Tag Archive | Melanie Tillman

The One Who Sees Me by Melanie Tillman

Mar4

Unconditional Love

The One Who Sees Me by Melanie Tillman is a powerful Christian contemporary novel. It is the second book in The Front Row series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The novel has alternating chapters between 1998 moving forwards and 2000 moving forwards as we follow some teens through their formative years. The leading characters come from two families – one with two boys, the other with two girls. We witness the pressures of being a pastor’s kid as their actions reflect onto their parents as some in church judge the family.

Within both families there is the ‘good’ sibling and the wilder one. Both experience pressure and bullying from their peers.

There are always the temptations of alcohol and dating for the young people. At times the consequences are disastrous.

God is our rescuer. He rescues us from harmful situations if we let Him. Within the novel we witness a rescuer stepping in twice to prevent harm. This creates shared secrets which also weigh a character down. Some things are heavy burdens that we were never meant to carry alone.

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What Hindered Love by Melanie Tillman

Aug15

Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear

What Hindered Love by Melanie Tillman is a beautiful contemporary retelling of the book of Hosea. It is a story of the faithfulness and love of God who will never give up on us nor forsake us.

Life may be hard and we erect walls to protect us. “Let God in… behind those walls.” These walls imprison us. They separate us from living the life that God intended. The walls need to come down.

We look at ourselves and judge us to be unworthy. We foolishly and wrongly believe that God would not want us. “Do you even see me, God?” God sees us and God wants us to know Him.

In our misunderstanding of God’s character, we believe God does not want us. “If she wasn’t even worthy enough to darken the doors of a church, she sincerely doubted God would hear her.” Sometimes others do judge us. Churches are not made up of perfect people, far from it. Churches are made up of imperfect people in need of a Saviour. We must try not to misrepresent God to others. God is a God of love, not an angry father figure pointing the finger and scolding.

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