When Life Doesn't Match Your Dreams by Jill Eileen Smith

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When Life Doesn't Match Your Dreams by Jill Eileen Smith

Hope for Today from 12 Women of the Bible

Eve, Noah's wife, Sarai, Rebekah, Hagar, Lot's wife, Rachel, Leah, Dinah, Potiphar's wife, Tamar, Zipporah, all women with dreams I am sure, visions of how they thought life would turn out, all disappointed. I guess we could look at this list and say Eve started it all and really she did, but it's pretty pointless to go there. Sin happened and now we are left to deal with the results of living in a broken world.

And since our world is broken, we will get hurt and we will hurt others. Look at Rachel and Leah. Rachel and Jacob loved each other dearly but were crushed by Laban's decision to force Leah into the mix. And we often don't think about Leah's feelings in all of this. Jill brought out a different aspect in this book. Did Leah secretly love Jacob too? Was she a willing conspirator in becoming the bride of Jacob or was she forced into the deception too? Either way, she suffered a lot in her life because of Jacob's deep love for Rachel and I'm sure the sisters were at odds with each other for most of their lives as well.

What do we today do when we feel rejected, betrayed, unloved, empty? There is hope in Christ, but it does take some effort on our part too. We have to ask for Him to fill us and we have to make steps in His direction. He is ready and willing but He isn't going to force Himself.

At the end of each chapter, Jill has a ponder this section and a taking it further section. These sections are designed to help the reader think more deeply about the issues presented in the chapter and to apply it to their lives in a practical way. I thought there were some good questions. I find when I am reading a book quickly so I can review it, I don't take the time to make the applications like I should and like I would find helpful. The book doesn't have a chance to go deep and change me, but I think this book has some great potential if you sit with the questions and honestly answer them.

My takeaway question for this book comes from the last Taking it Further. Jill's question was "Have you ever felt like someone you loved wanted God more than they wanted you?" And my question for myself is, Do I want God more than I want my own family? That seems like a harsh question at first glance. I love and want my family very, very much, but in order to do them justice and to treat them right, I need to want and love God more. It's as He fills me that I am able to love well. And too often I get that mixed up and try to want them above God.

I enjoyed this book and think it has many practical applications for daily life. This is Jill's first nonfiction book, but certainly not her first book. She writes Biblical fiction, imagining what the lives of Old Testament women would have been like. She has at least 14 books out so far. I have read two of them and want to read a few more. I am not drawn to Biblical fiction normally, but I think Jill does a nice job on her books.

I received this book from Revell and was not required to write a positive review.

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