Every day I make parenting choices based on a combination of instinct, experience, and fear, and then I pray for the best. These two kids mean everything to me, so I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bargained with God, especially during their teen years. 
Of all the goals in my life, the biggest one is to get them into adulthood happy, well-adjusted, and in one piece. Fortunately, most of my daily decisions have worked out fine.
But have you ever made one parenting decision—one uncomfortable compromise that you felt compelled to make—and had it blow up in your face? It’s bad enough when that mistake costs you something, but ten times worse when it hurts one of your children. This situation is one of the things at the heart of my upcoming release, FOR ALL SHE KNOWS.
When something terrible happens, our first reaction often is to lash out and blame other people or external forces. Perhaps fear and panic short-circuit our reasoning skills, and it feels good in the moment to identify a villain or some other reason why fate went against you. But in truth, I think we simply need time to digest what has happened before we can accept the fact that we did something that caused someone we love pain. And it also takes time to admit to making a mistake, especially for those of us with perfectionist tendencies and control issues!
This brings us to Grace’s journey in my next book, which is a journey of acceptance and forgiveness–of others and of herself–for sins both past and present. I suspect every reader will relate in some way to her struggle. If they are beating up themselves and others for some mistake, I also hope they are inspired to extend an olive branch and move forward.
Most of all, I hope you love this story.
Happy reading!
xo
Jamie B
