Prayers of a Stranger: A Christmas Journey by Davis Bunn is a story about forgiveness, healing and the giving of self. While set in Melbourne, Florida and Israel during the Christmas season, it would be good reading for any time of year. The journey of healing after the loss of a baby, opening arms of welcome to a prodigal daughter, and the hope that comes to a struggling business all combine to make this much more than a Christmas story.
At the urging of her
husband, Amanda accepts the invitation of their neighbor, Emily, to travel to
Israel - and it is on this trip that an unexpected encounter with Miriam at the
Wailing Wall helps Amanda to look beyond her year of grief over the loss of her
stillborn baby. Back in Melbourne,
Florida, Emily's husband, Frank, struggles to accept that their prodigal daughter
has truly changed after so many broken promises. And Amanda's husband, Chris, puts his ethical
business beliefs on the line in an effort to keep his small electronics business
from going bankrupt during an unstable economy.
This is a well-written story with fleshed-out characters, and
I enjoyed every minute immersed in its pages.
Bunn has the ability to pull you into the story, as if you were seeing
Jerusalem's golden walls reflected in the noonday sun, experiencing the sights and
smells of Bet Jola's open market, or feeling the raw emotions of a mother's grief. Amanda "had never seen anything like
Israel, the startling combination of past and present, divine and intensely
earthbound, the eternal and the present problems . . ."
Halfway through their trip, Emily says to Amanda, "I
didn't come here to see Israel. I came
to grow closer to our Lord. . . . I feel like we're running too fast to see
anything at all." Much to their
host's displeasure, they decide to leave the tour in order to explore on their
own, and it is at this point that their path to healing begins.
One of the book's main strengths is the way prayer is woven
throughout the story, uniting both those in Melbourne and in Israel - from
prayer groups where Chris and Amanda work, to handwritten prayers pushed into
cracks in the Wailing Wall. Miriam prays
for Rochele, a child in her care, and then says to Amanda, "You will heal
her."
It's often said that God never wastes a hurt, and through an
entertaining fictional account, Bunn shows how one person who is open to God
can help lift another's sorrow. I highly
recommend Prayers of a Stranger to
those who enjoy inspirational fiction, but it would be especially meaningful to
someone dealing with grief. While marketed
as a Christmas story, this book can be enjoyed throughout the year.
For more information on Davis Bunn and his books, go to http://www.davisbunn.com/
This book was provided by Thomas Nelson Publishers through NetGalley
in exchange for my honest review.
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