Destiny

Book excerpt: How do you know destiny when it knocks on your door, or recognize it if it's always been there? Christian Riley, Elizabeth Horace, and Oscar Albright grew up together, the cliched "church kids", but Chris quickly found everything about his life stifling. When he moves to Los Angeles to get away from everything his existence has dictated for him, he doesn't expect Elizabeth to follow him, but he's known for as long as he can remember that she loves him obsessively...just as Oscar loves her. With Chris's faith in tatters, he has no interest in Christianity let alone morality. Yet in the thirteen years that follow, he finds himself returning to Elizabeth whenever he hits rock bottom. Deep down, he understands she alone will always love him, no matter how far he strays or how much he hurts her when he uses her as his last-ditch refuge. When a serial killer/rapist's attack of Elizabeth is mercifully thwarted, Chris's world collapses in on him with guilt and horror coming at him from every corner. The attack has changed Elizabeth. She realizes she's put her life on hold for too long praying for Chris to share her belief that their love and life together is destined. After she severs the ties between them, Chris knows the only way to get her back is to give himself to the Lord. God begins changing him from the inside out, but--too little, too late--has he fallen in love when his angel of mercy is no longer available to him?