The Only Romance Novel I Would Recommend

Good evening lovelies. Yesterday we recorded our third podcast. Sometimes the experience goes by so fast and I'm not ready to move on yet. My mind is still swimming with the novel I just read and I didn't feel my two cents on the episode gave it justice. Does that ever happen to you? You get stuck and you aren't quite ready for it to end, but inevitably the last page comes, but you are still there. I'm still with Sarah in Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers.

Many of my best gal pals (shout out Naomi and Jenna!) read this novel in high school and I remember them telling me about it. I was skeptical and put it off. Now I'm sorry it took me so long to pick it up. I want to publicly admit that YOU WERE RIGHT my friends. (Glad I got THAT off my chest.) When my friend Camie (shout out!) recommended this again, I knew I couldn't ignore it any longer.

On the podcast I mentioned that it is the only romance novel I would recommend. I'm not against romance. In fact, I love it. Too much. But it messes with me and I have to protect my heart. Especially as Valentine's Day approaches, I am wary. Too many single (and married) friends hurting for something so much deeper than what can be given in a 300 word steamy Mcsomething or other. Real love is beautiful because it is not about your happiness, although this is a welcome result. It is messy. A struggle. It is about giving of yourself, over and over and over and over again because it ISN'T ABOUT YOU. (If you aren't interested in why I believe this, read Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas). Any book that spins romance in any different way cheapens love and fools you into desiring something that doesn't exist. A longing addiction that can never be satisfied, except...

Redeeming Love is a story about how that longing can be satisfied, how we can be made whole from whatever the world has done to us, how we can be worthy of the richest love of all. And it is not just a novel, but my story. Your story.

Here is the Shelfari description: Can God’s Love Save Anyone? Bestselling author Francine Rivers skillfully retells the biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea in a tale set against the exciting backdrop of the California Gold Rush. The heroine, Angel, is a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Michael Hosea is a godly man sent into Angel’s life to draw her into the Savior’s redeeming love.

If you are not a Christ follower, reading this book may help you understand what in the world the draw is to Jesus. Read it and understand me a little more than you did yesterday. If you are a Christ follower, be prepared to re-encounter the ways in which God saved your life.

This book impressed me in so many ways. It emphasized how many times we stray from God because we feel unworthy of this kind of all consuming redemption. Angel left at first because she thought it was a joke, laughable. She left later because she realized she didn't deserve this unfathomable love. This kind of love is strange to us. We don't understand a love that doesn't have a catch, an expiration date, a patience limit, or that sacrifices so much for our well-being. But that is what God does. Who God is.

This book also impressed me because, unlike many Christian novels, it didn't mask the ugly things that human beings do to each other. It was real. The story was one filled with abuse of every kind. Although sexual abuse is in the forefront, it is also a story of slavery of the mind, heart, and soul. For this book to tell the real story of redemption, it needed to tell just how deep and deeper still God can redeem, even from the worst evils that Angel faces in her lifetime.

Although this story is fictional, I felt like it was true of every single one of our lives. I appreciated Francine's note at the end of the novel, because it exemplified just one real life example of how this story is true for her. She writes: "I used to believe the purpose in life is to find happiness. I don't believe that anymore. I believe we are all given gifts from our Father, and that our purpose is to offer them to Him. He know how He wants us to use them. I used to struggle to find happiness. I used to work hard to attain it. By the world's standards, I was successful. But it was all meaningless vanity. Now, I have joy. I have everything I ever wanted or dreamed of having: a love that is so precious I can find no words to describe it. I haven't achieved this through my own efforts. I certainly have done nothing worthy to earn it or even deserve it. I have received it as a free gift from the Lord, the everlasting God. It is the same gift He offers you, every minute, every hour, every day of your life. I hope this story will help you see who Jesus is and how much He loves you. And may the Lord draw you to Him."

And that is all she wrote.

And me too.

The Baby SisterLit,
Jillian