A Riviting Parable of Dramatic Loss Leading to Victory

A Fictional Tale Loaded with Truth

It wasn't that long ago that I went from a life rarely interrupted by any type of negative circumstance to one where I can remember worrying over the single dollar it was going to cost me in gas to drive to the gas station.  It was a time when my 20 year marriage was on the rocks with divorce papers drawn and ready for signature.  A time when my adult daughter stated:  "You're like a country western song; even your dog died."

Jackie Macgirvin

So the story that Jackie Macgirvin tells hits very close to home.  It tells the story of a woman of greater means than I possessed even at the top of my financial time, who is brought lower by far than the lowest day I endured.  The devastation I experienced brought havoc to my life in every way, including my spiritual walk.  Why had Jesus allowed this to happen?  Where was He?

The author doesn't let her heroine off the hook in any of this.  She certainly asks the same questions, shakes the same fist, and feels sorry for herself.  She comes ever so close to giving up on the promises God has made to her, to me, and to every saved individual.

The story is fiction, but has the power of seeming all too real.  Jackie Macgirvin brings her characters alive and makes you feel their emotions, deprivation, hopelessness, and then hope and wonder at God's wonderful works and grace. 

I would give this book any number of stars allowed.  Beautifully written, wonderfully inspiring, incredibly insightful, and a joy to read.