Passions of the Soul

Let Me Be Clear

Every time I'm on Facebook, in 5 minutes of scrolling slowly down the page, I can see two or three different pro-life posts. Some of them, I share. Sometimes, what I have seen or read before Sharing upsets me so much that I rant, just a little. So let me be clear.

I am a "recovering" pro-choicer. For many years, I considered myself pro-choice--never pro-abortion, but pro-choice. My position changed somewhat slowly, over a period of a few years. I was never in a position of being faced with having to make that choice, and I'm so glad, because I might have made the wrong one. I would like to think not, but I was inclined to accept the lie that "it's just a piece of tissue." Of course, even if that were true (which it is not), well before 12 weeks, that little guy or gal is definitely not "just a piece of tissue."

But before I go on, let me be clearer still: I neither think of nor treat this topic as the political football it wrongly became, long ago. For me it is apolitical--simply and clearly a moral/spiritual matter. It is a choice!

Even before I began moving toward a pro-life position, I heard the stories, often amid sobs, of women who had had legal abortions many years earlier, and they were still suffering the emotional fall-out. I listened to them in a variety of settings, saw and felt their deep grief, guilt and shame--not the shame put on them by a backward society, but because they grieved the choice they had made.

But--dear God, have mercy!--if an early-term abortion causes such grief for so many years, what must it do to a woman to think about the actual procedure of a late-term abortion? Partially delivering a viable baby, and then puncturing the base of the brain and withdrawing the contents? Don't tell me this is not worthy of Hitler's worst "experiments"! Don't tell me this is not cold-blooded murder! 

If you're into statistics, check out http://tinyurl.com/7fxac4 (Movement for a Better America). Some of the statistics: Total U.S. abortions 1967 - 2011 = 54,900,000
    U.S. abortions per live births = 265/100
    African-American babies aborted 1973 - 2011 = 17,653
    Suicide rate among women following a live birth = 5.9/100,000
    Suicide rate among women following abortion = 34.7/100,000
    Increased risk of breast cancer in women following abortion of first pregnancy = 100%
    Increased risk of breast cancer in women with two abortions = 300%
    Increased risk of breast cancer in "women" under 18 (our teenaged daughters) = 150%

And from Wikipedia: We have lost a combined total of 632,920 Americans in WWI, WWII, Korea, VietNam, Afghanistan ('01 through 2011) and Iraq, and we honor and remember them with gratitude and thanksgiving, today. Yet we allow the chosen, intentional killings of about 1.2 million babies every year! Where are those who parade, shout, carry signs and engage in violence in their protests against the wars? Why do they not protest the intentional deaths of the wee ones who cannot defend themselves?

Let me be very clear: I am on a rant. I am on a tear. I will find a more active role in the fight to end this outrage against women, against our teenaged daughters, and against our unborn children--truly, the "least of these." I cannot tread softly, anymore, so as not to offend anyone. Yes, I am a Christian, a Christ-follower, an (gasp!) evangelical. This is another application of my call to advocate for children, to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" (Proverbs 31:8). I will not shut up. I will not go away. Is that clear?

Class of '67 - Repost

This post first appeared on December 2, 2007. In the second paragraph, below, I mentioned Jerry and Nadine, and Warren and Jan, friends from much farther back than college, all of whom I had hoped to see again, at our class reunion in November. Yes, it will have been five years since the last one. However, Nadine texted me, this morning, to tell me that Jan died a week ago today. In addition to being a quadraplegic with limited use of her arms and unrelieved burning pain in her spine, she had also suffered from cancer.

I am weepy, today, but I know that will pass. My sadness will gradually be replaced by joy that, as our faith tells us and we know in our hearts is true, Jan is now fully healed and whole. Not only that, but we will all enjoy another reunion, one day--unmatched by any earthly reunion--whether because we will all have died and gone on, or because our Lord Jesus Christ will have come to take up His Kingdom on earth. But my heart is also with Warren and their family, today, as they have lost a wife, mom and grandma. I pray that God has wrapped each of them individually, and all of them together, in the warm comfort of His Presence and peace.

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I'm a solid week and a half behind in writing this post, but it's high time I did.  I wish I'd been able to write it as soon as we returned from my 40-year college class reunion; why I wasn't able at that time is another story.

This was the first class reunion I had attended, and I'm so glad Bruce went with me.  It really was more than a class reunion, for me, though; I also reunited, reconnected with Jerry and Nadine, and Warren and Jan, who were my peers in our youth group before they ever paired off; and with Norm and Judy, who were the adult leaders of our group, in the church in which I grew up.  I should say they were very young adult leaders, being college students, still, when they began working with us.  Anyway, it had been roughly 35 years since I'd seen any of them.

I left college without graduating for the same reason many young women quit school:  to get married.  My then-husband and I moved away, but we were still in the loop, to some extent, for maybe 10 years.  Several years after that, tho', we divorced; that was the one of the first of the twists and turns in my life, to the point that I was out of touch with almost everyone.

During the reunion weekend, the reconnecting with old friends seemed to be filling up a hole in my soul.  Even several people that I had known, but not known well, in college, contributed to that sense of being filled.  I had kind of known the hole was there, but I had no idea how deep it went or how important it was--how important those people were to me.  The opportunity to sit and visit, to play catch-up with each other's lives, and just to have great fun during the reunion luncheon, could qualify for a part in one of those commercials--you know, "Travel to and from the class reunion:  $150.  Hotel room for two:  $100+/night.  Seeing old friends:  priceless."  And the cherry on top was that my husband enjoyed it as much as I did.  I've started a photo album (look in the right Side Bar), but I have more pictures to add and editing to do.*

It wasn't quite all fun, however.  As I mentioned in a post below, one of my friends is now in a wheelchair.  I learned from her that 25% of patients with spinal-cord injuries live with a constant, intense, burning pain that nothing even helps.  She is in the 25% group.  The grief I felt for her and her husband after their accident, years back, all came up again.  I just wanted to be able to put my arms around both of them and make it all better, and I don't have the power to do that.  Oh, how I wish I did.

But the luncheon was fun.  We discovered a couple of stand-up comedians in the group; I'm not sure what they do for a living, but Eddie and Clyde ought to hire an agent and take it on the road.  Everyone was congenial and ready to reminisce.  It did come as a bit of a shock, tho', that both the school song and mascot have been changed!  I shouldn't have been surprised; the college moved from Pasadena to San Diego in 1973, and that really did call for a change in the song.  Face it--locating in San Diego, on Point Loma, is a bit of a change from being "Nestled in the High Sierras!"  (I'm not sure Pasadena's exactly nestled in the High Sierras, but we did have some nice mountains to look at, when it wasn't too smoggy.)  Somewhere along the way, someone must have said, "You know, we're at the ocean.  We really ought to have a different mascot."  So the college is now represented by sea lions, rather than Charlie Crusader.  I wonder how that works on the basketball court....

I let 40 years go by before attending a class reunion; now, I can't wait for the next one.  Five years! Listen, at our age, a lot can change in that time.  Sigh.

UPDATE:  I have completed the Photo Album for PLNU Class of '67 Reunion.

Lay Down, or Die?

[I first drafted this post on February 24, 2012. It has sat ever so quietly in the Draft folder, until I opened the folder and took it out, a short while ago.]

I John 3:16 - "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Ephesians 5:25 - "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

Back in May, 1972--it might have been 1973--I sat in a Layman's Retreat in Prescott, AZ, over a weekend. The speaker was my former professor and much loved friend, Reuben Welch. That weekend, we all listened to Reuben bring light and life to I John. Tempting though it is for me to try to capsulize the four messages of the weekend, I will focus on just one part: What does it mean that Christ laid down His life for us, and for us to lay down our lives for the brothers (other believers)? The basic interpretation comes from Reuben's teaching, but as I read in I John 3 several days ago, I nearly jumped out of my seat as my understanding hit Refresh and broadened, just a bit.

The basic idea: The verb that is translated lay down life is not the verb to die; it means put it down--as in, put it on the table; put it down over there; just lay it down wherever you see a place. That kind of laying it down. Our troops who are or have been overseas lay, or have laid down their lives for us, every day, and too many of them have died, in the process.

Caveat: I realize Bible scholars often disagree on such translations or meanings, in part, because they rely on differing manuscripts. I allow for that possibility in this instance, but I offer two qualifiers: 
    - First, Reuben studied Hebrew under a rabbi, while in seminary; later, he taught New Testament Greek at Point Loma Nazarene University, in San Diego, AZ. 
    - Second, I, not a Bible scholar, am writing now out of my own reading of the verses and passages identified. 

Continuing: Some of the ways Jesus laid down His life for us, before He died for us: He left His home in heaven, where He enjoyed the worship of the angels, the love of His Father, the glory of His throne; where He acted in creation--it was Christ who created the heavens and the earth, and "without him, nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3). He left all of that to come to the earth He had created and to live among the people he had made (John 1:14).

While here, He laid down His divinity (Philippians 2:6-8*), spoke only the words that the Father gave Him and acted only as the Father directed Him. In short, He lived as we ought to live, in total dependence on the Father--which does not mean excising our brains, but living in full humility as children of God and branches of the Vine (John 15). (I am not preaching, I'm processing!)

Here is what I read last week, in I Jn. 16-18:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

How often have we said or heard someone else say, "Love is an action verb"? It's true! As I read this passage, what jumped out at me is simply this: To lay down our lives for others means sharing with others in need out of who we are and what we have. This passage speaks of material possessions, but with time and study, I'll bet I could make a case for extrapolating it: Laying down my life means not holding back. It means acting as I can, where I see a need.

In fact, I now remember that, in trying to help us understand what it meant to lay down our lives, Reuben contrasted that concept with holding back on who we are and what we have.

But what does this have to do with the verse in Ephesians 5? That was the reading for today per our church's Bible reading plan for 2012. There I discovered that, even in the study note for v. 25, the words "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" are interpreted in terms of His death. As I read on, my mind said, "Nooooooo!" If the context of death is correct, then Paul's admonition to husbands to love their wives "as Christ loved the church" has to mean that husbands are to die for their wives. I don't want my husband to die for me!

But Bruce does lay his life down for me every single day, in a wide variety of ways. He so often does little things, simply because he knows they will make a piece of life easier for me, whether it's removing the inner seal on the next half-gallon of milk or moving a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer. He shows his love for me in a hundred different ways, every day. Or at least fifty different ways.

So there you have it. The scriptures cited, according to Vicki: Whether it's laying down our lives or giving ourselves up for our spouses or others, when we do so, we are loving as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her . . . for us, praise God.

Philippians 2:6-8:

⁶Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death —
        even death on a cross!

"Drop Jesus to Appeal to More People!"

That was, in essence, the recommendation of marketing consultants to the executive leadership team of Compassion International, some years back. But the executive leadership team, being made up of believers who really believe, did just the opposite.

At that time, the "tagline," or whatever it might have been called at the time, said simply, "Releasing children from poverty." No "Jesus" there, just in the Mission Statement, the 4C's of Compassion, and in the day-to-day work of releasing children from poverty. So what did these executive-types do with the recommendation?

They changed all of their marketing materials, letterhead, business cards--everything that the old line appeared on was changed, all the way to the sign in front of the building. The line now reads, "Releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name"! Read why and how, and the affect on the children and their families, when they are loved, developed and cared for in Jesus' name. Shaun Groves has laid it all out beautifully.

Oh--the Epilogue: Compassion International has done nothing but grow, in sponsorships (phenomenal growth!) and financial support, in the years since that infamous recommendation was made . . . even through our Great Recession, from which we are still recovering.

Tanzania! (Updated)

See the two widgets in the right sidebar? They're new, just added, because some Compassion bloggers are on a trip to see Tanzania--more specifically, to see Compassion-assisted children and some of the student centers, the Compassion Tanzania country office, and probably a few sights. They might even do some work for a project, while they're there. Each blogger will be writing about the experience and sharing photos, every day. Some posts will bring smiles, some tears, possibly other emotions, as well. To follow their experiences, click on the top widget.

I wish I were with them. I sponsor two girls in TZ, Tausi (15 yrs.) and Warda (7). I'm not hopeful that the bloggers will get as far south as they would need, to have a hope of seeing either of my girls or their projects, but if I were there, I would move heaven, earth, and the gates of Hades to go see them!

We sponsor children in 9 different countries, in every region except South America. Tanzania is the only country from which I ever receive photos (other than bi-annual photo updates) of my girls, showing or wearing gifts for which we have sent money. So while we love all of the children we sponsor, Tanzania is especially close to my heart. (But, then, so is the Dominican Republic, where I have two girls and have visited; and Rwanda, where I sponsor a girl; and Kenya, and . . . sigh.)

Sponsoring has eternity woven through and written all over it. Sponsoring a child through Compassion International is one of the best investments you can make; it's a way to send money ahead, as Randy Alcorn says (Managing God's Money)--storing up treasures for yourself in heaven. Your sponsored child will also have many opportunities to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and will be discipled, while also being developed in every identifiable area of life. And (back to earth, now), usually around 12 or 13 years of age, she or he will begin to learn at least one life skill, helping to provide some income for her or his family. 

I know about our economy in the U.S. Trust me--it's a heckuva lot better than the economies these kids live in. Please consider sponsoring a child in Tanzania. Just click on the smaller of the two widgets and choose your child.

Please. So many children struggle to survive, often having not even one meal a day. You can change the story for one child, today. Please.

The Higher They Fly

Title: Downfall (An Intervention Novel)
Author: Terri Blackstock
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 978-0-310-25068-5
Format: Softcover, 282 pages; Kindle (format reviewed)

Wow!! What a page-turner!! That became my thought, every time I had to force myself to turn off my Kindle, right through the crisis. Downfall is, according to my lexicon, a thriller, which is not my favorite category. The “bad guy” is introduced immediately, though his identity is not revealed until much later (but the savvy reader can guess before that!); worse, he succeeds in his first several, terrible crimes. He seems not only to be getting away with them, but increasingly making Emily Covington, a drug addict with two years of good sobriety, look guilty of the crimes and guilty of a relapse.

The story begins with a glimpse at the continuing tension between Emily and her mother, Barbara, who lives in constant fear of Emily’s relapsing into active addiction. From the moment she learns Emily’s car has been bombed, all of Barbara’s fears rise to the surface. Those fears, fueled by memories of all the family had experienced as a result of Emily’s involvement with drugs, nearly crush her spirit. As the situation worsens for Emily and the family, Barbara wonders: Can she go through that, again? If Emily really is in relapse, could Barbara find the strength to put her own daughter out on the street?

After her car is bombed—incompetently, thank goodness—Emily learns that Kent Harlan, her mother’s boyfriend cop, is working on a murder case. Discovering the victim’s identity convinces Emily that the two crimes are related; she recalls a conversation she overheard months earlier, at the rehab’ center where she works and tells Kent what she remembers. She then becomes convinced that another woman may be in danger, but an attempt to warn her lands Emily in jail, charged with the woman’s murder.

Downfall depicts the realities of addiction, relapse and recovery, showing us through Emily and her family that an addict’s restoration does not come easily; the danger of relapse is always there. Other dangers can arise when, as in Downfall, an active addict who is never motivated to get clean begins to wreak havoc with her or his own and other people’s lives.

The story’s crisis comes with palpable threats to life and limb for Emily’s brother and his friend. The immediate resolution is followed by a bit of romance, a nice touch. And then we reach the final chapter, which mostly dragged, for me, after the constant tension and action in the story. Except for that, I would have given this book 5 stars, as this story fought me, every time I had to put it down, for the night. I would give it 4-1/2, but I can’t; thus, my rating of 4 stars. However, I have now purchased Books 1 and 2 in the Intervention series, Downfall being Book 3. That should tell you something.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free Shelton Interactive/Zondervan. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Good Samaritanism

It needs to spread, and the blog post I will link to, below, will offer some important pieces of information and a link or two to help the effort.

The goals include (a) preparing oneself to be able to respond, should the need arise; (b) prompting couples and families to have those all-important, but often delayed, discussions on end-of-life decisions; and (c) spreading the word of CaringBridge, a wonderful tool available to anyone whose loved one is facing serious and chronic illness, acute illness, or serious injury. Bill's post tells more. 

Young couples, pay heed: Terry Schiavo, in her 20's when disaster struck, became a household word around 12 years later, when her husband filed for divorce so that he could move on. A court battle ensued, in which he and his wife's parents wrangled over what Terry would have wanted; whether she was medically viable; and whether the life-continuing equipment should be shut down. Having the needed conversations would have spared Ms. Schiavo those long years of total dependence on the care of others; would have spared her parents those same long years of believing that, any day, their daughter would return to them, and they could have said their good-byes much sooner.

Anyone mature enough to be living apart from parents and taking the responsibilities for her or his life is old enough to think about these things and have the Advanced Medical Directive drawn up. And, yes, I know even many young adults continue in the delusion of their own immortality, but preparing for the unthinkable is part of maturity.

Here, then, is the link to Bill Fisher's blog post. Please read it. Thank you.

Trust Issues Abound in An Amish Wedding

Title:  An Amish Wedding ****
Author:  Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller and Kelly Long
Published by Thomas Nelson, 2011
Kindle Edition

Trust Issues Abound in An Amish Wedding

An Amish Wedding consists of three novellas with characters who overlap from one story to the next. I have read previous Amish-based volumes of novellas, written by any or all of the same authors, and have enjoyed each of them very much. I like the continuity of characters, with the shifts in focus. This volume and its interwoven stories is no exception.

In "A Perfect Secret," Kelly Long opens with Rose's reaction to a perfectly unromantic proposal of marriage. Rose knows and understands all of his stated reasons, but she longs for a little romance. Luke seems utterly lacking in any such sensibilities. Rose is hampered by the belief that she knows Luke fully, because they have been best friends all their lives.

            Rose's secret desire for adventure sends her out in the night after the thief who has been stealing from the community, and who has now stolen the pies Rose had baked and set outside. Through her quest, we learn that Luke, too, has kept secrets from her, from his family, and from the community at large. These revelations set both Rose and Luke free to be who they are. They also relieve Luke of a burden he has carried and tried to meet all by himself. But will these revelations bode well for Rose and Luke's marriage?

Kathleen Fuller introduces us, in "A Perfect Match," to Naomi and Zeke. Naomi is 25 years old, which is really "old" for an unmarried Amish woman. She was once abandoned by the one man she thought she could ever love, and had built up strong defenses against being hurt, again. Zeke is a few years older, really old for an Amish man never to have married, but he has just been waiting for the one woman who could be his match.

            Zeke lives in another state and has come to visit for his cousin's wedding, and he is struck by Naomi right away. Naomi cannot deny that he is attractive and that they do hit it off well, but she has promised to help her friend Margaret "find a man." She tries to set up Margaret with Zeke, but that does not go well. Naomi has long been convinced that she could protect herself from being hurt, again--a common misbelief.

            Later, it seems more likely that Margaret has found her man than that Zeke will be able to win Naomi. Somehow, just saying, "You can trust me," isn't enough.

Beth Wiseman brings us "A Perfect Plan." Of course, no plan is ever really perfect or comes to perfect fulfillment.  In this case, hardly anything remains that could go wrong for Priscilla and Chester, as they approach their wedding day. Priscilla always wants everything to be perfect, but Chester's and Priscilla's plans face one disaster after another, through all the months of their preparations. They love and are committed to one another, but after so many things go wrong, each begins to question whether, in fact, they are supposed to marry each other. Could God be trying to tell them something?

I enjoyed these novellas, as I have enjoyed the other stories I have read by the same authors. I suspect developing stories and characters is more difficult in a novella than in a full-length novel, and I have enjoyed their novels even more. But I do recommend An Amish Wedding to readers who enjoy Christian, and specifically Amish, fiction.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Surprised by Grace in a God-Forsaking Place

Title:  The Grace Effect: How the Power of One Life Can Reverse the Corruption of Unbelief *****
Author:  Larry Alex Taunton
Published by Thomas Nelson, 2011
Kindle Edition

What on earth would lead a child who had spent her entire existence in one orphanage or another, in a country that had plunged ever deeper into the abyss of Godlessness, to pray to God? Under a government whose policies continued to dismiss the poor, the weak, the disabled and the orphan as worthless, and which continued to deny the existence of God, how would a child know to pray to anyone, let alone a Being she could not see?

          Sasha, ten years old, had entered her first orphanage right after her birth. No one had any idea who, or where, her mother was, or if she was alive. Sasha was not only an orphan: She was HIV-positive and, by the time the Tauntons met her, had rickets. She had survived in a system that did not care whether she survived, or not, but wanted her off the streets and off their minds.

          One day, an adoption facilitator the Tauntons would later meet walked into Orphanage #17 and found Sasha, who normally was vivacious, despite her physical condition, in tears. Nobody around wanted to tell him why, but finally one child did: Sasha had been attacked by a teenaged boy. That night, Sasha prayed for a real family, with a mother and a father.

          Taunton’s narrative of his family’s trip to Ukraine to finalize their adoption of Sasha, not so many years after she had prayed, gripped me, as the pitfalls and the possibilities for failure lay waiting at every turn. At any time, any of the Ukrainian “players” could have stopped the whole process; one bribe too few or too small, or one judge having a bad day or too lacking in care for a child, and the family could have been sent home without Sasha, forever.

          Sasha’s resilience, faith and hope throughout the proceedings reflected what Taunton refers to as “the [Christian] grace effect.” I cannot explain that nearly as well as he has done in this book, but he has left me much more aware of the many ways my own life is touched by grace. He has also left me sobered by his discussion of how a nation moves gradually but steadily down the road to losing the gentling effect of grace, toward the ultimate end of abject denial of the human soul, of God, of any purpose in life.

          The Grace Effect fascinated me, took hold of me, and hasn’t let me go. I not only recommend it; I urge you to read it. Will you agree with it? I cannot guarantee that, but if it doesn’t make you think, then your mind is closed, perhaps irrevocably. I hope that is not so. I give The Grace Effect five ****. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze program. TN did not require me to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

"Wonder" Leaves Me Wondering

Title:  The Wonder of Your Love **
Author:  Beth Wiseman
Published by Thomas Nelson, 2011
Kindle edition

In The Wonder of Your Love we find not one, but two romances. The one purporting to be the main storyline involves Katie Ann, whom we know from Wiseman’s Plain Pursuit. In that story, Katie Ann’s husband of many years had left her for an Englisch woman. Only after he had gone did Katie Ann discover that she was carrying their first child, after many years of marriage.

Wonder picks up a few months after the birth of Katie Ann’s son. And we find that Martha, another character from Seek Me with All Your Heart and Plain Pursuit, has forged a close relationship with Katie Ann since the close of the previous story. Martha is one of the two characters in what is supposedly the subplot, or sub-storyline. In my actual reading of the book, neither Katie Ann’s nor Martha’s storyline seemed dominant, but more as if they were “co-stories.” Martha is also the character who ties the title into the story, by her references to the wonder of God’s love. Primarily through Martha, too, we see God’s love working in its transforming power to change lives, both Martha’s and Danielle's (a new character--hmm...will the next story be about Danielle?).

Katie Ann does not expect ever to marry, again, and continues denying the possibility through much of the book. Martha, being much older than Katie Ann, does not expect to marry again, either. Her first husband, whom she had loved deeply, had died; Arnold, her second love, had moved away when he heard that his son was very ill. Martha had not allowed Arnold to come visit her, because his leaving had been very painful, and she didn’t want to go through that, again.

Katie Ann’s life takes an unexpected turn when Eli shows up for his nephew’s wedding. His wife had died 17 years earlier, leaving him to raise their six kinner (children). He is a new empty-nester who fully intends to enjoy his new freedom by working hard on his farm and traveling—a most unusual plan, for an Amish man. By tradition, he should have remarried within two or three years, at most, after his wife died. But here he is, plopped down in front of Katie Ann as an eligible bachelor. Naturally, as their friendship progresses, much match-making occurs, despite the protests of both that they are “just friends,” and that a marriage between them is “impossible.”

The resolution to Martha’s romance comes as a natural progression of Arnold’s personal situation. The resolution to Katie Ann’s and Eli’s “friendship” does not seem natural. Given all the denial from both, any reader of romance fiction knows early on that they will get together, and the only question is how it will work out. I found the solution unbelievable, or at least, difficult to believe. So I wonder: Was the author tired of the book and just wanting to wrap it up? Was she frustrated, unable to form any better resolution to the dilemmas presented by the couple? Did she wrap up both romances in one book because she didn’t have enough material for two (which is okay, I guess)?

Ms. Wiseman can do better, in my opinion, than she has done in this book—and she has done better. Seek Me With All Your Heart and Plain Pursuit were both much better stories than this one. I had looked forward to the book focusing on Katie Ann, but I am very disappointed in this one. In fact, it proved so forgettable, for me, that after I first read it, I utterly forgot to write my review. Two or three weeks later, I re-read it in order to refresh it in my mind. And then I forgot, again, to write my review. That has never happened, before. I realize most reviewers have given Wonder… high ratings, but I cannot join them. I give it two stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze program. TN did not require me to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”