Today, I’m welcoming another one of my Brave Authors colleagues, Lori DeJong. Lori has just released a new book in her True Calling series, entitled Love’s True Measure.
Before we dive into Lori’s post, I want to make sure you’re aware of this amazing group of authors who’ve joined together to include difficult topics in their writing. All of the Brave Authors hail from a Christian worldview, though some of us have chosen to branch into the General Market.
Lori writes Contemporary Christian Romance, and you can find a link to her latest release at the bottom of this post, along with links to her social media and website. Without further ado, here’s Lori:
When I first started writing the True Calling Series, I knew I didn’t want to shy away from the messy, complicated parts of life. From Love’s True Calling to Love’s True Home and my new release, Love’s True Measure, each book deals with themes that aren’t easy—addiction, abandonment, grief, abuse, deep disappointment. Even anger at God. But woven through every page, every struggle, is the quiet and steady presence of hope.
Because that’s what I believe I’m called to as a writer of Christian fiction—to tell the hard truths, but never without reminding readers that God is still in the middle of it.
Real life is rarely wrapped in a pretty bow. It’s full of broken families, second chances that don’t come easy, and wounds that take more than a few chapters to heal. But I also believe that within the pages of my fictional stories, I can offer something more than escape—I can offer redemption. Restoration. A picture of what God can do with even the most shattered parts of our real-life stories.
Why I Write the Hard Things
Why do I tackle such weighty subjects in my books that are “supposed to be” romance? Because love, real love, is forged in the fire. It’s not just about butterflies and banter (though I always include a bit of those, too). It’s about seeing one another fully—scars and all—and choosing to stay. It’s about what God does when two people learn to love each other the way He loves us—sacrificially, patiently, with grace.
In Love’s True Calling, Harper carries wounds from her past that most people don’t see. Wyatt questions whether he’s missing something in his ministry to teenagers. If he’s truly doing enough. Their second-chance love story isn’t simple, but it’s honest. It’s hopeful. And it reflects the God who doesn’t leave us where He found us.
In Love’s True Home, Ally just wants to build a stable foundation beneath her but can’t escape the conviction that she hasn’t fully surrendered her dreams to God. Fun-loving, always-sees-the-good-in-everything Zane is hiding a deeply buried pain stemming from a childhood tragedy. Together, they discover the true meaning of “home” is nothing either ever expected.
And Love’s True Measure—perhaps the most emotionally raw of the three—deals with the ache of loss, the kind that changes your whole rhythm of life. Shannon has hidden her deepest shame beneath layers of “doing good” while Hunter, whose carefully curated life and career is put to the test after a family tragedy, is faced with defining what truly measures a life. Success, wealth, status? Or a heart surrendered to God? Writing that story stretched me. It reminded me that sometimes healing isn’t about resolution, it’s about presence. About showing up. About love that doesn’t run from grief but walks through it with open hands and a listening heart.
Romance as a Reflection of God’s Love
One of my greatest joys as a writer is crafting stories where love doesn’t rescue the characters from their struggles but stands with them through it. Where healing isn’t instant, and trust takes time. Where God’s grace is the truest love story on the page.
That’s the heartbeat of the True Calling Series. Not perfection, but process. Not quick fixes, but lasting transformation. And always, always, a love that points beyond itself.
Hope for the Reader
My prayer in writing these stories is that readers will see themselves—whether they’re walking through addiction recovery, grief, family wounds, or just the quiet ache of not knowing where they belong. I want them to know they’re seen. That no matter how broken things might look, God isn’t finished.
Each book ends with the kind of hope that doesn’t deny the pain but transcends it. Not because everything is suddenly easy, but because grace has entered the picture. And grace changes everything.
So, yes, I write about the hard things. But I do it because I believe in the healing power of story. I believe God uses fiction to remind us that no one is too far gone, no loss is beyond redemption, and no heart is too wounded to love again.
If you’ve read the first two books of the True Calling Series, thank you for walking through those hard places with my characters—and maybe even with me. If you have, I hope you’ll follow the characters through my new release, Love’s True Measure. If you haven’t read them yet, I hope you’ll take a chance on stories that might just look a little like your own. Stories that dig deep but always leave you standing in the light.
Lori DeJong (pronounced DeeYung) is a contemporary Christian romance author who enjoys penning stories full of grace and the redemptive power of God’s love that inspire others to hope regardless of circumstance, find joy in the moment, and grow in their faith.
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Lori arrived in Texas in 2005 and dug those roots right in. She currently resides in beautiful Georgetown, north of Austin, with her husband of thirty years. Other than their two fur-babies, their nest is empty, as their daughter graduated from college and settled in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, where she is thriving in her faith and career.
Lori loves to write about love and romance and all that fun stuff, with a firm foundation of faith. Clean but sassy, sparkly, and even goose-bumpy romance, with God in the middle and characters seeking and learning and changing, couldn’t be more heartwarming or spine-tingly.
Lori’s debut novel, Love’s True Calling, Book One of her True Calling Series, was the 2020 winner of the Scrivenings Press Novel Starts Contest, the 2022 winner of the ACFW Genesis Award for Romance, was a double finalist in the 2024 Selah Awards, placed second in the 2024 FHL Reader’s Choice Awards, and was the Scrivenings Press 2023 Contemporary Book of the Year. Love’s True Home was released in June 2024 and was a 2024 Selah finalist. Love’s True Measure released in June 2025. Her novella, Jingle Bell Matchmakers was released in October 2024 as part of A Match Made at Christmas: A Collection of Christmas Romance Novellas.
Follow Lori at:
Amazon Author Page, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub, Pinterest
Sign up for her newsletter at https://bit.ly/LoriDeJongCommunity
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