Summer by the Tides

This morning I finished this 2019 book by one of my favorite authors, Denise Hunter. She lives in Indiana, has raised three boys and loves drinking coffee like me! Two of her books have been made into Hallmark movies (“The Convenient Groom” and “A December Bride”); I enjoyed both books and the movies!

Summer by the Tides is the story of three sisters dealing with broken relationships within their family, and how they come to a place of forgiveness and reconciliation in the midst of secrets, both within and outside the family. Each of the sisters deal with distrust, believing “it’s one thing to distrust others, but when you can’t trust yourself, it throws everything into question.”

We’ve all dealt with these same issues, haven’t we? We’ve all been lied to at some time in our lives, and when it’s someone close to us, it can really shake our trust in them and make it hard to forgive them. But what about when we struggle with trusting God? Maybe we feel He’s let us down because we prayed a certain prayer and He didn’t come through in the way we’d hoped. Or something tragic happened and we wondered where He was in the midst of it all.

No matter our perceptions, God is always there working in our lives, and as one of the characters pointed out, “It’s not the how. It’s the Who.” As the story builds, we see how God moves in each of the characters’ lives to help them learn to be honest with themselves and each other, and then to forgive instead of “steeping like a tea bag in the anger and bitterness” that had controlled them. I love that word picture!

Summer by the Tides was one of Southern Living’s “25 Beach Reads Perfect for Summer” and I would encourage you to read it and let these sisters’ life lessons bless you! Colossians 3:13–14 sums this book up nicely: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (NIV)

Blessings to you,
Lori

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