First Impressions: A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers

A lineage of Grace is a collection of stories based on five famous women of the bible; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. I’ve owned this anthology for a number of years. And I felt that it was finally time to read it. Honestly I was in the mood for something uplifting and God and female centered. However, the first story Unveiled, which is about Tamar - a 14 year old girl married off into a traumatic family situation. She is abused and used and continously hurt by her husband and his family. The entire time Tamar must rise above, by loyal and remember she is to be a child bearer. The story is violent and at times hard to read; while this was most likely the pilight of the women of the time It is still hard to read. I get what Rivers was trying to do here. However, the womanist in me....Really finds the narrative of this story a tad dangerous.
Tamar by no fault of her own is forced to play a harlot in order to have a wrong righted. She must take abuse and remain loyal. The story, from my point of view, could lead some women to believe that abuse is okay in a marriage. And that one most look beyond it and remain loyal. Its troublesome. I hope the other stories in the book are better. If I had to rate it today I would most likely give it a 3 out of 5 stars - just based on the narration.

Here is the synopsis (amazon) for the first story in the book:

Her name meant "date palm," and like her namesake, Tamar hoped to survive the harsh environment she was placed in: to bend but not to break. Rubbed with scented oil and arrayed in wedding finery, 14-year-old Tamar is thrust into a world of abuse, betrayal, and disillusionment when she is given in marriage to an evil, idol-worshiping man. In the face of her suffering, she must make choices: Will she let her new husband, Er, destroy her innocence and corrupt her? Will she leave the religion of the Canaanites and embrace the God of the Hebrews despite the life of misery she is cast into? Or will she fall into despair and become as wicked as her husband and his brothers?

One Sit Reads: My review of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The past few weeks were hell for me. So I needed something light hearted and simple to read; so I returned to a world that I knew would give me the comfort I needed...Narnia. I was introduced to The Chronicles of Narnia when I was in the fifth grade. It was one of those books that sparked my imagination as a child. When I was embarking on my college career The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe came to the big screen. And I was immediately disappointed. I felt like the movie had failed to capture the magic of the words Lewis had written so long ago. For the past few years I have wanted to return to Lewis stories and experience it with an adult eye. So that’s what I started last week.
In the Magician’s Nephew we are introduced to Digory and Polly; two average, adventure seeking children. One of these adventures leads them into Digory’s Uncle Andrew’s study. While in the study Andrew makes Polly vanish and forces Digory to go after her. It seems that Uncle Andrew is a magician and has discovered a way to travel between worlds. While Digory and Polly are gone they happen upon Queen Jadis; a terrifying, self serving and very destructive ruler. While trying to escape her and get back home to London they end up bringing her along. That is when all hell breaks loose. Jadis causes a bunch of craziness on the streets of London; it becomes clear that the children have to get her back to the world she came from. So they use the magic that Andrew invented to bring not only Jadis and themselves back but Andrew, Frank (a carriage driver) and his horse. The group ends up in Narnia at the moment that Aslan is singing the world into being. They watch as Aslan creates Narnia from nothing. Flowers, trees, mountains and animals come into being. Aslan grants a few of these animals the ability to speak. And sets the rules for how they must live. In fact, he even adds another person to the mix - Helen (Frank’s wife); and installs them as the first Queen and King of Narnia. Narnia seems perfect, however, there is an issue - Queen Jadis. She is on the loose in Aslan’s beautiful world; she is evil to the core and Narnia must be protected from her. Since it is Digory’s fault that Jadis was bought into Narnia Aslan sends him on a mission (with the assistance of Polly) to bring back the fruit of a magical tree. The fruit of this tree will help protect Narnia from Jadis for centuries. Once his mission is complete Digory is rewarded by Aslan and sent home (along with Polly and Andrew).
At the heart of this story is friendship, love, magic and faith. As many of you may know C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian and wrote the Chronicles as a way to explain the gospel to his God daughter. The Christian themes in the story are more evident to me now then they were to me as a child. I found myself smiling as I read about Aslan creating the world. It was as perfect an analogy as you can get to the creation story in the book of Genesis. And from a child’s perspective its probably a lot easier to understand. Of course, Aslan is God/Christ; and the choice of him as a Lion is symbolic as well; for God is described as a Lion in the biblical book of Hosea. Aslan is an animal that the children should be scared of but they are also drawn to him. They see a fierce gentleness in him. And when at one point Digory expresses sorrow over his mothers illness you see that Aslan knows his pain well; which reminds me of the compassion of Christ. Queen Jadis is an example of evil in the world. I took her to be a representative of sin and being unrepentant. She is selfish and self serving at her core. She cares about nothing and no one. Her ways will be her undoing.
Lewis storytelling is simplistic and magical. It’s an easy, one sit read. And anyone that says they don’t like Narnia needs their head examined. These stories are just that good. I have decided to read one book a month from the series until I have finished the entire thing. I gave The Magician’s Nephew 5/5 stars on goodreads.

Strong women come from the Desert: Bookbabe reviews A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker

A.D. 30 was my first experience reading a Ted Dekker novel, and the first real historical fiction novel I can say I really enjoyed. The book takes us into the life of Maviah; who is the daughter of a tribal leader. However, she is so much more than that. Maviah is a woman that has been thrown away by her father; sold into slavery, and sent back to her father in disgrace. She lives in a time where women are seen as property and have no rights. Its is during this story that we watch Maviah grow into a powerful woman who is fully willing aware of the fact that she is the daughter of a King. The most powerful part of this book is that Maviah is forced to help a father that does not care for her. She could be bitter, hateful and only look out for herself but she wants to be honored in the eyes of a man that cast her aside. 

So when he father is taken captive, and even though she loses her child, she decides to take a dangerous trip across the desert to meet with Herod. She walks into Herod's presence completely unsure on how she will be perceived or even if she will get the help that she seeks. It is there that she meets Phasa; Herod's first wife. It is through this meeting that things really begin to shift. As Maviah is waiting on Herod to come back from Rome she and Phasa become close; so much so that she feels comfortable enough to ask the young queen to help her in keeping her traveling companions safe. Phasa agrees to help, after Judah (one of Maviah's companions) kills a guard. It is only after this happens that Judah, Maviah, Saba and Phasa partake in a journey to meet Yeshua. It is during Maviah's first experience with Yeshua that I was reminded of how deeply personal and beautiful following Yeshua can be. It was during her experience with him that you are reminded that Yeshua is caring and deeply interested in the lives and well beings of his followers. He had the power to make every interaction personal; even though he was in room full of people. It is after this meeting that something in Maviah begins to shift. She begins to think about herself differently and she begins to think about life differently. After there journey and upon their return to the palace Maviah is entrusted with information that can drastically change the course of everything; especially since she now knows Herod had no interest in helping her. This change is circumstances sets her on a journey that takes her directly into the heart of the home of her fathers enemies. It is here that she slow emerges as the Queen that Judah always thought that she was.

What I loved the most about this book: I enjoyed the way Dekker wove the beauty of Yeshua's words into the story of a lost woman. This book truly is about the power and importance of faith. Its also about the struggle to stay the course and hold tight to your faith through even in the hardest times. 

I gave A.D. 30 5/5 stars on goodreads.com.

Quotes that I loved:

"The Stars do not lie"

"I was plunged beneath the waters of the Galilean sea a dirtied slave and emerged a queen fit for a king"

"You must understand...to have faith is to let go of knowledge as the means to salvation. To do so, one must embrace trust and mystery rather than make knowledge one's God...It is not where that matters so much as simply following? Faith, you see? Trust, like a child"

"You have heard me say, Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy...but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

"The eye is the lamp of the body, if your eye is clear, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness"

"Put your faith in me, not the storm, nor the boat. I and the Father are one. You can not truly forgive until you surrender your belief in this storm and trust me instead"