Her Heart's Impatience: "Love is..." Series, #3

By Lila Diller

An impatient bride. A physical groom. Will there be a wedding after all?

 

In Her Heart's Impatience, Morgan wonders if she can survive making the 1,001 wedding decisions in spite of her family's conflicting advice and opinions. Add work tensions and waiting to consummate their love, and Morgan's patience wears thin. In order to show true agape love to their families, to each other, and to their God, they must conquer their selfish and lustful desires with true love, remaining patient, submissive, and pure.

 

Will they learn to wait on the Lord? Or will they rush into an impure relationship and sully their love with guilt?

 

Based on the Bible's definition of true agape love in 1 Corinthians 13, Her Heart's Impatience is the third installment of the "Love is…" series, a contemporary Christian Romance continuing Morgan's saga.

 

If you like a quick and easy read, with character development and a Biblical approach, then you'll love Lila Diller's book. Buy Her Heart's Impatience to see if Morgan and Jason conquer annoyance, stress, and lust, as they discover true patience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lila Diller
• Release date: Jul 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393294184

Lila Diller

Lila is both a hopeless romantic and a grammarian. A “multipotentialite,” her interests reach across the creative spectrum, from photography to scrapbooking to music to painting to writing. She claims not to be an expert in anything but a life-long learner in many things. Her 42 years have given her a passion for fellow believers, and she tackles spiritual problems one blog post at a time at liladiller.com and through four Christian novels since 2017. Join her at www.liladiller.com.

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©2018 by Diller Designs, Lila Diller, Author

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email [e-mail], addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the KJV translation.

English Standard Version (ESV). Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some content (Scriptures verses marked NLT) taken from the New Living Translation of the Bible by Copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cover photo by Jack Moreh, used with permission from Free Range Stock.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

♥ RECOMMENDATION ♥

Her Heart's Impatience is the 3rd  in the Love is... Series. It can be read separately, but the author recommends the reader first acquaint themselves with Morgan and Jason in #1, Her Heart's Decision.

♥ DEDICATION ♥

To my sister, Rebecca, for letting me use parts of your story and for being encouraging and for listening throughout this journey. You’re one of my best friends!

(Readers should know that not all of Amy Grace’s story is true.)

♥ AN IMPORTANT NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR ♥

Friends,

I have struggled with how much to include during that scene, when the PG rating dropped a bit (Chapter 10). I want to minister both to married women and single women. Romantic relationships are messy, but good marriages start before the wedding. But I don't want to cause anyone to stumble into lust or envy. So, I've prayed, worked, reworked, and sought out godly advice to make this scene real but not graphic. I have deleted the steamiest bits, but it might still be considered steamy to some.

Please know my desire is to help, to build up the Body of Christ, His Church. I pray this subject will not be a stumbling block but will be another area we invite Jesus into.

That being said, I don't recommend this book for girls under the age of 16. If you feel uncomfortable, you can always skip Chapter 10 and pick the story back up in Chapter 11.

I'm praying for you as you read.

In Christ,

Lila

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, ESV

"Love is patient and kind;

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,

but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never ends."

CHAPTER 1: DREAMING

I FLIPPED THROUGH THE pages of the bridal magazine yet again, from one dog-eared page to the next, dreaming and desiring. I imagined myself in the long, white, heavily embroidered, strapless wedding dress, complete with flowing train and fluffy veil.

I saw myself sauntering down the aisle, two flower girls in front, strewing pink and purple rose petals for my highheeled pumps to tread, adding two girls behind me to hold my magnificent train.

I glanced again at the price, and that vision broke into a million disappointed pieces. $300 was the most my budget would allow for a dress. But none of these new ones were less than a thousand!

My agitation began to nauseate me. I would just forgo the new wedding dress. I wanted something simpler anyway.

I didn't know enough little girls to have flower girls and train-holding girls. No train. And strapless? What was I thinking? Practically, I wasn't buxom enough to hold anything strapless in place, not to mention the college's condemnation of such a potentially immodest style. Maybe I could find a used dress in my budget.

And high heels weren't my thing, either. A short and wide wedge was the closest I came to a high heel. Surely, I could find a pair of cute white sandals or something a little more comfortable. 

What about the flowers? Roses were too expensive, especially fresh. I was sure I could find fake—I mean, silk—flowers at Hobby Lobby to offset those costs.

I wasn't sure what other decorations were necessary. Did I need to have a unity candle? What about arbors or arches? They would be lovely, but I had no idea what they would cost.

And colors. I still didn't know which color I wanted. I would probably need two colors, but which ones? If it were solely my preference, I would choose something purple, my favorite color. But I wanted Jason to like his wedding, too. I knew his favorite colors were blue and yellow. I didn't want purple and blue. But yellow is purple's complementary color. Maybe I could get away with purple for me and yellow for him.

Well, one decision down. About five hundred more to go. Now I finally understood the stress experienced by all those brides in the romance movies I used to watch.

I raided the pantry for my stash of chocolate. Yes, I thought I had saved candy bars from my Christmas stocking at Jason's parents' house. Stress requires chocolate. That's the rule at my house.

I flopped back on the sofa and reached for my folder of wedding ideas. I pulled out the four-page checklist and skimmed through the items next on my list. Deciding on the date and the venue were the top two. I had ideas for both but nothing set in stone yet.

I needed to email my work supervisor about dates. I pulled my laptop onto my lap and stretched my legs out along the couch. I quickly typed a message:

Mrs. Duncan,

I am planning on getting married this summer. Would it be okay if I take my vacation on the Fourth of July weekend so that I can have a longer honeymoon? Since we’re already getting Monday the 4th and Tuesday the 5th off, I would only need July 6-15 off.

Thank you,

Morgan

Ugh! I wish I could make it sound less formal, but Mrs. Duncan shunned warm relationships with her underlings. I guess that was the best I could do.

I clicked send and checked my list again. Oh, yeah, the venue. I had heard that the new auditorium in construction was scheduled to be finished before graduation and would include two chapels. My first choice of venue would be to rent one of them, but I didn't know who to contact.

Feeling thankful again for private access to the college's website, I explored until I found an Interior Department, in charge of decorating for events. I found the name of the supervisor, Mrs. Alberta Martin, and I copied her email address into a new message.

Mrs. Martin,

I saw on the website that your department decorates for events. Does that include weddings? I'm hoping to schedule my wedding for Saturday, July 2nd, in one of the new chapels in the new Madison Hall auditorium. Can you help me? Or at least point me to the person I need to talk to? Thank you!

I sent this message, too, and closed my laptop with an air of finality.

There! I said aloud. Jason will be proud of me, checking two items off my list... or at least halfway, until I hear back from them.

The little house, though cozy and warm with a space heater aimed at the couch, seemed quiet and empty. I needed to talk to myself just to fend off the loneliness.

I wished again my puppy could live with me. But it wouldn't be fair for an obviously energetic and people-oriented puppy to be alone all day. Jason's parents were gracious enough to keep him for me temporarily, but I looked forward to the day when I could bring him home to stay. 

Who knew when that would be, though. Even once Jason and I were married, we would both be working full time, most likely. Unless Jason still hadn't started a new job by then. 

I halted that line of thinking and reached for the chocolates, popping another into my mouth. I tried to drown every thought racing through my mind and every anxiety churning my stomach by savoring the rich, dark chocolate. It lasted all of thirty seconds, maybe, and then I was back where I started—anxious and confused.

I glanced at the clock and realized it was time to get ready for bed. I didn't know how I would get to sleep with tension growing in my stomach and caffeine from the chocolate coursing through my system. Why can't I remember that chocolate has caffeine, too? I can remember to drink decaffeinated coffee or tea after noon, but I can never remember there's enough caffeine in chocolate to steal my sleep, too.

I heated a glass of milk, added a dash of nutmeg, and then left it to cool. While waiting, I turned on my MP3 player. I began my custom playlist of slow songs to go to sleep to, hoping it would assist the warm milk. In addition to the melody soothing my soul—and the milk soothing my stomach—the lyrics reminded me of where to bring my anxiety first. 

"Lord, thank You for using music to remind me of You. Thank You for Your graciousness and kindness. Would You please graciously grant me some sleep tonight? You know how much sleep I need. I shouldn't have eaten the chocolate so late, but I forgot