Where Hope Prevails

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Product Details

By Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan

This is the third book in the Return to the Canadian West series. I didn't realize it when I requested it, so, of course, I had to get the other two books from the library first so I could get a full picture of what the story was about. And it was definitely worth it.  It has been awhile since I had read any Janette Oke books and I thought that while she was a good writer in her day, her style was a little outdated for my tastes. Well, then I read this series and I think I am wrong. Yes, I'm not a big fan of calling siblings darling and dear, etc. but she put wove some very solid, timeless truths into all of these books.

In this third book, Beth, the main character, has returned to a little town out west to teach school again. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what the time setting was-mid 1900's maybe. There were cars and telephones and electricity in the modern cities. Anyway, she has returned to teach and has found that the district has hired a second teacher, one she decides from the get-go that she doesn't like. He is modern and humanistic and in her mind, pompous and will definitely corrupt the children in her care. She wants to undermine him and let everyone know how awful he is, but Molly, her second mother, gives her some good advice. It's hard for Beth, but by the end of the book she is willing to defend her co-teacher against some wrongful accusations.

Listen:
"Ya, see, the Bible way of fussin' don't mean you can't speak. It just tells ya the right way to do it. And did ya notice those words 'to every man that asketh'? Sometimes our best course is ta wait until we're asked."

"Don't be too quick to give up on him yet, to think he's beyond the love of God, beyond hearing the voice of the Spirit."

"Ya gotta let God be God, and ya gotta remember that you ain't Him."

"Best as I can say, ya follow the two rules. Ya love the Lord yer God with all yer heart an' all yer soul, and ya love the rest like ya would yourself."

"But, Beth, you ain't the Almighty. You can't ever entirely protect no on. Ya do what you know to do, an' He does the rest."

"When ya take control, yer rollin' the dice that ya understand it all. That yer able to see the end from the beginning. But none of us can. All we can do is go right back to number one and number two. We gotta love -- and love some more. An' we gotta pray that God will do His part and do the safekeeping we ain't able to do."

And that's what I need to remember. Love God first, my neighbors second and remember I'm not God and I don't know the plan. I just need to pray and do what I know God has called me and not take matters into my own hand.

This book was given me by Bethany House for the purpose of reading and writing a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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