Picture this. A lovely, close knit family and one day it seems everything changes and that family you felt so secure in is now making you feel as though you just want to run. Julia wants to escape it all and she does. She leaves her family behind, but trial comes and Julia is facing the issue of what to do. She can't run any longer. With grace and tender mercy she returns and life as she knew it changes forever.
So, you could say this book is about change and how we react to it. Change will always come. It's evident in life, but it's what we do with that change that matters. Through Julia we see that with Christ all things are possible. Healing, letting go, forgiveness and grace.
Marney shows us humility. She is in need of grace and forgiveness. Life is changing for her. The end is coming quickly. Marney has children and is now in a place where she much humbly ask for help. There is nothing she can do about the doctor's report, but beyond that, what happens lies within her choice as how to react. Marney had made mistakes in the past, but now her future is all but changing abruptly and she finds that she cannot do it on her own. She lays it all down and turns to Julia.
Margaret is the sister with anger. She has a bitterness inside that is eating her alive. Little sister is not happy Julia is returning home. Yes, there is a character we can all relate too on one level or another. They are so real and raw. Within this gripping read are three precious children, Heath, Etta and Charlie. They are caught in the mix of things, but it is these very children that seem to bring everyone together.
Margaret is the sister with anger. She has a bitterness inside that is eating her alive. Little sister is not happy Julia is returning home. Yes, there is a character we can all relate too on one level or another. They are so real and raw. Within this gripping read are three precious children, Heath, Etta and Charlie. They are caught in the mix of things, but it is these very children that seem to bring everyone together.
Mary Ellen is that mother who wants to hold on to her family. Everything seems to be slipping and all she wants is to have her family reunited. I can so relate to Mary Ellen. As this story begins Mary Ellen, Marney, Margaret, and Julia all have a brokenness inside. Healing of some kind needs to take place in order for them to move on. As life brings forth change we see God create in these women something of beauty that goes far beyond what they had wished for. Through trials that have touched them, God brings new. The old is forgotten and the new is embraced.
In the opening chapter we hear the words, "Lord, have mercy", come from the lips of Julia. As the book ends we also hear these same words. Words that now hold a different meaning to an all different kind of woman, holding a sweet mercy of her own.
