02.05.10
Book Review: Tender Grace
In the 1990’s, my Bible college English professor and Advisor soon became a cherished woman of God’s grace to me. I had few Godly examples in my life at the time, and Jackina, was one of the few. A natural story-teller, she captured our hearts with her humor and her passion for God’s word. I admired her life and appreciated her maturity. She inspired me to love literature and to challenge myself in creative writing. Jackina is most certainly one of my bricks, God has used to build a foundation of knowing Him. A brick that always pointed to Jesus and asked how I could best reflect Him in my life. I am truly grateful for God’s “tender grace” in letting me know Jackina.
It is with great pleasure, that I reconnected with her, after many years and found out she was working on her first fiction project. Bethany House has published two of Jackina’s novels. First, Tender Grace. Second, Things Worth Remembering.
A novel written by Mrs. Jackina Stark, Tender Grace was a timely read for me. The main character in the book is Audrey who is in her fifties and has just lost her husband.
“Determined to find healing, Audrey Eaton embarks on a trip to the one place she and her husband always intended to visit but never did. When things don’t go as planned, will she embrace the unexpected graces that guide her journey?”
Jackina weaves together many topics in this novel that are often ignored: widows, loneliness, despair, emptiness, and longings. I became friends with this lovable character, Audrey. I felt her loss and walked with her– in her story of becoming an individual again after the loss of her husband. As Jesus was her comfort, she experienced the natural ebb and flow of pain. Pressing through loneliness, Audrey found joy and grace in the journey. God lovingly provided gifts of grace through new and old relationships along the way and healing in her heart. I loved this book and literally stayed up all night (which I have never done for a book) to finish it.
You will definitely catch on to Jackina’s sense of humor, wit, and joy in the face of sorrow and suffering. With laugh out loud moments and tearful compassion, this book is a must read! NOT at all cheesy or in your face- evangelism. Jackina tells a story of a woman lost in the midst of grief and finds God and herself again.
Just as Audrey drew nearer to God in the face of her pain, I pray that each of us can boldly offer our pain to God as he lovingly redeems our pain– in Christ. The tender grace of Tender Grace is that it reminded me of how loss can reveal our need for a savior, gripped by our pain– we run to the only lasting comfort.
See Jackina’s blog here.