Learning To Trust Again
A Tidbit Of Trust by Elizabeth Maddrey is the most delightful contemporary Christian romance. It is the fifth book in the Taste Of Romance series but can be read as a stand-alone.
As with all Elizabeth Maddrey’s books, I adored it. Elizabeth Maddrey always writes novels with Christian values at the core and a great storyline.
As the title suggests, a key theme was trust – trust in God, trusting others and trusting ourselves. Knowing our past behaviour means we may have a hard time trusting ourselves but if we focus on God and ask Him for help, we can put the past where it belongs – in the past.
This theme links to forgiveness. “You need to forgive yourself.” We know that God forgives us, so why do we find it so hard to forgive ourselves? In god we are a new creation.
Reputations stick but God gives us grace that covers all our sins. “Who do you think you are to hold that [her past] over her when Jesus has forgiven her.” Sometimes we find ourselves guilty of hubris. We need to remember that we are all sinners in need of a Saviour.
To God there are no degrees of sin. Sin is sin. There are no big sins or little sins. God’s grace covers them all.
There is the motif of building renovation in the novel. We are like the shell of the building – our body is the outer walls and inside, God is making all things new.
Gossip is dangerous. It is poisonous. We need to avoid it at all times.
The novel deals with the topics of pre marital sex, adultery and infidelity. The reader is reminded of the verse that warns against even looking for fear that we fall into sin. We need to be careful that we do not slip into unwanted patterns of behaviour. We all need friends to whom we can be held accountable.
The characters were wonderfully drawn, realistic and welcoming. Their lives and problems they faced were believable. And there were great moral lessons to be learnt.
Characters have a social conscience. They were concerned with the plight of the homeless and mission trips were at the heart. The reader is reminded that mission trips are not just overseas. Our mission field is right where we are placed.
I adore all Elizabeth Maddrey’s novels and can highly recommend them. If you have not read any, you are missing out. Pick up A Tidbit Of Trust today.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.
JULIA WILSON