The Heart Of The Father
When I’m With You by Rachel Hauck is the most delightful Christian contemporary novel that I adored. It is the first book in the Home To Hearts Bend series which promises to be fabulous.
Hearts Bend is the place where everyone knows your name. “Friends take care of friends in this town.” Where there are needs, they are met. The location feels familiar to readers of Rachel Hauck’s previous books as characters and locations have been met previously.
All the characters are wonderfully warm and welcoming. The reader really feels wrapped up in the tale as we receive a hug in a book.
We learn about what is really important – family. Friends. God. Love. “She [Granny] loved well.” We all need people to love us. Characters feel drawn back to Hearts Bend as it is the place that they call home.
A character has suffered from Epstein Barr Virus. “Broken things always needed love.” Her spirit doesn’t feel like she can love anyone for fear of passing on the Epstein Barr Virus – but God does not want us to live in fear. He wants us to trust His guiding and to live and love in freedom.
We learn about God’s grace. “I am grateful. It’s undeserved.”… “A gift doesn’t depend on merit.” When God gives us His gift of grace, it is given with no strings attached. It is given in love, and we should receive it in love.
When we know we are loved by God, we will know His peace. “A peace that only comes with the rain of heaven settled over him.” No matter how stormy life is, when we know God, we will know peace.
Faith is as vital as breathing. God’s people meet in church but we can meet God anywhere. “It’s my sanctuary… Nothing preaches more than God’s own creation.” God is not confined to a building. A fire tower stretches upwards. “The tower was my sanctuary.” It is like Jacob’s ladder and reaching heavenwards.
The characters all care for each other. There were beautiful interchanges and conversations that warm the reader’s heart. Rachel Hauck has penned another wonderful book revealing the heart of God, and of His children.
JULIA WILSON
