Look at THIS Book!

It's Monday so it's time to exchange book ideas. The last time we talked about your favorite series to read aloud to your children. Thanks so much for the great ideas. Right now we are reading the Jesus Storybook Bible, and that's been fun.

Today, I want to hear about a book that changed your life. No pressure or anything. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers changed me. It changed the way I look at people who were raised differently than I was, it changed the way I read the Bible, it changed the way I think about the Old Testament, it changed the way I look at sin. And, most people I've talked to who have read the book have similar reactions. The friend that recommended it to me told me that the reason she first read it was because her uncle had read it years prior and he was "still learning lessons from it today." I've found that to be true for me as well. I am still learning lessons from Redeeming Love even though I read it in 2002.

Here's a brief synopsis, but I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't read it. Redeeming Love is the fictional retelling of the book of Hosea. It feels like the book was set in the late 1800s where the main character was a child prostitute. Her redeemer is a man of God who follows the Lord's leading to rescue her from a life of sin. If you can get passed the first chapter (it could be rated R) then you can make it through the whole book. Although, if you have abuse in your past, it might take you a while to work through the feelings the book conjures up.

So, what's your story - a book that changed your life?