Dare to Say Yes

Are you a planner? An organized woman whose life runs on a schedule that would make the airline industry jealous? Do you have your life arranged so well that you can hit your calendar with a dart and know exactly where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing no matter which square it hits?

I recently wrote a book called The Yes Dare. It’s a contemporary novel that asks the question, “What is a woman to do when the carefully curated life she planned has taken an unexpected turn?” The funny part about writing the novel was I didn’t have to do any research to answer that question. For me, the answer was easy.

First, you panic.

Okay, maybe you don’t panic. You definitely should not. But speaking from experience, when life’s wild roller coaster dips to the right, and I was expecting a smooth road headed north in my fully gassed-up and immaculate SUV, my reaction is generally not one of smiling acceptance. In fact, I can get downright cranky when things do not go as planned.

I have even been known to complain to friends. The keyword here is complain. I’m not usually asking for advice or feedback, just sympathy. That’s what friends are for, right?

In the case of my character, Coco Sutton, the unanticipated turn of events is the return of a husband she thought was long gone and a marriage she thought was broken. In a heartbeat, Coco’s life, which she’d worked so hard to craft around the fragile shell of a broken heart, crumbles. Coco takes her dilemma to her friends—first Sessa, her tried-and-true bestie, and then to the women of the Pies, Books, & Jesus Book Club.

Your life has taken an unexpected turn, you’ve reined in the panic, and you’ve taken your woes to your committee of friends. Now what?

Take a breath. Let it out slowly. Repeat.

That’s what I did. Eventually. And in my novel, that’s what Coco did. And those friends of hers down at the book club? They were the good kind of friends: truth-tellers. She didn’t get an agreement with her complaint or a soft place to land from them.

What she did get was open arms, listening ears, and some good, hard truth about what do to when life throws you for a loop. Then came her best friend’s assertion that she should embrace the change.

Can you embrace the change? A change you neither planned for nor want? For someone who has a carefully curated life and a planner written in ink with multi-colored stickers, those three words, embrace the change, can be terrifying.

But wait. There’s more.

Though it may sometimes feel as though there is no rhyme or reason to the things that come my way, I know better. Revisit that second step with me. The part where we take a breath and let it out slowly.

The part where we slow down.

The part where we pray.

Because not a single unexpected event or crazy roller coaster ride surprises the Author of our lives. Eventually, Coco figures this out. She dares to say yes when God interrupts her plans with plans of his own.

Unlike fiction, real life is never neatly plotted. But daring to say yes when the Lord leads you in an unexpected direction? There is a happy ending in that every time.

Publishers Weekly Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee and bestselling author of more than one hundred books with over two million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad. A tenth-generation Texan and certified paralegal, she is a member of the Texas Bar Association Paralegal Division, Texas A&M Association of Former Students, Texas A&M Women Former Students (Aggie Women), Texas Historical Society, Sisters in Crime, and American Christian Fiction Writers. She would also be a member of the Daughters of the American Republic, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and a few others if she would just remember to fill out the paperwork that Great Aunt Mary Beth has sent her more than once. Kathleen and her hero-in-combat-boots husband have their own surprise love story that unfolded on social media a few years back. They make their home just north of Houston, Texas and are the parents and in-laws of a blended family of Texans, Okies, and a family of three adorable Londoners. To find out more about Kathleen or connect with her through social media, check out her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.