Booksneeze Book Review 6.28.2010

No matter what our theological beliefs may be, we are all asked to submit to the will of the Lord and to trust Him with out lives. Such is the case with Sarah in the book Sarah's Garden by Kelly Long.

Sarah is an Amish girl who must learn to lean upon her Creator to sustain her throughout all of life's troubles. Her older sister had married so it came upon her to run the family produce stand, despite her shyness. She has to learn to trust God to protect her in situations she never dreamed she would be exposed to from people asking some of the rudest questions, a man trying to force his attentions on her, her father's sudden illness and even with the coming of the new Englisch veterinarian to the farm next door. Can Sarah learn to trust God without getting her heart torn in the process?

This book was well written. It used a different dialect than most other of the Amish stories that are so popular right now, one that I wasn't familiar with. At first, I was put off with the cover. The picture of the Amish girl with her bun showing from the back of her kapp, the perfectly groomed eyebrows and what appeared to be cosmetic blush on her cheeks really put me off. I have been in at least five different Amish settlements (in different states) and none of the ladies there showed any of their hair, wore any form of makeup, nor had perfectly groomed eyebrows. Overlooking the cover art, I was able to enjoy reading the book. The plot line moved at a very good pace and it was hard to put down. I do wish that the characters had been developed more. I wasn't able to form an emotional attachment or any kind of feeling towards any of them really. When I read a work of fiction, I want to feel what the characters feel, see what they see and understand what makes them tick. I wasn't able to with this book.

This book was a good read and it did have a great theme of learning to trust, even with things don't go the way we picture. However, if you are looking for more of an emotional attachment to the characters, then I don't suggest it.

I was given this book from Thomas Nelson as a part of their BookSneeze program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within this review are mine and mine alone.

Trust

What is the hardest thing that God asks you to do? Is it to obey? Seek Him? Trust?

For me, the answer is normally trust. I have a very hard time trusting that things are under His control. I am a planner by nature. I like to have things happen when I think they should and in the manner that I think they should. However, my ideas aren't normally the same as God's.

For instance, Hubbs and I got married nearly five years ago now. Within one month of getting married, we were blessed with a pregnancy. No where was it in our plans to even consider getting pregnant that first year of honeymoon bliss. We were just coming to grips and being accepting of this coming addition to our family when we miscarried him. We don't know why, but God sustained us through that hard time and brought us out on the other side more committed to each other and to Him. Three months after losing our first child, we find that we are pregnant again. No way was it a good time for us. We were living in one of the worst apartment complexes in town, Hubbs was working part-time at a big box store and going to school full time. I was working full time at a day care here in town. We didn't have much money at all and with out work schedules not matching up and his school and home work on top of it, we didn't see each other much. Within two months of discovering this coming blessing, Hubbs went full-time to the service desk at work and got a small raise. We also had finished out the lease on the aparment and were able to move to a duplex in a better area of town. Bugs was born nearly 15 months after our wedding day. And she has been such a joy (for the most part, the twos were trying, and the threes were worse, but the closer she gets to being four, the better it has been getting). When the Bugs was four months old, Hubbs was offered a part-time position at our church as the associate pastor (he was still going to school at that point), which really helped out financially for us.

Well, we were adjusting to life with the Bugs. I was able to quit my job at the day care (thankfully, believe me, after I got pregant, there was no way I wanted my child in that environment) and things were still tight, but the bills were paid and we had food to eat. When the Bugs was eight months old, much to our utter shock and surprise, we find that we are expecting another blessing. By then, our old car was undriveable. We were living in a different duplex that had hardly any insulation, and the owner refused to believe us that the air conditioning wasn't working. When I was four months pregnant with the little one who became the Beans, Hubbs was asked to interview for store that was coming to town to be over the service desk. He figured, why not give it a try and the day of the hiring fair was offered the job. It garnered a two dollar an hour raise, and much, much, much better insurance. Bugs was born in February and is totally different than her big sister.

Since then, we bought a house (let's just say that was a learning experience in and of itself, one we wish we could unlearn), then after being assured his job at the church was secure, Hubbs was let go. It was a bad situation. We figured that we could live on the income from his retail job (basically a managerial position but at an entry level, hourly wage) for maybe three months max. It has been nearly two years. We have sought other employment where ever there was an opening that looked interesting, and so far, the right doors haven't been opened for us. And yet, we have had enough. Just enough. We have always had food, even though at times I wondered if I would be able to get groceries that week, the bills have always been paid. There is literally no wiggle room in our budget, and yet, we are surviving on it.

And through all these hard times, the lesson that we have learned is to trust God. He will supply ALL your needs. Sometimes in ways that you would have never expected. We sold the old white car rather unexpectedly. We had a better than expected tax return the last two years which have helped immensly with paying off the medical bill from the Bug's birth and helping with a few other things. We have been provided for including homeschooling curriculum. My wonderful Mother-in-law bought me the curriculum I wanted for the Bugs for her first official year of homeschooling. Then, I was accepted as a part of The Old Schoolhouse Crew where I will be getting homeschooling things to review. It has been amazing. As my husband reminds me, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He will spare us a little milk. And He has.

God has proven Himself to be trustworthy time and time again in our lives. I don't know why I still sometimes struggle with trusting Him for the best in all aspects of our lives. But I do. Let's work on remembering that our God is a God who can be trusted, and let's stop listening to the doubts, shall we?

Provision and Trust

Wow, is all I have to say tonight. The buyer of our car came and gave us the money tonight. He was supposed to have shown up yesterday and didn't make it for some reason. I'm not sure why. All I know is that this month's mortgage payment is sitting on the nightstand. Tomorrow on the way to work, Hubbs is dropping it off. The last few weeks at work have been kind of skimpy in the hours scheduled department. Hate retail post holiday season, especially hourly retail....anyway, I was talking to God quite a bit over the past week and a half about the fact that the mortgage payment was going to be way late this month as we had a very high natural gas bill to get paid, how I was counting down the night time diapers and as of tonight was going to use the last one, how we could use a few grocery items, the car needed some gas to get through this cold snap, how Hubbs really could use some new work clothes, the girls need new toothbrushes and we could use a few more things like body wash and toilet paper.

To start, Hubbs filed our taxes today. God is soooo good. Our taxes this year are paying his mom back for our furnace, they are totally clearing the credit card debt that ensued while I was pregnant with our Beans and dealing with a way to make the deductible where Hubbs used to work (let's just say it was a very high deductible), and the entire remainder of the loan on the car. We are also going to be able to replace the windshield on the car (it is cracked through thanks to a stray rock on the way back from my MIL's two trips ago), the muffler that is very holey and new tires (we have bald spots on the rear tires, yes, I know, not good) and possibly new shocks....there will be some left over from that, and it should pay off most if not possibly all of the Bugs. We are still paying her birth off due to bad insurance....ok, not bad, just not the greatest, a high deductible and then wouldn't cover things most other insurances typically do (and the fact that she was kept in the hospital two extra days due to the Hep. B vaccine and an over zealous pediatrician that was on call the weekend we had her). Then, we can resume paying on my student loans when those come out of forbearance in a few months and then if things work out the way we have planned, they will be nearly gone after tax season next year and hopefully we will have most of what we will need to pay cash for a used mini van saved up. Oh happy day.

Then, while I was laying down (I was sick most of the day, glad today was Hubb's day off, he gave me this lovely weird head cold thingy) there was a knock on the door. It was the guy who wanted to buy our car. He came to finalize the deal and apologize for not coming yesterday. I was laying down having a quite the discussion with God.

Me: Uh, God, you know the mortgage isn't paid this month (thankfully they don't get cranky about that until the tenth), we are going to need toilet paper this week, Hubbs doesn't have any body wash left, and we use our last diaper tonight on the Beans, and I don't think she is ready to go in panties overnight. Naps, we've gotten down, overnight, not yet.

God: Trust ME. It is going to be fine.

Me: I know it is going to be fine. You are in control. I know that we aren't going to be in this financial boat forever. I know You are going to get us out, I've known that for a long while. Which, if You could also just please tell me what we are to do in the line of Hubb's employment, you know, direction as to what to pursue, and How in the world am I going to get diapers tomorrow?

God: Be patient. Trust ME. I WILL PROVIDE.

During me pestering God about providing for us and me saying I really didn't see how it was going to work out this week, the buyer of the car knocked on the door. Man, I felt bad. I really was having trust issues. Still do to an extent. However, the timing of it all couldn't have been planned by a human.

I'm still blown away. God has this way of answering our prayers and providing for our needs at the best time for us. Even if we think it isn't the best time. Even when in our opinion He waits too long and we think causes us undue stress. Yet, His timing is perfect. It always has been, is now, and always will be.

Oh, and we did get diapers tonight.