I find in life that sometimes despite our abilities to leave our pasts behind, sometimes it's not possible. Sometimes that past comes calling again, but we have a choice as to whether to open the door and deal with it or keep the door close and hope it stops knocking. In the debut novel, The Road to Mercy, by Kathy Harris, the readers are in for a journey that will outline what it really means to trust in God and learn to walk by faith, faith defined as believing in things we don't see. In each circumstance that the main characters are challenged with, Josh and Bethany Harrison, are tested in a wide variety of ways. The faith will come into question and will at times be doubted in some areas, and whole-heartily accepted in other ways.
The book begs the reader to ask their own question of where their life of faith stands. When hard times or unexpected circumstances come upon us, will we fall apart or fall on our knees. This book is perfect for these hard times we have all fallen upon lately, with job losses, health issues, financial strains, marriage problems, and more, I find if we don't have faith as our foundation, we will fall apart. We will look to fix things ourselves and at times will come up far too short. We must in fact, put our trust in God, because storms will come in each of our lives, our faith will be tested to points of breaking us sometimes, but it's how we weather our storms that makes us stronger and better prepared to deal with what happens next.
In The Road to Mercy, the reader gets to also know what true mercy is. Mercy is when we completely deserve punishment for something we have done wrong, but are instead given a clean slate, a new start, we get what we did not expect in return. I found myself wondering as I read along with Beth's health issue of being on the brink of death and learning she is pregnant, what decision I would make if I were in the same situation. While the well-meaning Dr. Ben Abrams tries to convince Beth and Josh that terminating her pregnancy is the best option, Beth and Josh choose to trust that God can handle the issue and will accept whatever consequences happen by their decision. Sounds like stuff that happens in real life all the time. Josh and Beth also find that dealing with the health issues and the pregnancy that it places them under tremendous personal stress of their own, each wondering if they are doing the right thing, which at times places them at odds with one another. Yet deep within the past are some secrets that may undermine their faith and completely destroy them. You'll have to read the book to see how this all plays out but trust me, it's well worth the search!
I received this book compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours and Abingdon Press for my honest opinion and love that Kathy Harris chose this as a debut novel to write. In this tough times, we need books like this one to remind us of the cost of maintaining our faith. It may not be an easy road to walk but it will be one that pays off unexpectedly in ways we never imagined for our good in the end. For that reason I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars.
For more information on The Road to Mercy, Kathy Harris or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:
You can also find Kathy Harris on Facebook by clicking here.
To read more reviews from the Pump Up Your Book Tour, please click here.
Now for the fun part, thanks to Pump Up Your Book Tours and Abingdon Press, they are offering a giveaway copy to one lucky reader of my blog, Reviews From The Heart. Here's all you need to do to enter:
1. Be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart
2. Be a resident of the US or have a US shipping address. Please No P.O. Boxes.
3. Leave a comment below telling me about a time your faith was tested and how you can through your own storm. Don't forget to include your email address along with your comment. You can use the words (at) and (dot) instead of the symbols.
I will notify the winner via email when the giveaway ends on October 20th!
*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Pump Up Your Book and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Pump Up Your Book no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising*
