Unveiling “Desire of My Heart”: A Faith-Filled Journey | Christian Historical Fiction

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Hi, Heidi Gray McGill here. As Julie Andrews once sang, the beginning is a very good place to start. I agree, though you’ll find less Do-Re-Mi in my books and more yee-haw. Although characters occasionally break out in song, it’s usually a classic hymn you’ll recognize.

My Discerning God’s Best series takes you into the enchanting world of Shumard Oak Bend in 1868, Missouri. Come romp over mountain fields with me (Bring your own fabric curtain outfit) as I unveil the captivating tale of “Desire Of My Heart,” the first book in my Christian Historical novel series.

Within the pages of this heartwarming story, I invite you to journey alongside characters whose lives are intertwined with faith, love, and the divine hand of God. As we explore the depths of their experiences, we’ll uncover the beauty of trusting God’s perfect plan, even when it requires patience in the waiting.

Remember in The Sound of Music where Maria and the children eagerly await Captain von Trapp’s return home after the Salzburg Folk Festival performance? They are uncertain of his reaction, which builds anticipation and tension. Well, you’ll have many gripping moments in Desire of My Heart. Have tissues handy.

Through the trials and triumphs of Rachel, a young orphan girl, and her brother Charlie, you’ll witness firsthand the power of prayer and the reassurance that God hears the whispers of our hearts, even amidst moments of silence. Their journey serves as a poignant reminder of the profound truth that God is always at work, even when His presence seems veiled.

In The Sound of Music, Maria prays for guidance and strength from God before meeting the von Trapp family for the first time, reflecting her faith and inner turmoil as she begins her role as their governess. Rachel, the main character in my book, has about as much patience as Maria (played by Julie Andrews) and takes matters into her own hands, not waiting for God to answer,

As we delve into the narrative, we’ll encounter themes of community and compassion and the significance of extending kindness, empathy, and support to those in society who are often overlooked, disadvantaged, or discriminated against. Each character you meet will exude warmth and authenticity, leaving an indelible mark on your soul with their genuine hospitality and unwavering love, much like the von Trapp children left an indelible mark on Maria.

“Desire of My Heart” is not merely a story—it’s an invitation to embark on a soul-stirring adventure, where every chapter unfolds with profound biblical lessons and timeless truths. Allow yourself to be swept away by the magic of Shumard Oak Bend as we discover together the depth of God’s boundless love.

Join me as we dive into this captivating journey that promises to inspire, uplift, and leave you yearning for more. Let the pages of “Desire of My Heart” guide you into the heart of God’s unfailing grace.

Enter to win a PAPERBACK copy today and embark on an unforgettable voyage of faith and discovery by leaving a comment below about a time when you had to cling to faith and trust that things would work out.

To learn more about my books, visit my website at HeidiGrayMcGill.com.  On my website, you’ll find my statement of faith, have an opportunity to sign up for the free eBook prequel to my Discerning God’s Best series, see a tab that will take you to a FREE audiobook on YouTube, and be able to read my statement of faith.

Connecting with readers is important to me. Enter the contest to win a paperback copy of “Desire of My Heart,” and connect with me through my website and social media, and I’ll happily return the kindness.

Experience a journey of faith and healing in the award-winning Christian fiction works of author Heidi Gray McGill. Everything Heidi writes is purposeful. Heidi brings readers into an awareness of who God is to them and how He interacts with them through masterfully crafted characters so relatable you feel part of who they are. Heidi’s books take readers on an exploration of healing through God’s Word. Follow the inspiring journeys of Heidi’s characters as she infuses her faith into her works, making her stories come alive with powerful emotion.

Be the first to know about Heidi’s FREE audiobooks by subscribing to her YouTube channel

No matter how dark her night became, she knew God promised joy in the morning.

In the heart of 1858 Missouri, Rachel’s world is a whirlwind of uncertainty. But amidst the darkness of her circumstances, she clings to the promise of joy that God whispers to her soul.

Facing the grim reality of being sold off into marriage as she ages out of the orphanage, Rachel refuses to accept her fate. With determination blazing in her heart, she hatches a daring plan with her beloved brother to escape the cruel grip of destiny.

Enter Melvin, a widower burdened with raising two young children alone. Desperate for help, he sees a glimmer of hope in Rachel—a chance for a new beginning through a marriage of convenience.

As God intertwines their lives, the five of them embark on a journey that transcends the bounds of blood, forming an unlikely family bound by love, resilience, and unwavering faith. Through trials and triumphs, they forge a home where hope blooms even in the harshest of circumstances.

But just when they think they’ve found their slice of heaven on Earth, tragedy strikes, threatening to shatter their newfound happiness. Yet, guided by the light of God’s love and surrounded by a steadfast community, they rise from the ashes stronger than ever before.

Rachel’s adventure unfolds against the backdrop of a tumultuous era, where every twist and turn brings her closer to her heart’s desire. Yet, in her quest for love, purpose, and security, she discovers that God’s plans far surpass her wildest dreams.

Join Rachel on her breathtaking journey through the untamed landscapes of the past, where love, faith, and the promise of a brighter tomorrow illuminate even the darkest of nights.

In this powerful Christian historical fiction, award-winning author Heidi Gray McGill weaves an enthralling tale of resilience, redemption, and the enduring power of God’s grace. Purchase your copy today.

For Misty M. Beller, Lacy Williams, and Linda Ford fans, this standalone novel in the Discerning God’s Best series will capture your heart and leave you breathless. You’ll love this book if you enjoy gripping historical drama and compelling characters. Binge-read the entire series on Kindle Unlimited.

  • Full-length Christian historical fiction
  • A standalone novel in the Discerning God’s Best series
  • Includes discussion questions for book clubs
  • Timeline: 1858 – 1857
  • For fans of Misty M. Beller, Lacy Williams, and Linda Ford

Discerning God’s Best Historical Romance Series

Book One: Desire of My Heart

Book Two: With All My Heart

Book Three: Matters of the Heart

Book Four: Healing of the Heart

Heidi’s Website

Prequel: Deep in My Heart – available for free with newsletter signup: https://heidigraymcgill.com/free_book/

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49 thoughts on “Unveiling “Desire of My Heart”: A Faith-Filled Journey | Christian Historical Fiction”

  1. Thirty years ago, I was very sick, went to several doctors, and it took awhile to find the answer and diagnosis. . Incurable, but treatable chronic autoimmune disease. Had to rely on my faith a lot to process it and trust it would all work out.

  2. After several miscarriages, God answered my husband’s and my prayers with a full-term pregnancy that resulted in the birth of our daughter.

  3. When I my son was hospitalized with pneumonia. The told me he would have been dead by morning if I hadn’t brought him in. He was 25 years old at the time and he kept telling I feel better and would not go. I finally convinced him he needed to go!

  5. I was married to an abusive alcoholic who left church, found a girlfriend, filed for divorce, and then when they went their separate ways, wanted to come back. My life and my daughters’s lives was so much more peaceful, I told him no way. 13 years later I remarried a committed Christian man. It was a hard road to go down, but God helped me every step.

  6. Surviving triple negative breast cancer was nearly impossible without my faith. God was present every moment of the day and especially in times of suffering. I praise Him!

  7. At this particular time, I was still a bit new to total faith in OUR Lord and Savior, JESUS CHRIST. We were visiting with our daughter and her husband after having twin boys after 7 years of trying. When one of the boys became ill, they were each only 5 weeks old, and was diagnosed with a blockage in his digestive tract before the stomach. He required surgery and it was a very scary time. While in the hospital, awaiting word of the surgery and it’s results, I went to the chapel and prayed for a very long time. I began to feel relieved when I knew he was going to be alright. I sought the family to find out he had come out of the surgery with a full recovery expected. Praise the LORD! Our prayers had been answered. Nowadays I rely solely on my Lord and Savior to lead my life.

  8. It was back in the early years of 2000 when our family was going through a really hard time. My husband and oldest son were accused of something that didn’t happen. I watched them go to jail and our two youngest children were put in foster care. I learned to pray in a whole new way. Then when things got darker than I ever imagined, all I could do was trust God in blind faith. I learned that God was in full control. I found out who were really friends. Our family is stronger today thanks to God for his blessings in getting through this time.

  9. Fancy meeting you here! When Mom passed, family dynamics changed drastically, and since I’d been her full-time caregiver for nine years, losing Mom and all of the other stress on top of that, meant I really clung to God even more than before! And while things aren’t all resolved, my faith is stronger, and I KNOW God is with me!

  10. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I was completely shocked since I was healthy. I had to undergo treatment which was unpleasant and painful. I did recover with several problems but I am healthy and managing once again.

  12. Hi Heidi, Almost 17 years ago I got a phone call from my son’s (he lives 6 hours away from me)girl friend telling me he was in the hospital and they didn’t know what he had. Well I was home and my husband was at work, so I called my husband, he said he was coming home and we would drive to the hospital when he got home, In the meantime I called my daughter to let her know (she was 7months pregnant at the time) well we all drove to the hospital as soon as my husband got home. My daughter and my son in law were in their vehicles and my husband and I in ours. The whole 6 hours on the road I prayed to God to please let me get to my son and to let me see him alive. When we finally got to the hospital , we had to wear masks at one at a time got to see him for a few minutes, everyone but my daughter got to see him because they did not know what was wrong with him and she was 7 months pregnant. They told us that what he had or what they knew he was becoming paralyzed , he could not feel his feet and the Drs. were afraid that if the paralyzation kept climbing up that it could get to his lungs and that would be it. Well Thank God that they were able to slow it down and he made it through the night. The next day the Infectious Disease Dr. told us what he had and it did not sound good at all, she told us what he had and it was Transverse Myelitis of which none of us had ever heard of, she told us that if he did not improve in 2 days that he would remain paralyzed from his waist down, I kept praying and praying and Thank God he got much better and he got his feelings back. Praise be to God. He started off on a wheelchair , then he was able to use a walker and when we got out of the hospital on the 5th day he was walking on his own, I stayed there in the hospital with him the whole time and I helped him shower . It was so painful to see him like that, but Thanks be to God that He healed him. We dont know how he got this, our son had had a fever and then he couldn’t walk too good, he had called our daughter and our son in law who are both R.N.’s and they told him to go to the ER right away. One of my son’s little toe is kind of numb, but that is nothing compared to what could have been. God is Good All of the Time.

  13. My mom had a health scare several years ago and it was a scariest time for me so far. But looking back I can see God’s hand in all the little details, from when it happened to where and everything in between. God is so good!

  14. All through middle school and especially high school, I have severe chronic migraines headaches with nausea/vomiting and there were days I couldn’t go or didn’t know how I did make it. I had to put all my faith and trust in God and every morning before I went to school, my mom or both my mom & dad(if he wasn’t at work) would pray with me that I would be in his hands and to use me for whatever his plans were for me. By the time I graduated, there were many students and teachers who said I was an inspiration to them and I always gave God the credit.

  15. After suffering with breast cancer and the after effects which wore me down for years, I was diagnosed with RA. This was so debilitating and difficult. I persisted and gained my strength. Better and still striving each day.

  16. I’ve been a Christian all my life, but I’ve been on a true journey of clinging to faith & trusting God to “work all things for good” for the past 24 years. I was 26 years old, married for three-and-a-half years, with a two-year-old daughter, when we had our second child, a son, in September of 1999. I got sick when he was seven weeks old & have suffered severe symptoms from then until now. There have been/are good times & hard times, easy days & almost unbearable days, happy years & tough years, but through it all, God has never left my side. Our children grew up into fine young people who have compassionate hearts for others & have also chosen to live for God. That makes me so grateful to Him for keeping us all through the extremely difficult times. We have a very close-knit love in our family & all the credit goes to God for His faithfulness to us!!!

    • And I failed to mention that God blessed me with a wonderful, caring, faithful husband who has stood by my side & loves me through it all. THAT is a blessing that I thank God for ALWAYS!!!!

  17. Hi Heidi,
    Hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend!
    My oldest son turned 5 on Thanksgiving in 1990. We were visiting my husband’s family which is about 2 hours from our house. That morning he woke up in severe pain. He had abdominal pain and leg pain so severe he couldn’t stand or walk. He developed a rash on his legs, arms and abdomen.His pee was the color of Coca Cola. Luckily we were in a bigger city with a Children’s Hospital. We spent the majority of that day dealing with lab tests and X-rays and physical examinations. Eventually they determined he had an autoimmune disease HS Purpura. He was so sick for 6 months. We were worried about long term complications to his kidneys.
    We felt so helpless. He could hardly eat as the disease caused nausea and vomiting.
    It was scary for our other children aged 7, 3 and 6 months old. I was scared too.
    He made a full recovery.

  18. There have been many times in my life where I had ro let go and trust that God was indeed in control. Probably the biggest most difficult of all was when, after becoming a single mom of four (ages 14-12 at the time) through the end of my 5 year marriage. The divorce was difficult enough but after an abusive incident with the kids paternal grandparents and me, for my kids protection refusing to take them to their house, my Ex decided to file for full custody of the kids. The custody battle drug on for 3 year. At times I was terrified I would lose my children. Finally the judge told my ex to cease and desist, the kids were to stay with me and if he persisted he would face contempt charges. Without God I would have never made it through that time period emotionally or financially. Fortunately i was able to sheild the kids from most of the court dealings. God is indeed good, the kids and I made it through the fire safe and sound physically and emotionally. They are now all wonderful adults, 34, 32, 30 and 27. I am so proud of all of them.

  19. There have been many times in my life that had to let go and let God. One would be the morning that our dog woke me up about 5:00am. I did not have to get up for a while to get ready for work. I thought he needed to go out. He would not allow me to go back to sleep. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom where I did my morning devotions. While I was in the bathroom, he wiggled himself between my legs and the tub. As I left the bathroom, there was smoke in the hallway. I hurried to our room and put on a pair of sweats and tennis shoes. When we went down the stairs, the air was fresh. We went to the kitchen and put the leash on the dog, put on my coat and grabbed my purse. My Mom lived across the street. We were going out the door and ready to cross the street. I saw that the fire was in the apartment next to ours. There was also a gentleman walking toward the corner. When I made it across the street, my Mom was at the door opening it for me. She told me that there was a gentleman knocking on the door telling her that her daughter, Debbie, needed her. When she went to call in the fire, it had already been called in. No one else ever saw the gentleman. The fire chief told us that if the dog had not woke me up, I would not have survived. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  20. When my son was about 2 years old and had kidney reflux and we were facing surgery. He was on antibiotics for 9 months and we were scheduled for surgery and we asked the doctor to do the test one more time an d he came back in about 19 minutes and the problem was no longer there. God answers prayer

  21. Six years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer after an abnormal mammogram and a biopsy. Fortunately, it was found in the beginning stage and I only had a lumpectomy and four weeks of radiation. Subsequent annual mammograms after that hasn’t shown anything else.

  22. When I tore up my knee severely years ago, had to undergo surgery and physical therapy. It did not look good for me to walk again without a walker. I was struggling and really had to lean on God at that time. I was able to walk again through the grace of God.

  23. Welcome. Wow this sounds like a wonderful story to read and re-read. I have been a christian since I was nine years old. I had a wonderful example in my mom and her friends. When I was thirteen I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. I wont give you the whole story, it is long. I am now 64 and I still have it. But at the time, I was confused as to why I could not be normal again. I had to take medication three times a day. I could not do certain things. My dear mom saw this and started to pray with me every morning. This became a habit to pray every morning and it included praying about my health and obedience to Jesus and obedience to what the doctors said I needed to do. It was difficult, I will not lie here. But with the help of my mom and dad and three brothers and sister, I survived school. I got engaged to a man who loved Jesus first and fell head over heals with me. My three brothers took him aside and let him know all the ins and outs of what he was getting with me. He was ok with that. He prayed hard and felt the Lord guiding him. With that my brothers gave me over to him with their blessing. LOL I still giggle at that part. Anyway, my faith was a basket case. Literally. But from what I learned from mom and from some of my bible study groups, obedience in Jesus was the most important thing ever. We got married and have been together now for 40 years. Tough, yes some parts have been. But not because of my Epilepsy. My dear husband loves me the way I am. And yes I know that he protects me, even though I dont feel like I need it at times. But in a way I am living my own romance story. Yeeesssss. God knows what we need when we need it. We have two children who are healthy, wonderful adults now.

  24. My husband had complained of a sore tooth for weeks so I finally made him have it checked. The dentist did a minor root canal, but when that healed, the pain was still there. I insisted he go back and the dentist did an extensive cleaning, finding a small flap of tissue on the side of one molar. Standard procedure is to biopsy any tissue removed. Shockingly, they found it was cancerous. He had a rare form of bone cancer that has no real symptoms until it intrudes into the brain, at which point it is stage 4. The only treatment is to cut out the affected bone. Since it involves the skull, the results of surgery can be devastating. You can literally lose your face. Survival rate to 5 years is only 15%. He was only 45. They explained the surgery with the uncertainty of what he would look like or whether he would be able to eat normally afterwards. It was an 8 hour surgery with no word on how things were going until it was over. There was a lot of praying and reflecting for both of us over the weeks we waited for the surgery. He lost part of his right upper jaw with 4 molars and a little over half of his palate. It was a long painful recovery, but he healed well and worked hard to keep his jaw muscles stretched so he could open his mouth. He has a removable piece that replaces the palate, jaw, and teeth. There was minimal scaring and he can eat and talk normally. It is such a wonderful recovery from what could have been much worse. We were lucky, they caught it at stage one. As for the 15% survival rate for 5 years, his surgery was done in 1991 and he is still going strong. To say our prayers were answered is an understatement.

  25. I would love to win the book. I love Sound of Music. Les Misérables my daughter got me to watch. Love Mary Popkins. Probably lots more. I review

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