Be Thou My Vision (Faith Blum) Book Review

2017 Reading Challenge

11. Be Thou My Vision by Faith Blum

Synopsis:

Anna Stuart is comfortable with her life. She may be a 30 year old spinster, but she has her routine and enjoys taking care of her father and older brother. One letter shatters all her routines, comfort, and enjoyment. After learning of her brother’s death, Anna feels like her life will never be the same again. Then she meets two motherless boys. Did God place them in her life to lead her to a new vision of life? Can she trust God to give her the desires of her heart before she even knows what they are?

My Review:
I thought this was a thoroughly good read overall. Anna may be a 30 year old spinster, but she has enjoyed being the caretaker for her father and older brother. Everything changes one day when she receives a letter that her other brother died and he also wrote something to her right before that. Anna, torn into despair and grief, starts to question everything she believes in, God included. However, the letter also inspires Anna to seek out God again. She does it for herself and nobody else. She does have a relatively quick transformation, but it doesn't happen overnight either. When she goes back to Church, Anna is in for the unexpected surprise of befriending two boys. James and John just happen to be the preacher's sons, who are motherless and one of which is deaf (James I believe). They are drawn to her and end up encouraging her more to believe in God without even knowing it. Anna does meet Miles, of course the preacher. They hit it off, but he's so guarded that it takes him awhile to let her in his heart. Miles has had his hands full with not only the Church, but his boys, and Anna ends up being the answer to his call. Despite their personal struggles, both seem to realize that they are meant to be together. One of my favorite parts was Anna truly wanting to learn sign language so she could communicate better with James.

There was only part of the novel that I didn't really like. The Church had a gossip group of ladies who were not very welcoming to either Anna or the budding relationship with Miles. I really didn't find that to be Christian-like of what seemed to be true God-loving characters at first. And also, they knew Miles needed some support, but didn't offer any. Since it was a small Church, I thought everyone would be supportive of each other in the community and church as well.

While this is a Christian fiction novel, the story wasn't overly preachy, but still maintained that strong sense of Christian faith. I would have liked to have met some more characters from the community and got to know them as well. It was a well written story filled with some decent plotlines. I know I probably mentioned this before, but I really feel that people are in our lives for a reason and that's how I felt that Miles, James, and John were meant to be in Anna's life to gain a new perspective or vision in her life.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~