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Pardon the generic stock photo above, but BookTubeAThon 2018 totally DESTROYED ME (as I predicted it would), and I’m only just now catching up on reviews!
Since I did read a fair amount during the BTAT, rather than just doing one giant wrap-up post, I thought I would go ahead and take the time to review each book individually, and give them all the bookish love they deserve. Let me tell you, the first book I will be reviewing from BTAT REALLY deserves all the love!
Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar is a Biblical fiction novel which centers around the life of Rahab the prostitute who hid the Israelite spies in her home and was rewarded for this act by being spared by God when the walls of Jericho came crashing down. After this tremendous event, Rahab decides to join the Israelites and worship the One True God. But even after experiencing all the things that God has to offer her, she still struggles with the idea of redemption. Can God ever really redeem her?
You and I both know that the answer to that is yes, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but we all saved by grace and through faith in our Savior. But, as a born again Christian, those words are often a lot easier to say than they are for someone who is only just discovering what faith is and means to them to believe. That’s why I loved this book so much!
It isn’t often in Christian fiction that someone really *struggles* to accept God. In a lot of books I’ve read (not all, but quite a few), it seems like the characters have on single “A-ha!” moment and from then on, all of their problems are miraculously solved. Don’t get me wrong, this can happen. God works in amazing ways! But for many people that I know, and even for myself, faith is so much more of a journey than it is a single sentence or paragraph. One sentence may be the catalyst that prods us to dig deeper into our faith and our relationship with God, but we will always be searching for more of Him and trying to understand more.
This book is that journey. Tessa Afshar has written a powerful, deeply moving narrative based on the story of Rahab, unlike any other I have seen before. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who is just discovering what Biblical fiction is, or who has been a long time Biblical fiction fan! People have been recommending this author to me for MONTHS, so it’s about time I started recommending her books to you too!
Don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel where I posted a casual book discussion video, filled with all of my thoughts on this one in particular! Until next time,
