Trish Ryan

How does a veteran spiritual seeker who has tried everything from feng shui to astrology end up looking to Jesus for advice about love? It’s a long strange trip for writer Trish Ryan, whose search for the right guy turned into the search for the right God.

In He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Hope and Happily Ever After, Ryan explains that she was the quintessential successful thirty-something, with a career as an attorney, a nice car and lots of dates. But her catalog of relationship horror stories reads like a chick-lit novel: men who cheated, men who left her, world-class bad dates–including one who worked himself out of the closet before dessert.

Ryan’s tentative first steps into Christianity were prompted by a voice (she thought it might God, although it sounded a bit like James Earl Jones), telling her to take Jesus seriously. She embarked on a sort of anthropological expedition to study these odd, unfamiliar Christians in their natural habitats, watching popular TV preacher Joyce Meyer, and surreptitiously listening to Christian music CDs. “I wanted what they had, but I didn’t want to tell anybody. I wanted to edge up on Jesus to see what he might have to say.”

Ultimately, Ryan responded to “the standing invitation to walk toward Jesus at whatever pace you’re called.” During her slow turn, recalcitrant stroll and frantic circling, Ryan says, “Jesus was there.” Embracing his suggestions – and his offer of salvation – her restless soul found peace.

Ryan lives in Boston with her husband and their “genetically-improbable mixed-breed dog.” Formerly an attorney, she gave up the practice of law when she realized it didn’t give her evil-fighting superhero powers.