A Love Transformed by Tracie Peterson

I don't think I really need to give a synopsis of this book. It's your typical torn away from the one you love, reunited, but one has made some mistakes and decides he needs to pull away for awhile, but then it all works out. Of course, there's generally someone who makes a little trouble, etc. etc. I think the story fits right in with your typical inspirational romance.

I do like Tracie as an author though and do read quite a few of her books. There were some very good points she made in this book, especially in the beginning that I want to bring out. When the male main character, Curtis, is working through some of his past mistakes and regrets, the lady of the house where he was living  had some keen insights.

Let me see if I can pull this together succinctly to where it makes sense.

Curtis was angry at God and felt like God had let all the bad stuff happen to him, his parents died, the woman he loved, Clara, was taken away from him, and then he let himself turn to drinking, women, and robbery and ended up in jail for five years. Aunt Madeline said this to him, "God didn't steal those things away from you, Curtis. That much I know."

"If not God, then who? You and Paul keep telling me God is all-powerful and all-knowing. If that's true, then He knew my parents would get sick, and He had the power to make them well. But He didn't. He knew what those losses would do to me. He knew it would send me to drinking and abominable action, and yet He let it all happen."

"Goodness, Curtis, it seems you can't take responsibility for anything."

"I mean that you were the one who got yourself into that mess with drinking and gambling. You were the one who chose those means of comfort. I'm not about to sit here and let you off the hook for that. Nor am I going to sit here and let you feel sorry for yourself. We all make bad decisions in life, Curtis. We all make mistakes. We are sinful and human."

She goes on to say that God could have kept some of the stuff from happening, like his parents dying, but these are the things that cause our faith to grow as well.

The thing of needing to forgive yourself and let the past be the past was also brought up in this book. I just thought these were some really good points. Sometimes it is easy for us to blame God for bad choices we willingly made. It's not God's fault if I rob a bank or tell a lie or even gossip and it comes back to bite me. That was a choice I made and then I need to deal with the consequences. It's also true, that if I have asked God to forgive me, then I need to forgive myself and allow His blood to wash me clean and focus on moving forward into a deeper relationship with Him.

I thought this and the emphasis on prayer and dependence on God was really good. I enjoyed the book.

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