Thursday, May 24, 2012

Family, Love, and God's Plan



It's Christmas. The Sanders clan is gathering in Hope Springs. The festivities are dampened by the sudden death of Pastor Jim Dillon. He and Grandma Geri, matriarch of the clan, have lived next door to each other for many years so both families are caught up in the funeral preparations. The two families, one, the Dillons, white, the Sanders, black, are very supportive of each other in an atmosphere where whites and black tend to keep to themselves.


People from both families arrive with issues. Todd Dillon and is wife Becca, are mourning his father, but she is also caught up in the excitement of her expanding ministry. Stephanie Sanders arrives unwilling to spend Christmas getting to know this branch of her family. She doesn't want to serve, but perhaps the is God's plan for her. Janelle and her children arrive still mourning the death of her husband, David. These and many other characters from the family and the little town of Hope Springs make this a delightful book.

The message is strongly Christian. The characters all at some point seriously pray to God to guide them in finding the plan for their lives. I found the coupling of the strong Christian message with the modern characters, each with issues, very satisfying.

I highly recommend this book. The characters are appealing; the plot, full of romantic twists, and the emphasis on God's plan for our lives, instructive.

I reviewed this book as part of the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze Program.

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