The Beloved Hope Chest by Amy Clipston

Never Give Up

The Beloved Hope Chest by Amy Clipston is a heartfelt Amish novel. It is the fourth book in the Amish Heirloom series but can be read as a stand-alone. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel which tugged at my emotions.

The Beloved Hope Chest is a study of grief. A grief that is raw. A grief that sinks into the soul and consumes. “No one gives us instructions on how to handle grief.” Everyone has to work through their own grief, in their own way and in their own time. “She was drowning in grief.” Grief may threaten to capsize. There seems no way out.

The novel shows that though we may feel alone, we are not alone. We may not feel Him but God walks alongside us in our grief and will never leave us to face it alone.

Grief throws up questions. “Why, God, why?” For some questions, there are no answers, we simply have to put our hand into the hand of God and trust Him.

Guilt may be the bedfellow of grief. We feel guilty for the things we did or the things we failed to do. Guilt is destructive. It will pull us down. Death is a part of life but we are not meant to live with guilt tying us to the past, of which we can do nothing about. We will sink if we wallow too long in guilt.

Fear may also accompany guilt. “Don’t live in fear because of what happened.” We cannot alter the past. We need to have faith and trust in the One who loves us. If we feed our faith, we will starve our fear.

The novel is about love. Love is at its core and radiates out. There is the love of God, the love of family, the love that will not let go.

The story is not without hope. Hope blossoms when we put our faith in God, consign our fears to the past and look back on warm memories.

The Beloved Hope Chest was a powerful novel. It tore my emotions to pieces but it left me with hope. Hope for the future and hope in a God who will never forsake us.

A beautiful and emotional read that I can highly recommend.

I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON

 

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