©picture by scribbles (Marye McKenney)

Sunday, May 19, 2013

It's My Birthday and I'll Have the Preacher if I Want To

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a wonderful celebration. I have reached the speed limit =). It was an appropriate time for me to read Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer.

Karen has been writing the sagas of the Archer boys and their love lives, beginning with Short-Straw Bride and Travis Archer.

Joanna Robbins wants nothing more for her birthday than a preacher to carry on what her mother wanted for her father, Silas. Silas and his ranch hands gear up and stop a train known to have a preacher on it. There is nothing he won't do for his daughter, whom he dotes on. Using the guise of a train-robber that he once was, he comes home with Crockett Archer, a preacher on his way to candidate at a nearby town. While Silas interrupts Crockett's plans, he doesn't interrupt God's plans, and that's what this book is about. Karen weaves a sweet story of romance in with her teaching of God's plans and interruptions that truly aren't interruptions. Even when we feel that we are moving His direction, He can shift our path for His own purposes and for His own good pleasure. This always brings me back to the passage in Isaiah where it says that God's word does not return void, but it will accomplish His purposes in His good time.

Crockett eventually gets on his way to where he was originally going, but gets stopped before he gets there. This allows him to go back and reinvigorate a church that has been without a pastor, and to get to know Joanna better--something he would love to be able to do.

This is my favorite kind of romance--one that weaves in spiritual truths along with the story, one where I learn something about God and about myself. Thank you, Karen, for a well-written novel.

No comments:

Post a Comment