I decided to read A Place Called Blessing: Where Hurting Ends and Love Begins after I read The Blessing by John Trent and Gary Smalley. I was hoping that this would be a companion book or more like a fictionalization of the latter. I was in for a wonderful surprise!
The book is a wonderfully-written story of an orphan and his brothers and the journey that most orphan kids go through from one foster home to another and after they are 'released' when they have come of age.
I particularly like the plot overall and the honesty that is one every page. I have not only been reading a story about an orphaned boy and his journey into adulthood but it was as if I was looking at myself in a mirror with all the experiences I went through. Orphaned or not, every person has gone through experiences that would put us where the main character is and we make our own agreements with ourselves and begin looking at the world with colored lenses.
The book is a short read and I am really glad to have read it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a book with a strong spiritual message but does not read like a church material. Also recommended for those working or engaging with 'troubled' kids.
About the authors:
Dr. John Trent is president of StrongFamilies.com and founder of The Institute for the Blessing at Barclay College. John is a sought-after speaker and an award-winning author of more than twenty books, including six books for children. He has been a featured guest on numerous radio and television programs across the country and leads The Blessing Challenge, a joint partnership with Focus on the Family and StrongFamilies.com. John and his wife, Cindy, have been married for more than thirty years and have two grown daughters, Kari and Laura.
Annette Smith is a novelist, nurse, and a master storyteller. Her first book of short stories, The Whispers of Angels, sold more than 100,000 copies. Annette has written four additional volumes of original short stories, two parenting books, and five novels, all set in small towns. Her fourth novel, A Bigger Life, was named by Library Journal as one of the best novels of 2007 and was a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Book Awards.
A life-long Texan, Annette lives in Tyler, Texas with Randy, her husband of thirty-one years, and an affectionate, shaggy mutt named Wally. Annette has worked as a registered nurse in a variety of settings. Her current home-hospice position gives her a unique position in the lives of relative strangers, and she often finds herself bearing solitary witness to intimate, behind-the-scenes situations full of grace and meaning.
Book review rating:
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
