgive those who have wronged us.
Q: Have you ever desired revenge? If
so, how did you move beyond that desire into forgiveness?
Yes,
I have been so hurt that I wanted revenge and found it difficult to forgive. I began
a practice many years ago that has helped me overcome and truly forgive. I begin
by writing on an index card: “Today, I forgive ‘So-and-So’ as an act of will
and obedience to Christ.” Then I will date the card, sign my name and place the
card in my Bible. Whenever old feelings of hurt rise up in me, I pull out that
card and remind myself (and the devil who is whispering lies in my ear) that I
have forgiven that person.
Next,
I pray for the person who has wronged and hurt me. I ask God to save her if she
doesn’t know the Lord. Then I ask God to bless her socks off. I ask for her to
have financial success and success in her career and in her relationships and
in any other way I can think of. I have found it impossible to harbor
resentment in my heart when I am praying for blessings to be poured out on
someone.
An
important distinction to remember is that we are not required to feel forgiveness. We are simply
commanded to forgive as an act of obedience. We forgive because God tells us
to. We forgive because He first forgave us. I have found that when I forgive in
obedience, the feeling of forgiveness
eventually follows.
Q: Some of your contemporary
releases draw on your personal experiences. Do you relate to the characters in
a historical novel like The Heart’s Pursuit? If so, which ones and why?
There
are pieces of me in every character I create. Or at least there are pieces of emotions
and circumstances I have learned empathy for through my observations of life.
And whatever God is teaching me when I am writing a novel will surely find its
way into that story in one form or another. Because of that, yes, I do relate
to my characters, whether the setting is historical or contemporary.
Q: Silver, your leading lady, has
come to believe she isn’t deserving of love. What would you say to the person
who feels like God could never love them?
I
have seen others take on a hurt that makes them believe themselves undeserving
of love, and I’ve witnessed the harm that can cause through the years. Believing
God cannot love us almost always stems from thinking we have to earn His love — that there is something
we must do or give up that will make us a better person and therefore worthy of being loved. It is a lie
straight from the devil’s lips. Reject it! My advice for someone struggling
with this belief, and a reminder to myself when I know I’ve tripped up in my
walk with Christ, is for us to get into the Bible and discover for ourselves
all He has said about His love for us.
Q: At first, Silver and Jared are
united in their mission for justice — but the dishonesty that exists between
them creates a wedge. What lessons about honesty are there for real-life relationships?
Secrets
and dishonesty are enemies of any intimate relationship, whether its nature is
platonic, romantic or familial. We must learn to tell the truth in love. That
is never easy. In 2003, Randy Alcorn released a wonderful book called The Grace and Truth Paradox that made a
huge impact on me when it comes to speaking both
truth and grace into any situation. I highly recommend it.
Q: Every generation that experiences
war is changed by what they go through. How did the Civil War, which ended
eight years before this book opens, impact your characters’ families? In what
ways were the protagonists still carrying the weight of those experiences?
The
war itself took away Jared’s brothers and may have played a part in the evil
that befell the remaining family members after the war. Silver’s father chose
to take his family to a place where they could start over, leaving behind the
sadness of so many missing young men in their former hometown.
We
all carry the weight of what has happened to us in our lives. Our experiences
shape us, sometimes strengthening our character and sometimes weakening it. The
same is true for Jared and Silver.
Q: What do you want your readers to
take away with them after they’ve closed the covers of The Heart’s Pursuit?
My
first hope, as always, is that my readers will have been entertained for a few
hours and that they will have come to love my characters and perhaps even miss
them when the book is over. Secondly, I hope they will have taken one step
closer to God because of something one of my characters learned over the course
of the story.
Learn
more about Robin Lee Hatcher and
The Heart’s Pursuit at www.robinleehatcher.com, Facebook or Twitter.
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