Secret Prayer Ch. 05

I agree with MarcLuciFer that including Jerek’s family is interesting although they may have ulterior motives related to gage’s dad’s success. I hope Jerek can leave some sleeping dogs asleep in all this. Who knows..after this time though they may come to realize that they miss him at some point and wouldn’t that be welcome! I’m not sure why the sister Allison is still going to stay in the cult and get married in Utah. I’m sure her parents aren’t thrilled about her “shaking up “ with the fiancé who is working remotely so I’m curious to see her response to her parents continued attempts to contact and kidnap Gage. Does she have doubts or want to live near Gage? Tate is again awesome and I hope the black sheep idea does not backfire for him.

I can see that I've upset a few people, which wasn't my intention. I often see authors mentioning that they appreciate comments, even the critical ones, so I wrote what came to mind. It's obvious that I wasn't addressing the entire story because it's not finished yet. I don't often engage with stories, but this one had something unique about it. It's not just the same old smuts that are prevalent on Lit; it had something more to it that drew me into the plot. I love romances. It was an enjoyable read, believe me. I also understand the frustration of the authors, when they feel that the wrong person enters their story. I once had a story on Wattpad where I got a comment calling me "woke" because I correctly used the characters' pronouns as they preferred it(in my story line). It wasn't pleasant, so I can imagine what an author goes through when they receive a lengthy rant on their story, with someone trying to show off their "ideas" and being a smartass. If I've offended anyone, I apologize. I wanted to point out possible alternative subplots in the story, to widen its audience. In the second part of my story, I wrote a more detailed explanation of why I respect pronouns, and interestingly, that person responded by saying, "You should have started that way from the beginning, it would be good." I always believe that common ground can be found. Haha, it sounds like Jubilee! They have interesting and often respectful discussions between liberals and conservatives. Good stuff, it's possible to see a humanity in the other person above political ideology, it really is.

I once read a story about a nurse who worked in a palliative care facility. She asked older people what they regretted the most. Interestingly, no one answered, "spending more time at work," "having a better career," or "making more money." The responses given by the dying were shockingly simple. They said they hadn't spent enough time with their loved ones. That they had chased after something that turned out to be an illusion in the end. That it was all... for nothing. What they wanted instead were more meaningful relationships with their loved ones, with their children, with their beloved ones. They understood that it was these human connections that they regretted not having enough of. No one said, "I'm glad I didn't forgive my parents." Everyone said... Oh, my God... in hindsight, it all seems so...silly. With years, wisdom comes, but it's too late. Sometimes we get too angry over everyday, trivial matters.

We all will die, stupidly simple, but truth.

Good luck with your writing, and peace!

Wonderful story, I enjoyed it so much!

Bringing Jarek's family into the story helps explain so much more about what's going here. This chapter did a really good job of showing that it's not necessarily religion that's bad, but the fanatical controlling people that sometimes use it to gain power over others. In my family, we have people of many faiths, Episcopal, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, and in that mixture of religions there are many loving people I hold very dear, but there are also relatives that I hope never to have to lay eyes on again. And for me, that's what this exceptionally well written story is about, real people, good and bad and the consequences caused by their actions.