The Captive Heart by Dale Cramer

The sequel to Paradise Valley, The Captive Heart tells of the Bender family's second year in Mexico.  Having left their home in the U.S. due to state interference in their Amish lifestyle, they now encounter more pressing dangers from brigands and disease.

What happens when pacifism encounters men who live and die by violence?  How does a religious community function without a preacher?  How do adolescents looking for love and marriage find a mate when there are only a handful of families in the whole country who share their faith?  How do you treat desperately ill children when there isn't a doctor within miles?  What can you say to describe these strains when you want to encourage friends to come join you, but need to be honest in sharing the dangers? How do you earn the respect of your neighbors when your religion and values and habits are totally different?  How do you go on when you encounter tragedy?

The Captive Heart is an entertaining story that balances adventure and tension with the interactions of family life.  The fate of the family will hinge on Caleb's decision about how to live out his Amish faith without guns, in a land where roving bands of brigands threaten them.  The fate of his daughter Miriam will hinge on her decision about whether to follow her heart or her religion.

While the story is engrossing and delightful, I would have enjoyed a little more depth about the Amish thought process in a couple of the themes.  I was disappointed that Miriam's situation was not developed more, and that we didn't hear more about her own internal struggle.  I was also disappointed that there was not more explanation of the irony of how to punish an Amish man who is not being a pacifist.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ]  

The Essential Guide to Healing by Bill Johnson and Randy Clark

The subtitle really explains the point of the book: Equipping All Christians to Pray for the Sick.  Bill Johnson and Randy Clark write about healing because they have experienced the power of God, have prayed for people and seen miraculous results, and are eager to train others to pray too.  I have heard them both speak in person, and have read some of their other books, so I had a pretty good idea of what the book would be like. I was pleased to see that they each contributed different chapters, rather than co-writing the whole thing. This allowed them to speak in their own voice, with their own flavor, and was more interesting and more effective than if they had had to compromise on every paragraph.

The first section of the book tells their own life stories, including their family backgrounds and the personal journey to get to a point where they regularly see God do miracles of healing.

The second section of the book lays a theological foundation, giving Biblical support for a Christian lifestyle of praying for the sick and expecting to see people healed.  Randy explains the sociological, theological and church factors that lead so many people to be ‘unbelieving believers.’  By this he means people who are believers in Jesus, but unbelieving regarding healing.  Bill asks “Why do we have more faith for someone’s conversion than we do for his or her healing?” (p121) I’ve heard Bill ask this rhetorical question before, and it always makes me think twice.  We don’t really question the reality or result of salvation.  If you ask God for salvation, he saves you.  Yet we do question the reality and result of healing. Bill explains that we have a cultural heritage that biases our interpretation of the Bible.

The third section of the book gets practical, and tells what they have learned about actually praying for the sick.  Randy gives instructions about the 5 step prayer model (first popularized by John Wimber).  Bill speaks about creating a faith culture and the power of testimony. 

All in all, I found the book to be an amazing combination of theology, anecdotes, and practical advice.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Chosen Books as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ]

The Doctor's Lady

The Doctor's Lady, by Jody Hedlund, is an interesting and inspiring story of a missionary in the American West of 1836.  In these days of quick travel by airplane, and instant communication by phone, it is hard to realize the difficulties that the early settlers encountered.  Priscilla is the first white woman who has ever attempted the overland route to Oregon country.

Priscilla's faith is strong enough to take her away from everything that is familiar. While she cannot possibly imagine what it will be like, she calmly accepts the fact that she will be risking her life.  Her sensibilities have been framed by her own family and culture, and she is suddenly thrust into a totally different environment, where everything is strange, and where her normal clothes, food, comfort, behavior and companions are all radically changed.

An even bigger change has to do with her own attitude towards the people she is going to serve.  She starts with a naive and paternalistic point of view, expecting to not only preach the gospel to the Indians, but to teach them to follow her own cultural practices.  The most compelling part of the story is her own shift away from fear and condescension to love and friendship.

There were some passages of the book where the prose was gratuitously flowery, especially the romantic scenes.  Touching moments were flawed by the purple prose.

All in all, it was an appealing book, with a story that showed just how difficult a journey can be fueled and accomplished by faith.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ] 

Paradise Valley by Dale Cramer

Paradise Valley by Dale Cramer manages to tell a love story without sentimentality, and demonstrates faith without preachiness. Either one of these would have been an accomplishment, but doing both at once is almost impossible.  From the beginning of the story to the end, we are drawn into the lives of the Bender family.  The bonds of family, the dictates of faith, the magnetism of romantic love, and the constraints of civil law pull in various directions. 

The Amish culture is described with a sensitive eye, and without the precious self-consciousness that often mars this type of fiction.  One of the most telling moments was when Mose has been forced to have his hair cut, and to wear ‘Englisher’ clothes.  The nurse senses his humiliation, but obliviously makes it worse when she tries to comfort him: “You know, you really shouldn’t be upset, dear…I think you look quite handsome in your new clothes.”

We are caught up in Caleb Bender’s quandary when the laws of the state contradict his own understanding of how he is supposed to raise his children.  Sometimes even when you want to do the right thing, it is not so simple to figure out what the right thing is.  We are saddened by Rachel’s disappointment when she is separated from the one she loves.  And we are pleased to find that the innate goodness in the Benders causes them to reach out a helping hand to those less fortunate. 

Although ambiguity and loose ends are popular in fiction today, there is an immense satisfaction when you feel that a book turns out the right way.  It will be a pleasure anticipating Cramer’s  next book. 

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ] 

Promises to Keep, by Ann Tatlock

Promises to Keep, by  Ann Tatlock, is the story of a broken family trying to rebuild their life.

I struggled over whether to give this 3 or 4 stars.  Some parts of the book were truly excellent, but the plot falls short.  The story is told through the eyes of 11 year old Roz, and the author does a delicate job of showing the conflicting points of view of the different characters, especially the mother and the daughter.  The competing agendas of family bonds versus family safety provide tension. The mother struggles to protect her daughter and maintain her innocence, yet that very innocence sets her up for misinterpretations and danger. Even the gentle warnings of her slightly savvier friend don’t succeed in making her confide in her mother.

The differing perspectives (rather than the plot) provide the true suspense and momentum in the story.  Each character speaks from his or her own life experience. Tatlock does a masterful job at communicating each one’s emotions and thoughts and reasons.  This, in fact, was the best part of the book.  The plot, on the other hand, teeters between expectable and unrealistic. 

Ultimately, the ending proves disappointing, with too much sudden drama. This is ironic, because you are waiting for the crisis, and then when it comes it is over the top.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ] 

Transforming Prayer, by Daniel Henderson

Transforming Prayer, by Daniel Henderson, offers a fresh look at an old practice. The subtitle says it all “How everything changes when you seek God’s face”. I’m probably like most believers in that I pray daily, still feel that I don’t pray enough, but am not motivated enough to make the life changes necessary to have time to pray more. Henderson takes a different approach. Rather than making us feel guilty for not praying more, he declares that prayer can be interesting and enjoyable and transforming. It’s not a question of trudging through dry, obligatory prayer sessions, it is a matter of actually connecting with the Lord. As I read the first few chapters, I found myself eager to learn more, and to experience this transforming prayer myself.

His descriptions of how to improve our standard prayer methods were thought provoking. “We pray about personal problems, while most of the biblical prayers focus on Christ’s purposes.”(p.87) I checked this myself and found that he is right. My own prayers (and most of the prayers I hear around me) tend to be disproportionately about my own needs and the concerns of people around me. He explaines that it is not bad to pray for these things, but that our prayer lists risk superseding the Holy Spirit. 

My main complaint was that I would have liked him to give an extended example of what worship based prayer would sound like. While the book contained a lot of instructions, and model sentences, and suggestions for how to begin, I would have liked to see a sample that put it all together. Of course, the risk of publishing such a sample is that the freshness would be lost, but even a historic snapshot would be helpful.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ]