I Just Finished Reading....

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  (She also wrote The Last Sin Eater, another amazing book.)  I checked this book out of our church library a few weeks ago and finally got to read it.  Just let me say this...if you have not read this book, you need to.  If you have read this book, read it again.  This is the description on the back of the book.

California's gold country, 1850.  A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep.  Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal.  Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive.  And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.

Then she meets Michael Hosea.

A man who seeks his Father's heart in everything.  Michael Hosea obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally.  Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation until, despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.  But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear.  And so Angel runs.  Back to the darkness, away from her husband's pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael Hosea does...the One who will never let her go.

This book was written as an updated version of the book of Hosea from the Bible.  It's a retelling that I completely and totally became enthralled with.  Michael is the kind of husband every women wants.  What made me cry as I finished the book was the realization that this is how the Father loves each and every one of us.  He is willing to wait for us; even when He knows we are going to return to the ugly sins of our past.  He loves us unconditionally and patiently. 

I just don't know what else to say about this book.  Friends (Starla, Melodee, Michelle,) have been telling me to read this book for months.  I'm so glad I finally listened to them!  You know how there are a few books that you can read over and over and over?  Like countless times?  And it is still as exciting as when you read it the first time?  This is going to be one of those books for me.

I love my husband and my heavenly Father.