I'll spare you from my words for a little longer.... but here's a book review!
And, of course, the requisite disclaimer..... I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review....
With that out of the way, here's the description from Goodreads!
Hannah and her husband, Elkanah, share a deep and abiding love, for each other, for their God, and for his tabernacle at Shiloh. Greatly disturbed by the corruption of the priests, they long for restoration and pray for a deliverer. But nothing changes as the years pass. Years that also reveal Hannah to be barren.
Pressured by his family to take another wife, Elkanah marries Peninnah, who quickly begins to bear children. Disgraced and taunted by her husband's new wife, Hannah turns again to prayers that seem doomed to go unanswered. Do her devotion and kindness in the face of Peninnah's cruelty count for nothing? Why does God remain silent and indifferent to her pleas?
Travel back to the dusty streets of Shiloh with an expert guide as Jill Eileen Smith brings to life a beloved story of hope, patience, and deliverance that shows that even the most broken of relationships can be restored.
I've read many of Jill's books in the past and enjoyed every single one of them.
This one didn't let me down.
Oh, the emotion!
I suppose I should have expected that, due to the nature of the Bible story, much of the book would focus on the relationship triangle between Elkanah, Hannah, and Peninnah.
I didn't expect it to be done quite so well!
The tension and strife between Hannah and Peninnah are handed expertly, and somehow, Jill is able to portray the stress without everything descending into a soap opera. Elkhanah's personal discomfort with the whole situation is very realistic and poignant as well.
One of the things I most appreciated about this book was how Jill created a vivid backdrop of the time. The moral decline of the era, and especially the depravity of Eli's sons is show in a colorful, yet tasteful way. Overlaid above this sinful backdrop is the contrast of Hannah and Elkanah's virtue.
The spiritual lives of the characters is shown clearly, and everything is very close to normal Orthodox Jewish spirituality. Everything is close to the Scripture, and God is the One who is lifted high through the story.
The theme of the book has to do with trusting and waiting on God throughout excruciatingly painful times, and it is clearly put forward. The emotions and faith of Hannah are both heartbreaking and inspiring, and when she finally holds the promised child under her heart, all anyone can do is cheer for her.
The book is fairly clean, and although there are some discrete references to sexual activity and physical violence, and a murdered body is found, nothing is gory or explicit.
All in all, and wonderful book that shows beautifully the pain and wonder of Hannah's life.
I hope you ate a lot of chocolate and celebrated with loved ones.
And now....
Happy Lent!
Lent is a much forgotten jewel in the Christian's crown. It's the sort of thing that often gets classified only in the context of strange people who only eat fish on Friday for six weeks, and a vague notion of "giving something up..." Often, this involves giving up social media, sweets, or even something as nebulous as 'bad thought patterns.'
But yesterday, while the much of America enjoyed overpriced steaks in crowded restaurants, signed Hallmark cards, and gave lollipops with punny sayings to their children.....
I was in church with most of the world's Catholics, Lutherans, and Presbyterians.
We were celebrating something totally different.
Ash Wednesday.
There is nothing I can do to describe the feeling of going forward and having dirt smeared on your forehead as the pastor solemnly proclaims: "Remember, you are dust And to dust you shall return."
This morning I became aware of yesterday's tragic shooting, as a bitter, rejected young man shot and killed 17 people in his former high school. Many photos of the event show parents waiting in distraught horror....
Ashen crosses still on their foreheads from the morning's Ash Wednesday Mass.
I read the coverage here.... and it got me thinking.
When Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day fall on the same day, we the liturgical Church, have an opening. Let's talk. When a heartbreaking tragedy collides with both.... the Church steps forward.
Because, lets face it:
Nobody wants to talk about death.
Avoid it. Pretend it doesn't exist.
But, we'll never escape' them chilly waters.'
There have been 3 deaths at my church in 3 weeks.
All 3 were dear Christian ladies, ready to leave this painful world and go home.
Let's talk about my Christian homeschool friend, Jonah, who shot himself with his deer rifle.
He was only 16.
I was 14 when it happened.
But let's avoid it.
Could we talk about my friend Julian who was stabbed mercilessly (over 20 times) in the park?
I was still 14.
Or about my friend Najae from Rahab who got out of jail only to be shot brutally dozens of times?
She was left to die.
She never escaped 'them chilly waters.'
Let's pretend it doesn't exist.
But wait....
Remember.....
"You are dust, And, to dust you shall return."
Grieving people wail that "They didn't deserve to die that way!" "They were "too young!"
Let's chat about my other friend: He was killed "too young," "before His time." He didn't deserve to be murdered. It's His ashes I wear on my forehead.
Reminding me,
As I sit in the dust:
He sits with me.
My Best Friend!
My Lord and my God!
I know you don't really know me that well... despite what you think.
I know that when you invited me to the last College Youth get together, you were trying to encourage me...
But you failed.
Just like you're failing all of us.
If I was going to watch a Disney Cartoon, I would do it with the blinds drawn, and not tell anyone.
Watching it at a 'church' event?
That just doesn't make sense.
When the target group is 18-25?
I'm still scratching my head.
Let me tell you a little secret:
There's one way to get us youth to grow up, be adults, and turn into strong Christians that can change the world and make the devil tremble. Or, at least manage to stay out of jail, keep themselves sober, marry a normal person, stay married, raise halfway decent kids, die in our beds of old age, and keep the church alive for another generation.
That would be this:
Treat us like the adults we want to be.
I don't want to hear another word about how immature we are.
When you finally get around to having get togethers for us, to deal with real life....
Give me a call.
Listen to our stats:
A quarter of youth use opiate drugs in 12th grade.
In the same grade, 33% of us swallowed down alcohol this last month.
Half of us did it in the last year.
We will enter prostitution around age 13.
There are 20 million people currently enslaved worldwide.
2 million of them are children being prostituted.
Average life span of our friend who is trafficked? 7 years.
30,000 of us.... yes, American youth under 18....are lured into commercial sex each year.
Suicide is the second most common cause of our death.
The number one cause is drug overdose.
15% of us have seriously considered suicide....
12% had made a plan...
7.8% attempted that plan...
2% needed medical intervention.
50% of girls aged 6-12 are concerned about their weight.
80% of TEN year olds are afraid of being too fat.
30 million people in the US have an eating disorder.
76% of my peers with an eating disorder started between 11 and 20.
20% of youth with a serious eating disorder will die of a complication... ranging from starvation, kidney failure, cardiac arrest, or electrolyte imbalance.
Between 1/3 and 1/2 of us engage in non-suicidal self harming behavior, including cutting, burning, bruising, or strangulation.
We who cut are teenage girls from middle class families and were probably abused.
And 77% of us who injure try to kill ourselves...
57% more than once.
41% of those of us in high school have had sex at least once
46% of 12th graders have been sexually active in the last 3 months.
10% of us have had 4 or more sexual partners in high school.
4% of us had sex before age 13.
We account for 50% of the new Sexually Transmitted Disease cases
1 in 4 of us will get a STD every year
20% of my girlfriends use the Pill at least sometimes.
1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys are sexually abused
Somewhere around 50% of us are abused in the home.
Around 1,400 of my peers die each year from abuse...
But 50% of their abuse deaths are not reported.
We who have been abused are over 50% more likely to be included in all the previous stats.
1 in 3 of us have been abused by a romantic partner.
1 in 10 have been purposefully slapped, beaten or otherwise physically harmed by their girlfriend or boyfriend.
50% of college age girls have been abused in a romantic relationship.
Only 33% had the courage to tell someone about their date's abuse...
80% of our parents don't think date abuse is a big deal, and think they could spot it...
But only 40% could correctly identify the signs of abuse when shown a list.
Yes. Those are terrifying statistics. And no, you can't pretend like they don't affect good Christian kids from middle class homes, in your middle class, suburban youth group. Those youth are not much better off than their peers.
What does this mean in simple terms?
If you take the stats at face value......
If you have 10 of us in youth group:
3 have used opiates in the past year 5 have drunk alcohol in the last year 2 are sex trafficked 2 have considered seriously killing themselves 8 have an eating disorder 4 regularly self harm 4 have had sex at least once 2 use the Pill 2 will get a STD before they're 21 and legal 5 have been abused sexually 4 have been abused by their girlfriend or boyfriend. 5 will be abused when we get back home.
Your cotton candy lessons based on the good old days? FAIL.
Your games of Twister where we had to touch the guys? FAIL.
Your movie dates to see the DC Comic film? FAIL.
Trying to get us all to think you're our buddy, not a leader? FAIL.
Pretending we don't know to sext X rated pictures, find a dealer to get skittles (not the candy ones), the cheapest way to kill ourselves, and cut ourselves without bleeding out? FAIL.
Ignoring the facts? TRIPLE-F-FAILED.
You have failed us.
WE NEEDED YOU.
BE REAL.
We wanna talk about real issues in youth group. We wanna see lists of the signs of our real problems duct taped to our church doors, inserted into our bulletins. We wanna see education opportunities for us and our parents to do together.
Lets stop doing this:
And instead do this:
Let's be real about the problems we face every day in school, college, our job, and things that should be carefree.... like going on dates.
The arrows that will deflate these stats are in between your Bible's covers, in your Pastor's mouth, and alive on the altar.
Not in Disney.
You have failed us. But, you can improve. It's never too late to start over. It's never to late to do what needs to be done.
Let's hear it for truth, facts, accountability, intense theology, and tools to face real life!!!
Sincerely,
That Person Who Never Shows Up Your Youth Group.
PS.... Yes, I did purposefully use Disney songs as illustrations.... So you'd listen. Because apparently Disney is very important for our development.
